The Seidel Family Blog
Making Our House a Home
Mabuhay (welcome/hello)!
Phew – what a whirlwind 2021 is already turning into! This week marks my 30th birthday – yikes! I couldn't be more thankful for the best birthday gift this year – getting prepared for our son to come home, with a loving husband and supportive family and friends. I am truly blessed!
As if that weren't enough, we were blessed to receive even more progress on the adoption front! Just last week, we received our USCIS approval to move forward with our adoption. For anyone checking, that completes Step #3 on my recent blog. God has blessed us in fulfilling this step in less than 3 weeks, when we were told it would take 10-14 weeks. God is great! Now we wait while the Philippines make the necessary preparations on their end to clear JP for travel. Our adoption agency told us to expect 4-8 weeks for this, so we're nearing travel! 😊 We are praying for JP to have peace throughout this current step, as it will require him to attend many appointments that will likely scare him some (including vaccinations shots).
As I mentioned the last two updates, Ben and I have been busy making preparations to welcome JP into our home, hearts, and lives. We could not be more excited! In the past two months, we have tackled several house projects:
- Rearranged our basement to better facilitate family time and make space for a guest area.JP's room is replacing our former guest room, so we are excited to have an entire guest area in the basement moving forward. We want to be sure friends and family can still come, stay with us, and get plenty of time with JP!
- Created a pantry in our basement closet. The organizational freak in me is SUPER excited for this one. Thanks to Ben's parents help, we have transformed an unused closet into a storage haven for all our pantry needs, complete with built in shelves for cans. 😊 It is pretty sweet!
- Prepped JP's room.Of most importance, of course, is getting JP's room ready. We are aiming to keep it simple so we can adapt it in the future with more of his preferences/styles, while keeping it inviting in the meantime. We are praying throughout his room that he'll feel safe, loved, and happy in his new home.
While we wait for progress on the paperwork side, we love that we have been able to make progress on the home front. It has been so much fun spending our free time preparing for JP. Ben and I have both found ourselves dreaming of the time JP will spend in each of these areas, and the love that will grow in our family throughout our home. We love knowing that the changes we are making today are building a future in this home for years to come for our growing family. Oh Lord, you are so good to us.
A HUGE shoutout to Ben's parents, Dave and BJ, who have helped us TREMENDOUSLY over the past several months. Without all of their assistance, we would not be anywhere near finished with all of these projects.
Below are some pictures of the work and progress.
Our prayer request – Lord, thank you for all the blessings you have given us throughout this journey. Thank you for yet again showing us you can do the impossible! Continue to bless the process of moving our paperwork throughout the appropriate organizations and systems. If it be Your will, bring us to be JP quickly! While we wait, be with JP. Help to supernaturally feel our thoughts, prayers, and love. Reassure him his parents are on their way! Begin preparing his heart for his forever family.
Until next time – all of our love!
