Took the clan out to Reading Public Museum today (love that reciprocal membership with the Franklin!) and enjoyed seeing art, armor, jewels, a shrunken human head (for real? How DO they do that?), and a real mummy! It was good to go out as a family and enjoy the lovely stream and garden area outside the museum. Apparently, it’s a hot spot for wedding photos. Two bridal parties were there when we were there. And, yes, the one is wearing a neon green bridal gown and looks like she’s too young to go to prom much less get married. Interesting scene.

Two years. On July 23, 2007, someone working at the Chinese office handling adoptions in Beijing took our huge folder of paperwork and logged it into their system. Just a few weeks ago, on July 6, 2009, we received word that our paperwork had been reviewed. Two years. It is not always easy to be positive about this process when things take so very long to progress. But, we started this process when our youngest was very young, anticipating a long wait. And, now, 2 years have passed. In those 2 years, a lot has happened in our family. And, as we near the end of our paper pregnancy and get closer to actually meeting our child, I would be remiss if I did not consider the benefits of our waiting. So, encouraged by a blog entry I saw elsewhere, more for my own benefit than anything else, I want to list out some of the blessings of our wait thus far.

CARING FOR OUR FAMILY’S NEEDS. A lot has happened in our family in these 2 years; many situations required my full attention and commitment. I am thankful that we were able to deal with educational and health issues during this time. If they had come up before we had started this process, we may not have. God’s timing was perfect.