DTC!!!!!

DTC! DTC! DTC!!!!!! Finally, after 3 WEEKS of having our paperwork lost, it has been found, it has been "authenticated and sealed" and it has been sent to China!!! So now, we are officially DTC (Dossier to China)!  No sweeter words have ever been spoken (so far). :)  A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and thus, from my heart as well.

I cannot tell you how hard it is to work so hard on the things WE can control, only to entrust others with our hard work and have them lose it! And all we could do was sit by and wait patiently for it to be located. SO. INCREDIBLY. HARD. And we haven't even gotten to the point of waiting for our official approval of a specific little girl. I have a feeling that will be a period of time when our home is spotless, the kids rooms are tidy and I micromanage everything. LOL. I'll be sure to let you know when the time comes to start praying for my husband's and kids' sanity!

One thing I must tell you though. In the midst of all of this craziness, in the midst of feeling so helpless and being frustrated with feeling like we were the only ones fighting for our daughter...we have been blessed with an amazing caseworker. She is just as involved, just as frustrated, just as heartbroken over our lost paperwork as we are. She IS fighting with us for our daughter. It would be easy for her to just sit back, not worry, and just let us know that she'll contact us when she has some news. But she calls and emails us regularly, sharing her thoughts, her frustrations over these things. She is empathetic to the fact that I've been losin my ever-lovin mind over here waiting to hear they'd located our paperwork. She understands that for us, it's not just a process, not just a case number...she gets that we are fighting for our CHILD, and that we are already head-over-heels in love with a little girl we have yet to meet. She knows my heart and responds to my heartbreak and frustration and joy with love, patience, excitement and compassion. She is AMAZING. And we are so blessed to have her!

So there will be celebrating at the LaRue household tonight people!! Mama's buying dessert and we are going to mark this milestone off the list in this journey!!!

We are DTC!!!!! *insert big smiles and a happy heart*