What a difference a year makes........

I was sitting here going through some old emails and came across one that exactly one year ago today I sent to Emily @ H0lt. As I read that email, my eyes filled up with tears as I looked over at Landon drinking his sippy cup of milk and dancing to music that was on tv. To think that if God hadn't pushed me & I had not listened, all that I would be missing out on. I had emailed her back to tell her that I really appreciated all the information that she had given me, (I had been emailing her for months and months). I had said that S Korea was just completely out of reach for Eric & I. We knew there was no way that we would have the money to pay for an adoption due to the costs. I had asked about Vietnam, but it hadn't (and still hasn't) opened back up for international adoptions. We didn't qualify for China due to both of us not being 30 years old yet.

It seemed impossible. I told her that we would continue saving money & praying. I never quit talking about adoption. It was constantly on my brain. I kept on and on Eric about it. He said we just didn't have the money. He's the logical-one. I'm the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants one. (; I started researching what type of options we would have to come up with the money to pay for this adoption. Grants, loans, fundraising, etc. I know there are a lot of people out there that do not agree with debt and may be blessed enough to not have any. We are not one of those families. We may have some debt, but always make sure to pay all of our bills on time and maintain high credit scores.

After much research, I came up with ways to "borrow" every single dime of our adoption fees from ourselves. That way, we are paying ourselves back with interest. There's also a reimbursement from work, as well as a federal tax credit that will help pay those loans back. Once I showed Eric how we could pay for all the fees, one month later on 8/22, we submitted our application to H0lt. A little less than 9 months later, our son was placed in our arms. I cannot believe how much things have changed in a year. Things have been tight, especially lately, the closer I get to going back to work, but we've never looked back. Landon is the greatest blessing and God absolutely will provide a way if it's meant to be. The one thing I make sure to do at LEAST first thing each morning and last thing each night is thank God for allowing us to share this wonderful child. God is good. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.