His Name Is.....

As our paperwork pregnancy is nearing an end, we've been so encouraged and blessed to encounter some wonderful people through our agency. One of those has been our home study worker, Chuck. He first visited our home last Wednesday, and we met with him again last Friday as parts 2 and 3 of our 4-step Home Study process. He's an older, kind, and godly man with a great amount of wisdom and grace. Very much a "grandfatherly" type. He came into our home and made us feel at ease almost instantly through this uncertain step. We felt as if we were sitting with a dear family member. One of his first questions was, "Does he have a name?" It wasn't a question I considered to be of huge importance, and certainly not one that I imagined would be asked as part of our home study process. He began to share that it was important that if we had a name picked out, that we started calling our son by his name so we could relate to him on a more personal level. After all, he was our son since before the beginning of time. If God is Sovereign and the all-knowing God we believe He is, then long before any of us were created, God ordained him to be our child. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you..." Jer. 1:5

Sean and I had to each write an autobiography that covered in detail various parts of our lives from birth, and this included the call to adopt, i.e. when did we first know and believe and respond to this calling. For me, it was childhood when I first remember the desire. I recalled seeing and hearing about children without homes, and how heartbroken and burdened it was for me to hear and see, and desire to do SOMEthing about this. God planted this desire long ago in my heart. For Sean, it wasn't until later in adulthood, and it was a process that God was working in his heart at a completely different time than in mine, until it came together at just the right time. Recounting this has encouraged us often through this process that God's timing is so very perfect! Chuck then reminded us that even back in those times in my childhood, God had our son in mind. He was planting that desire to lead me towards him. He was planting the desire in Sean years later....to lead Sean to him. Even moreso, before Sean and I were born, God knew we would adopt this precious boy. God knew the details long before He revealed them to us.

In Ethiopian adoptions, the trend is that many of their Ethiopian names will become their middle name, and they are given an American first name. Therefore, a couple of months ago, Sean and I had begun looking through baby name books as we looked for just the right name. I have to say I never imagined we'd be doing this in our forties. :) The perfect name came to the forefront of our minds at just about the same time. We then decided that would be his name. We just hadn't shared it with everyone. I'm not sure why. Perhaps, the excitement of wanting to reveal it when he came to us. Maybe a fear that this might even cause an attachment and make this process of waiting all the more difficult. We also are open to siblings, so since we weren't sure if we would have one or more, it seemed strange to name one and not the others. It might have even been that our faith was weak in the initial process with the thought that, "What if it doesn't happen?" However, the longer we have walked through this journey, the more stronger and certain we know without a doubt that we have a son awaiting us in Ethiopia. He may have siblings, and he may not, but this we know: he is there awaiting a home here with us.

And he has a name.

David Platt says it well: “Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.”

Our hearts have been in the process of being changed and shaped in so many ways. I can't even describe the longing of my mama heart for a child that is mine, made known to us. Yet, he is not ignored, but has a name. His name is "Levi." It is Hebrew and means "join or be joined" and refers to "the joining of a person to someone." We eagerly await the day when Levi is joined to our family, affectionately referred to as "Gotcha Day" for adopted families. We don't know if he has siblings or not, but we know he is there. We now pray for him by name, and ask you to do the same, as Levi awaits a home that he doesn't yet know exists. We can hardly wait for the day we will see his sweet face that we can finally put to the name and the calling God has now revealed to us.

Every part of this earthly adoption points us to our heavenly one. The promise of adoption given through salvation, and the fulfillment of it when we leave this earth for a Heavenly Father who has planned and orchestrated in His perfect timing our "Gotcha Day." Our prayer is that Levi not only knows he has an earthly home and family that awaits, but that he will also know he has a heavenly "Abba"...a Daddy, Who has prepared a place for him that is greater than anything he has ever imagined. Only then, will he understand his full rights as an adopted child.

"And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children." Romans 8:23