Friends and Blessings

Our friends have truly blessed us (and continue to bless us). Each time I turn around there's a friend offering us clothes, sharing the apps that keep their little ones happy on long trips, giving us a word of encouragement, passing along a little this or that to help us out, and more. We even had a full crew on hand to help us paint Oliver's room (back in May). And last week a friend gave us an activity pack to bring along for the plane ride home (or whenever we need it). It's perfect! Very thoughtful...and already kid tested! 

This past weekend I sat down with the clothes friends have passed down, along with the clothes we were given at the shower. The clothes filled his floor and then some -- and my heart was filled with appreciation. For our friends, they probably didn't think too long about passing along these clothes. Maybe they were even happy to have them out of their house. For me, their gift has been a major help in preparing us for the unknown. It's allowed me to feel reassured and (at least a tiny bit) prepared. We now have enough clothing in a couple different sizes to get us through the short term, until we get back home and are able to better know what sizes work best. A small thing to our friends, but a huge thing to us. 

As we continue to prepare to bring Oliver home, we also continue waiting for word on the final approval. It's not yet been 14 days, so I'm enjoying a break in the usual email obsession and anxiety that comes with expecting an email "any second now." Instead I can obsess about whether we have enough toys to get us started, what we are going to get everyone for Christmas, how I'm going to get things set up properly at work, and so on. Plenty to worry about -- but also trusting God that His hand is on the situation and that if I just keep plugging away things will be okay in the end.