Patiently Waiting...

Again, I have let a couple of months pass without blogging. So, here's where we are now in the process....

Well, first off, all of our paperwork is finally complete, and has been sent to Ukraine. But last week we were asked if we would be willing to wait a bit longer for our homestudy to be presented. My initial reaction was, "NO! I feel like I have already waited a lifetime to go get our son. Why in the world would I choose to wait longer??" But then it was explained to me that the director of our son's orphanage is very nervous about multiple adoptions taking place at the same time (as at least 5 or 6 other children are being adopted from this same orphanage around the same time) . You see, multiple adoptions occurring at the same time like this happened a few years ago, and that ended up raising a red flag for the government to come in and scrutinize the orphanage's records. So, this time the director has asked that the adoptions are spaced out. Not only will that ease her nerves a bit, but it may also help keep lines of international adoption through our facilitator open for future adoptions.

So, we had a decision to make.

As I tossed around the idea of waiting longer for the adoption to take place, I kept remembering two very important things:

1. God is the One who initiated this adoption. It was His idea...His plan. And I am confident that He is willing and able to see it through to its completion, even if it means waiting longer than I would like.

2. Furthermore, I do not need to worry that some other family will come in and adopt our son out from under us. I can rest in His Word which says that God is "a father to the fatherless...God SETS THE LONELY IN FAMILIES, and He leads forth the prisoners with singing" (Psalms 68:5-6). We prayed that God would reveal to us which child was ours, and He repeatedly showed us which boy He was placing in our family. So, I am hanging onto what I believe God has shown us to be His will. He has shown us that He has a special place in His heart for the orphans of this world, and that He desires for us to help them, rather than ignore them. And, I believe, He has specifically called us to help this one particular boy. A couple more months of waiting will not hinder the plans of the Almighty. In fact, it would probably be more correct to say that God is working out other plans during this time of waiting, affecting people who I may never know, in ways that I will probably never see. Because God does not do or allow anything without a reason. And just because I don't know that reason, doesn't mean that it is not good.

So, we chose to trust God that all would work out well, and told our adoption facilitator that we would be willing to wait a bit longer. Thus far, the biggest thing that I have learned through this adoption is that there is much more involved in the big picture of things than simply us bringing our son home. God has a far-reaching agenda, and He is using this experience to work out His plans in ways that I could never have imagined! It makes me realize that our whole lives should be lived with a keen awareness that God wants to use us for His purposes. It's not about how comfortable we are, how big our houses are, how nice our cars are, or about fashionable our clothes are. Life is about fulfilling the callings that God gave you to do. It's about being aware of the people God has placed in your life so that you can share the Good News of Christ with them. It is about being willing to step out in obedience, in faith, when God tells you to go down a new, unexpected path in your life. It is about loving God so much that you celebrate the privilege you have to give your life completely to Him.

So, I will wait...and trust...joyfully.