Got the Call!!!

Heard from the agency today that we get to be J's family!!!!!  Told the kids and they were jumping up and down and screaming.  Our baby  was even screaming and "jumping"  because they all were.  K kept yelling, "this is our family, this is our family!" and my oldest was shouting, "Rejoice!" over and over again. They told me that they were all out in the playroom praying for him when I called them in.  : )We first saw his picture and info on a waiting child photolisting even before we brought our daughter home from Ethiopia.  He is 6 and half years old and is from Uganda.  I was drawn to him but knew there was no way we could do anything since we still were in the process of bringing our daughter home.  Then a couple months after we brought her home, I still saw his picture up there and tried to pursue adopting him at that point. However, the agency said our baby needed to be home longer before they talk to us and that there were several families interested in him so they were confident he would soon be matched with a family.  So, I felt happy for him but still could not disconnect myself from him.  As a family, we prayed that he would be matched with a family and adopted soon.  Several more months past and I still saw that he had not been matched with a family so I contacted the agency again and at this point they said they would accept our application as a potential family for him.  Which brings us to this point in time where we have been matched with him and will begin preparing our dossier and completing our homestudy. So now begins the long journey to bring him home.  Praying everything will go super fast and he can home to us way quicker than they are expecting.  Uganda's adoption program is fairly new so there are a lot of unknowns as far as time frames go. We were told that it would probably take 18-24 months to have him home.  Wish we could hop on a plane and go get him tomorrow.  Though I am confident that God will be with us and J the whole time and teach us things that we otherwise would not have learned.  Thank you God that we get to be the parents to this beautiful little boy!  Prepare us to be the best parents for him.

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow our lives could change forever.  How do you sleep soundly when you know the next day can be so amazing?  It is the day that a family will be chosen for J, and I pray that it is us!!!   It is probably daytime across the world where he is.  Maybe he is going to school or playing with his friends.  He does not know the attachment I have for him and how I hope and pray for him.  Should I fret and worry?  Should I wonder if I answered one of the endless questions wrong?  Should I have sent in a different family photo?  No, no, and no... As my dear husband reminded me nothing we can do or say will alter whether he becomes our son or not.  God has ordained for this special boy to know the love of a family at this exact point in his life.  Whether that is us or not, matters not to God's plan nor to the life of sweet J. Tomorrow will be amazing for J, no matter who is chosen, he gets a family!  A family that knows God and that has been praying and storing up love for him.  So I can rest in peace and joy knowing that tomorrow is a wonderful day for J, whether or not I become his mother.  Praise God who works tirelessly for the orphans and holds them in the palm of his hand.

Waiting

Why is waiting so hard?  I guess at it's core it's a realization that you cannot control anything.  The only thing sometimes to do is to do nothing at all.  It involves humility, trusting God, and self control not to freak out while you wait.  Why do I know so much of this?  Because for two years we waited for our daughter from Ethiopia.  Sure, we didn't see a picture of her until 13 months in, but she already seemed a part of our family in ways that only another adoptive parent could know.  It is an amazing thing how God begins to store up love for our future children as we wait.  Wait to hold them, wait to hear any news, wait on God knowing He is in control.  So now we have our daughter home and it is amazing.  Yet.... I am in hurry to wait again.  I am drawn to a boy in a neighboring country of hers and I already have begun to imagine him with us.  I see him sharing our boys room and playing out on the street with the neighbors.  Why am I in a hurry to begin the agonizing wait?  Because I know what is worth all the wait in the world when my baby girl nestles her nose in my neck.  I know that God will sustain me and strengthen me and draw me near which is the best place on earth to be. I crave the pain and agonizing wait because I know God will meet me there.  It is a dangerous place to be, I may never get to hold this boy that I could see as my son.  But I know wherever he calls home will be the place God has ordained for him since the beginning of time.  So I pray for J tonight that he would feel loved, even if he never feels my love or embrace.  He is your child God.