Happy Birthday, little Hille!

Before the month is over, our little man will have his 3rd birthday.

Half a world away, I can't help but wonder if it will be acknowledged, if he will feel special, if he even knows or could comprehend how year number three on this Earth will lead both him and our family down a hard, life changing path that will turn both our worlds upside down in the most awesome way.
I feel excited about his future birthdays- knowing that every year we will celebrate his existence in our lives in a way that I think every child deserves.
The excitement is closely bound to sadness in my heart; his birthday. His birth. I pray that the woman who gave my son life- his biological mother- can feel peace and will know that her son is safe and will be loved & cared for. I can't pretend to know what she went through. I can't imagine the choices she had to make, and I know I will never, ever pass judgment for any of that. Because of her, we have him; and for that I love her too.
Often, people want to know- what now? Our paperwork (& his) is sent through many avenues to make sure that absolutely everything is in line and done correctly. One thing that always causes a bit of a drop in the stomach is called a "Request for Evidence"- or RFE- where any agency involved can ask for more info to substantiate a document's validity. Although they are actually very common at about every level of the process- they are time consuming. They're the little bumps that take more time. We were informed this week that our paperwork went straight through USCIS without any RFE's and is now at the Embassy level. This is awesome! We expect the US Embassy will have some RFE's- but we are indeed one step closer to being given a court date and being allowed to travel.

Also we have had a few inquiries about financial donations that need to be 501(c) for tax purposes. In a previous post I had mentioned we had an account with an organization, however our church has graciously offered to do this for us,  and will provide tax receipts for any monetary donations. I will place the address to the right.

We also can't thank everyone enough for the t-shirt support. We sold well over 100 and will go to print again if we can "tip" the count again- so if you DIDN'T get a shirt and want one- teespring.com/hille is the place to go!