I haven't updated here in awhile, but not because we've been idle. We're in the midst of mountains and months of paperwork! We've been busy getting various documents, birth certificates, marriage certificates, financial papers, physicals, vaccinations, fingerprints, and reading completed. Part of the process includes us having to read two mandatory books relating to adoption, as well as two "other" books of our choosing. Nothing can get done quickly in this phase, but it often becomes a "hurry up and wait" period. In the meantime, we are trying to think and plan some fundraisers to prepare for the expensive costs of the next steps in this tedious process. I was thinking this morning that if I was doing nothing else, this season of waiting would be nearly unbearable. But life is quite busy these days, so it helps to just take one step at a time in the midst of our lives, knowing each piece of paper completed, all the exhausting measures of appointments, and every chapter read in a book only means one step closer to our boy.
Back in February, a dear friend hosted a Pampered Chef fundraising party for our family. We had such a good time, and I was completely blessed by the outpouring of support for us. The party reigned in $1,000 of sales, and 20% of that went towards our adoption fund. Here's some fun pictures of that night...
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In this waiting period, it's so difficult not to think about what's going through the mind of our son- or children, since we are open to adopting siblings. Do they know there's a family out there waiting and hoping for them? Do they know that a life awaits them that is so drastically different and better than the one they are living now? Do they know there's a God who loves them more than anyone ever has or will ? Do they wonder if their time will ever come? Every time another child leaves, do they lose heart that they are unlovable? Beyond the point where they could be next? Have they lost all hope?
Each one of us who have trusted in Christ have been there. Before being adopted by Him, we, too, had no idea of the hope that awaited us. We didn't realize the life that we could live. We never knew of a life that could be so different and better than the one we were living. We were orphans without a Father. We knew nothing other than the life we lived.
".... remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 2:12
As I think of this, my heart has such a longing for them to know the same thing that Jesus has told each one of us...." I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:18)
Yes, it's hard to wait, but the lessons and glimpses of God's mercy, grace, and love in rescuing me from the orphanage of sin are growing me into a deeper relationship with my Eternal Father into a family where I was chosen and dearly loved. I pray that God places that hope in the heart of our children waiting in Ethiopia, and cannot wait for the fulfillment of His promise to them that they no longer will be enslaved in an orphanage in Ethiopia, but have a home waiting filled with love, and eventually discover the greatest love of all through a relationship with Him.
"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father." Rom. 8:15
