Monday, November 14, 2016

Another Orphan Sunday Passed

Yesterday was Orphan Sunday in some churches it was celebrated. Surely they didn't celebrate, but maybe they talked about orphan care or ways to help with the orphan crisis. Yesterday was harder than I anticipated. I went to Project Yesu's Orphan Luncheon. I have been in the past as a supporter and also as a speaker. But yesterday I was just there to attend and support. Our ticket was purchased for us. All I had to do was show up. But this year showing up was hard. Because adoption is hard.

In February Daniel was traveling and met a young lady that had just found out about a crisis pregnancy. She asked Daniel on the spot if he/we wanted to adopt again. We had some hard conversations about what that would look like and what would happen if we moved forward. Ultimately even though there was fear, we decided of course we would do whatever it took to adopt that baby.

As I continued to communicate with her and become her cheerleader we would text back and forth. A few times I was able to just cherish her. Hopefully she caught onto God's love for her and not just for her unborn baby. She had some ups and downs and we walked with her through those. As her delivery day approached she continued to text, but let me know she just wasn't sure what decision she was going to make. I felt in my heart for the last two months of her pregnancy that she was going to choose to parent. But we kept moving forward just in case. We completed all the steps to our homestudy and turned in all the paperwork and waited. She ended up having the baby and deciding to raise him. I found out on a Sunday. As I was walking into a restaurant after church with our family extended.

We said yes to this unexpected opportunity and now we have a homestudy and no baby. And then yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to attend an Orphan Luncheon where we sit and hear stories of adoptions. Some appear seamless and some appear messy. All are roller coasters of ups and downs and lots of waiting....like that click, click, click as the coaster goes up and up and up. Just waiting and anticipating the thrilling adventure that is to follow. But this roller coaster came to a screeching halt and our family had to be unloaded from the cars. We are supposed to go back to waiting in line. But what is so dumbfounding about our situations is that we weren't looking for this to come our way. So now we are seemingly just wandering around the theme park, not even sure we should get in line for another roller coaster.

We are praying and waiting and anticipating what the Lord is going to do. I have hope. I have hope that His Word says will not disappoint, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengths our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Romans 5:3-5 NLT

We have two incredible boys. And we know that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us even if they are the only two children we are asked to raise. The young lady that our lives intersected with by random needed us to be her cheerleader and that we did. We get to celebrate with her that a newborn came to life. That she had strength and courage to parent him. Her decisions and the road she was walking were way harder than any I have ever had to walk. But because of our interaction my heart strings have been pulled. And now I long for another baby to come into our family. Will you join us in praying for the right timing and the right situation to come our way and peace for our hearts. We have a homestudy that is good until August 2017 and we are just waiting. Not pursuing anything at least until the new year and we hear clearly which adoption roller coaster waiting line to get in. We need the Lord to make our path clear to us and to order our steps.

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