Our little bitty is 12 weeks and we're almost ready for Home Study!

Today we had our 12 week ultrasound. Our little one seems to be healthy so far and we are so thankful! It was so nice to see a little beating heart again, the baby moving around some, and putting his/her hand in front of his/her face when the ultrasound tech had to mash on my belly to try to get the baby to roll over for the measurements she needed. She said the baby was napping, which was sweet. He/She also definitely has a cute little Harris nose already! The ultrasound tech offered to say what she thought the gender may be, but we decided to wait until the anatomy scan in April just to be sure. Now I can't believe we decided we would wait. What were we thinking?!?! It's starting to become more real that this baby is healthy and we can expect to meet him/her (again, WHY didn't we find out today?!) in August. Our official due date is August 28 and baby is growing right on schedule! There is a placenta previa, which means the placenta is attached in a precarious spot, but this is pretty normal for this stage and almost always resolves on its own, so nothing to worry about for now. I'm REALLY looking forward to being able to feel this baby move around! I remember that being so special when I was pregnant with Graham.

 Hiding that precious little face

Sweet little baby profile with adorable "Harris nose" (and that's a smart lookin' brain!)

We are still in a preliminary paperwork stage for our home study for adoption. We're almost finished with our autobiographies and the Hague Convention (international adoption agreement) education. The education is ten hours of training, but it has been really interesting and I'm glad we've had to do it. It really gives some practical things to think about before bringing our little one home, like attachment issues, what to expect with traveling, and thoughts on incorporating their heritage into our family. It also detailed the adoption policies and procedures from some other countries, which really solidified to me that God is truly leading us to China. Every time there was information about China's processes, I just felt at peace. Our home study will involve a few visits at our house and interviews with the social worker. I am nervous about this, but also excited to take the next big step in the process. As part of our home study, we had to take the same inventory test about our relationship that we took in premarital counseling. We individually answer questions about each other, ourselves, and our relationship without discussing any of it together. Later on, we will sit down with our social worker to see our results and talk about them. Since we did this same exact inventory for premarital counseling, I'm interested to see how that has changed in the last almost four years of marriage. We are already learning a lot about each other going through this process!

How you can pray for us:
-Pray that our little bitty continues to grow and the previa resolves as expected
-Pray that we are able to find time in our busy days to finish up this adoption paper work and get our home study scheduled (eek!)
-Pray for our child's birth mother. Being pregnant myself, I think about her and pray for her every day for strength, wisdom, peace, and that she will one day hear the gospel.
-Pray that our little one in China (born yet or not) feels safe and comforted in a way only God can provide.