God is Waiting

We've waited to have a family for almost 3 1/2 years. We've been waiting to bring home our babies for 20+ months. We were on the actual wait list for almost 10 months. Addise's been waiting for parents in the orphanage for over half her life. Judah's been waiting - fully in transition as a 2 year old - for 4 months.

Not long ago, though, I realized in a whole new way that God is also waiting. He's waiting for Judah and Addise to come into a family. He's waiting for 147 million orphans - all of which he knows by name, knows the number of hairs on their head, knows the number of tears they've cried - to be welcomed into forever families. He's waiting for his people to respond to the call to experience true religion by caring for orphans [James 1:27]. He's waiting to set the lonely into families [Psalm 68:6]. He's waiting for us to follow his lead to not leave children as orphans, but call them "sons" and "daughters" [John 14]. God is waiting for us, too.

God is waiting for our hearts to be healed by heartache, disappointment, loss, and death. God is waiting to restore and redeem and renew that which has been stolen and taken. God is waiting for us to respond to him in the midst of that to experience his new life.

And because I've cried so many time while I've waited, I'm entirely confident that God's cried too. He's cried because he's waiting for children to be loved, welcomed in his name [Matthew 18:5]. He understands my pain, my longing to have my children in my arms. He understands because their his children first. We love Judah and Addise because he's first loved us [1 John 4:19].
This is yet another way that I've grown to understand the heart of God by choosing to adopt. I am immeasurably grateful to know God more through the divine experience of adoption. I am forever changed.

365

One year ago today we got on the wait list for our adoption!!!!!!

Unreal what's happened in the past 365 days! We are so grateful.

Today we are praying for the best anniversary present - court dates! Our agency only hears about court dates on Wednesdays, so it's today or at least another week. It's been 3+ weeks since the courts re-opened. I'm getting antsy. I'm just sayin'...

Timing

It's funny how God plops themes, words, ideas into my brain that have a hard time escaping, but that's especially how he's worked with me in the 3+ years of infertility and adoption. For sure it's because I can't process the enormity of our journey all at once. So, he's given me bite-sized pieces, like a puzzle, that have transformed me and beautifully fit together piece-by-piece.

The most current piece I've been chewin on is the matter of timing. God's timing is not my timing. That's no surprise. God doesn't do things in the way or manner in which I think it would be best. At least at first. But there's been a method to his madness. [Again, stating the obvious.]

If we would've become pregnant 3 years ago, when we wanted to, when my dearest friend Jeanne announced her pregnancy, I would have been an entirely different mom. Our marriage would have been an entirely different partnership. I would've missed out on the pure, exhilarating joy of adopting Lil' A and Baby T. Really, this blog is an Ebenezer - a physical declaration - of all I would have missed out on if I would've had my way.

But there is another aspect to the "timing" issue that I've been realizing, embracing, and becoming increasingly grateful for. When we started our process 19+ months ago, we were told we'd have our baby girl [remember, we started just requesting 1 infant girl!!] home in 9-11 months. 19 months + our next 4-5 months > 9-11 months. We were excited to have her home perhaps by the end of 2009. Wow...

Here's my Bottom Line: just as a healthy, biological pregnancy takes 40 weeks to come to fruition, completion adoptions take as long as God needs them to to prepare parents, adopted children, and His people. Our village is larger and stronger now than it would've been 9 months ago. Brian and I have learned SO much about specialized [adoptive] parenting and are so much more equipped now. We have eliminated debt. We were able to make necessary improvements on our little home to make it ready for 2 kiddos. Our families have grown to nearly burst with prayers and excitement and joy for the interracial reality that will now define our family.

I've realized now more than ever that as people pray - our bio family, our church family, our near and far friends, and blog friends - our hearts grow toward a person, cause, issue. That has certainly been enormously true for us. The love that our babies will experience will be overflowing as our friends and family have pleaded with God to provide the right children to be ours and for them to come home.

I wonder if adoption also takes longer than we'd like because God's growing a heart of adoption in his people. One of my oldest and dearest friends recently shared that her and her husband have decided to adopt. YEAH! I know others who are considering adoption for the first time. Others they've been financially generous toward an adoption in new ways. Others who are praying with new fervor [watch out: that's where "it" begins!]

I just wonder if it's long and hard and challenging because God loves orphans so much and he will do whatever necessary to awaken his Church to move on their behalf? Thoughts!??!!?