A little sister for Caleb and Madeline

Well, as you can see from our letter to Havalah, Patrick and I have decided it's time to begin paperchasing for her. We don't actually have a referral for her yet. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that and disappointed ya. Believe me, as soon as we know, you'll know, too! What we can tell you is that she'll hail from the People's Republic of China, be younger than Caleb and Madeline, and have a limb difference. That's about all we know. ;)

Anyway, we decided to begin this journey to Havi this past summer, but we've had some paperwork glitches just getting out of the starting blocks, so to speak. At this point, all we've done is submit our applications to both our home study agency and our placing agency. So, now the real paperchase begins.

If I'm being honest, I am NOT looking forward to the paperwork. You'd think with this being our third time doing it, I'd be fine with it. Um, nope. Life is WAY more hectic now than it was when we paperchased the first two times. That's what happens when you grow your family and homeschool the munchkins. And it's all good. lol. But...

While I'm not looking forward to the paperwork this time (in fact, Patrick filled out both applications!) I am NOT going to fret over the timing of it all. We'll get our dossier to China when God says it's time. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff. It'll get there when it's supposed to get there. And may I repeat these very words to myself when hiccups happen, right? 'Cuz they're gonna happen. What would an adoption be without them. I just pray they're not more than we I can manage.

You may be wondering where we came up with Havalah's name. So let me explain. Havalah is Hebrew for "life." Although my Gramma's English name was Eva (my namesake, which also means life), Havalah was all my Gramma's gramma ever called her (because she didn't speak any English.) In fact, my Gramma would often call me Havalah when I was growing up and even as an adult. We think it's a beautiful name. In fact, Patrick had picked it out for daughter #2 before he even knew how sentimental the name was to me! For that matter, he had the name picked out even before we brought Caleb home! lol. Anyway, we also thought it would be a wonderful way to honor my Gramma without having two Eva's under the same roof. I had that very experience growing up, and it was a bit confusing to me as a little girl sometimes. lol. Alright, enough rambling. There you have it. Let the fun begin!