Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14
If 2010 could be categorized by one word for our family, it would be WAITING. Earlier this year Monica waited to finish her last semester of college at LSU. Lee waited at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital to have back surgery and recover from it. We waited to find out if America World would accept us into their Ethiopian adoption program. We waited with Monica’s parents in their living room as her family grieved the loss of her younger brother. We happily waited with our girls to ride Toy Story Mania, again and again, in Disney World. We waited months and months to complete our adoption paperwork and get our name on that coveted DTE list (Dossier to Ethiopia, meaning all our paperwork was finally there). That DTE day finally came on October 15….so what are we doing now??
WAITING!
Adopting has taught us many lessons already, months before we will even know our son’s face or meet him for the first time. It has taught us to wait. Waiting has not been easy. This year has been difficult. Our decision to adopt has cost us time, money, emotions, and it has brought strained relationships with several people we love very much. Experiencing confrontations with loved ones or their complete silence about our adoption has hurt our hearts tremendously. But, we continue to wait. We wait for the rest of the money to come in, knowing God will faithfully provide in His ways and His time. We wait for a call saying we have a referral for a child, but not knowing when that call will come. We wait in hopes that our loved ones will allow God to change their hearts, and rejoice with us that He has called us to such a task as this, realizing that it is a high calling from God and not something we jumped into without years of prayer and discussion. We wait….and although waiting does not come naturally to us in our sinful, human state, God has taught us that waiting on Him brings peace and joy. Although it has been difficult to wait, it has allowed us to give our situation over to God each and every day. It has taught us to trust God, knowing He is the one who holds our family and our little boy in His mighty hand. We have learned to take comfort in the fact that God is good, even when our circumstances do not seem to be. Most of all, we have learned to ask God to work in and change situations, but be satisfied if He says “not right now”. The waiting has taught us that God is in complete control and He has our best interests at heart, a truth that we have always known, but are now getting the privilege of experiencing first hand each and every day. Has it been easy? No. Has it been worth it? Oh yes! And it continues to be worth every day waiting, worth every dollar, and worth every tear. God has been so good to us, even through the wait.
All that being said, we want to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged us this year. We have been humbled by the outpouring of love and support we have received, whether through donations and help with garage sale items, buying our glass tile necklaces, monetary gifts, or simply words of comfort and encouragement. We need to hear this sometimes more than you know!! We are currently around #23 on the infant boy waiting list. Things have been slow the past month or so in Ethiopia, so we are uncertain exactly when we will get a referral for a child, but hopefully within the next 3 months. We are hopeful that we will have him home this summer. God has truly AMAZED us this year with His generous hand! Our goal was to not borrow any money, trusting God to provide every cent of our adoption. As I write this, we have all the money we need to accept our referral when we get that call, therefore, the adoption itself is paid in full! The remaining $10,000 we need to raise is simply travel expenses. We will have to make two trips to Ethiopia, one for court and then one to bring Shepherd home, and plane tickets alone can cost up to $2,000, depending on the time of year we travel. Please pray for us as we continue to raise funds and apply for grants. God has been so faithful already, and we are confident that He is going to provide everything we need for the travel!
I know this has been a long post, but thank you to those of you who are reading it. Your love and support means the world to us. Thank you for helping us change the life of a baby forever. Thank you for journeying with us as we WAIT for Shepherd :)
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