Greetings to all our friends and family. We hope that you had an enjoyable and safe Christmas and New Years. 2020 was a rough year, and 2021 is not shaping up to be that much better thus far. That said, our hope is in Christ and we trust that no matter what happens in the world, or to our family, we are in His hands.
A year ago today we attended the Rooted in Love adoption training conference offered through our agency, Lifeline. It’s so strange to think back on that time. We were actually able to be around people…maskless! We had so much fun meeting other families that were on this adoption journey with us. Thankfully for many of them, they have been blessed to be matched and some have even made it home.
And then there is us…
Adoption is a journey and weary is the best way to describe how we are feeling on this journey right now. Weary, frustrated, discouraged, and frankly quite tired of thinking about and talking about waiting. A year ago we had so much hope not knowing that a global pandemic was about to shake the world to its knees, and essentially bring our process to a screeching halt. So much of our process over the last year and a half has been bathed in discouragement and disappointment. I expressed to Laura recently that the last truly happy day I had with this process was on May 16th 2019. On that day we found out that we had been approved to adopt by USCIS. The next day I lost my job. The truly unfortunate twist and turns we have experienced have made this process (that we hoped would be LONG over by now) uniquely difficult.
We are weary…
Yet in all this, we continue to trust that God has a plan for our life, for our adoption, and for our family. We continue to wait on his timing and trust that in due season we will reap if we do not faint.
How Can You Be Praying For Us?
- Please pray for stamina. The wait has been long and we have no definite end date in sight. These last few months have been by far the most difficult months of our wait. Pray that we have the courage to press on and that we trust God in the moments of despair.
- Please pray for a match. Beyond the desperate desire we have to find our child or children, adoption paperwork is time sensitive and much of our paperwork is due to be redone in the latter part of the summer. What that means for us is that we will have to spend more time gathering the paperwork AGAIN and pay more money to get it all updated. We certainly hope to avoid this, but may have to walk this path if we are not matched soon.
- Please pray for our Colombian family. We say this intentionally because over these last couple of months we have become more open to sibling groups of two that could have a boy as part of the group. Feel free to ask questions if you want to know more, but we plan to share more about this should this scenario play out in a match. Regardless, please be praying for our Colombian family. There is so much brokenness in adoption and our future child or children, more than they need our family, need the Healer to mend their tattered souls.
We know that this update is more of the same, but we do want to stay transparent with where we are and what is happening. We certainly hope to have good news someday, but for now we will simply say thank you for your prayers and support.
Until next time!
A Song For The Weary
This song was written by the worship ministry at our church Johnson Ferry. It’s a beautiful reminder to us that our desire and hope is not in the completion of a process…it’s in the joy of heaven and in the person of Christ. We hope it’s ministers to your heart as it has ministered to ours.
How Christmas and New Years Went for Us!
We love decorating with lights showing that THE LIGHT has come into the world! 
Titus turned 7 and we practically had the whole place to ourselves! 
Started a new Echols Family holiday tradition by making tamales. Maybe next year we will make Colombian ones! 
The boys had fun seeing Santa! 
Made Aunt Kimmie’s nuts and bolts for our neighbors! 
Went to see the Lights of Joy! 
Found an outdoor Christmas Eve service! 
The boys were silly…as usual! 
They do love each other…really they do! 
Started Christmas off by reading the birth story of Christ! 
Completed our Advent candles! 
Had yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning! 
Made a birthday cake for Jesus…clearly we love to eat! 
Titus got even more handsome with his new glasses! 
Laura did her part and got the vaccine! 
We celebrated 10 YEARS of Marriage! 
The boys were bouncing off the walls! 
Meanwhile we are waiting to be matched like…
Beautiful In Time 
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