Let the Waiting begin!

It has been SOOOOO long since I have posted anything at all!  I am not the best when it comes to blogging. With four kiddos and homeschooling, I find myself doing laundry, lesson planning, cleaning, etc. in the hours after the kids have gone to bed.  So, I apologize for the big gap!  I will try my best to be better at it!
The past few months since we have started the adoption process, it has been a ton of paper work....well, not so much for me, my husband did all it all!!! He is amazing! We would still be doing paper work if I were in charge of it!  There hasn't been to much to report until now! The paper work is out of our hands....it is in the hands of our agency and soon to be in China's hands in a couple of weeks or less!!!!  Then we wait to be logged in....then wait to receive a referral...and then wait some more to travel to bring home our child!!! My patience is about to be pushed to its limits!!!  It is all becoming so real as we get closer and closer to seeing our child's face.  I can hardly contain the excitement!  I know once I do see my child's face, it will be even harder to be patient as we wait to go and get him/her!
Although there has not been a whole lot to report as far as the process goes, it doesn't however mean that I haven't been feeling, thinking, praying, for and about this child that we will be introduced to in the near future! I am excited to see his/her face...to hold, kiss and hug him/her for the first time,  yet I know how scared they will be when they meet us.  It breaks my heart that they will have experienced so much pain in such a short amount of time here on earth.  I long to make that pain stop.  I long for them to know their forever family, and I long for them to know their heavenly father.   Though they have been abandon, He will never abandon them.  His love for them is not based on their gender and physical appearance....it is unconditional and it never fails.
So as we wait, and wait, and wait....I will continue to think about him/her.  But more than that, I will continue to pray that this child would come to know the love that God has for him/her.  That yes, there will always be pain here in this imperfect world, but He is the one that we can take that pain to.  He takes that pain and heartache and makes it into something beautiful!
He will:

"comfort all who mourn, 

and provide for those who grieve in

 Zion-

to bestow on them a crown of

beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of 

righteousness,

a planting of the Lord

for the display of his splendor."

Isaiah 61:2-4

For you baby Bramlett, as we wait, my prayer is this:

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,

may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may 

know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious 

inheritance in the saints." 

Ephesians 1:17-18

I love you so much and can't wait to see your sweet face.  I look forward to the day when I get to hold you for the first time! 

So until I write again (hopefully there won't be such a gap), please pray for our child who waits that they will be comforted and cared for....and pray for us as we wait, that God will be at work in our hearts, continuing to make us more like him!