Progress

We received our fingerprinting appointment from USCIS for December 2nd. It was much quicker than I anticipated! I'm very hopeful we will be able to get our first waitlist numbers by Christmas.

I told the Ethiopia dossier case worker on the phone last time that I have had my first official moment of impatience. However, the Lord has given us more grace every day in these endeavors to add to our family, and I believe that He will continue to send that grace on in to our family as long as we continue to seek him and let the Holy Spirit work in our lives. I read this today: "A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at hone time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God's boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it."--D. L. Moody.

This journey is already so different from our first adoption. First of all, never underestimate the time and energy that must be devoted to a toddler. :) When it was just Justin and me, I would sit at home on my days off and daydream about what being a mother would be like. Now I daydream about being able to sit. :) Just joking. I love chasing my little 14-month-old around. But time just FLIES nowadays. I am curious to see how it changes once we get our number that will be SO much higher than where we started last time.

I also sense God giving me peace about the possibility of just having two kids. Though I've ALWAYS dreamed of having a family like the one I grew up in (six kids), that may not be God's plan. And since we made the decision that we would be a one-income family (with that one income being a youth pastor's salary)...well, folks, adoption is expensive. :) We will have to do some sort of fundraising to complete our second adoption fund. Plus (I know this is a huge news flash) raising kids is expensive. :) All that to say...when we think of how God has ALWAYS provided (in many ways...friends, resources, jobs, homes) we are encouraged to stand firm on the promise given in Psalm 37...

Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.

I TRUST in the Lord, I DO good, I cultivate FAITHFULNESS, I DELIGHT myself in the Lord...and He will give me the desires of my heart. And I believe that also means that, as I do those things, He will mold the desires of my heart to the desires of HIS heart. Which are always good and pure and right. So what that *my* early plans for a family were not what God's plans are? Our little Sadie is such a tremendous blessing to us...one of the truest, deepest reminders that He makes all things beautiful in His time. And so we wait and we trust and we believe that "He is able to make all grace abound to you..."

We're Back!

I cannot express how excited we are to begin our second adoption. We began praying and talking about it as we were in Ethiopia to bring S home! At the time, I had no idea where God would lead us. Since we made the wear-out-the-carpet-praying-on-our-knees-decision to return to Ethiopia for our second child, we have had no doubt that we are doing exactly what we need to do.

S's transition into our family and home was so smooth that I many times thought I was missing something. She has been so healthy, happy, and has attached so wonderfully to us as her parents that I can only give thanks to God for His good gifts. As her transition continued to go smoothly, we both felt God speaking to our hearts..."NOW is the time to start again!"

We researched and researched and called agency after agency to inquire about many different programs. We initially thought we would pursue a country in Asia, but after praying more, we realized God was leading us to bring another Ethiopian child into our family. We were disappointed to hear that the time frame had lengthened substantially from when we began S's adoption, but we knew that could not and would not be the reason we would not follow the Lord. So we signed the contracts on August 3rd with our amazing agency, AGCI, and began the paper chase once again!

I will say one of the most amazing differences about beginning this adoption versus our first...when I look at the stack of documents, I know that on the other end of this enormous and sometimes excruciating process there is a child. A child God has purposed to grow up in our family. A child who will be my child and I will be his or her momma. And THAT, friends, is a beautiful thing.