Walk-thru Done!

Yeah! CARA, the central goverment adoption agency in India completed their walk-thru at our agency (ISRC, the Indian Society for the Recovery of Children) yesterday. It seemed to go well and they hope that this will be the last step before their certification is renewed. We are praying that the renewal will come quickly and then the courts can once again pick up the process and get some of our children to their forever families. Right now everything is on hold in the courts until the judges can see the renewal notice. I know that all of us on the list are optimistically hopefull that very soon the referrals will be quick and many in coming. It is comforting to know that our Heavenly Father is acting as an advocate on behalf of the fatherless!

The Vision of Adoption!

As I read on the India Forum from our agency, and read the blogs of my new "internet friends," sometimes I catch a brief glimpse of the frustration and helplessness that every mom who goes through the adoption process must feel. Then, just as quickly, other adoptive moms who have walked this path before jump in with words of encouragement and hope. I love it! A cousin of a friend just got back with their little girl from China and had e-mailed this verse that had been an encouragement to them during the long process. Of course when it was written it was referring to something else, but they claimed the verse for the vision of adoption that the Lord had placed on their heart. This vision (our adoption) is for a future time. It describes the end and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:3

Held by Hope!

Wow. This has been an emotional week and a half. A friend's brother (29) was killed in a car accident, my sister miscarried her baby at 12 weeks, and then the news of Maria Chapman's death. It is almost too much to take in. I cannot imagine facing a new day if we did not have the hope in God's promise that we would see these precious ones again someday! All day I have been thinking about the song, "Held," that Natalie Grant sings. I love the lyrics..."This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved, and to know that the promise was that when everything fell, we'd be held." For us, we have received news this week that our agency in India is awaiting their re-certificaton. They have been undergoing the process for a couple of months, and all babies are on hold until the certification goes through. This is one of those government things they talk about that are totally out of your control. Right now, this has put all referrals on hold. They are hoping to maybe have a visit from CARA, the central agency in India this week, and maybe that will be the last step needed before they can begin placing children with families again. As we are waiting in this adoption process, encountering the joys, the frustrations, the setbacks, the answered prayers, the silence...I love the verses in scripture that picture us as God's children, being held in the palm of His hands. Nothing in our lives happens without His knowledge and permission...for His glory and our good! While we wait, we are sitting in the palm of God's hand and He is ordering our lives. I know that our little boy in India is sitting in the Lord's other hand and one day soon, He will bring us together in a forever family.

Gift of Encouragement!

It's funny to me that this month, our first month on the waiting list, in our Kidstuf Family Worship services at our church, the focus is on "Patience...waiting until later for what you want now." Well, maybe not so much funny as appropriate timing on God's part once again. :) I feel like we've just gotten started and the "silence" can be deafening if you allow yourself to focus on it. We are of course waiting for that much anticipated referral, waiting on news from our grant applications, waiting on the copy of our completed Dossier, waiting on our I-71H pre-approval notice from Immigration, etc. Last night at the fundraising banquet for our home study agency, I got to hear the testimony and a concert from Jimmy Wayne, a new up-and-coming country music star. He grew up on the streets with his mom in prison, and no father. When he was 16, a couple in their 70's took him in and his life was turned around. It was so encouraging to hear how a couple can so drastically change the life of a child. Also, tomorrow, Jeoff Moore, the Christian Contempory Artist is doing a small concert at our church and giving his testimony regarding his work with Compassion International and his own adoption experiences with two daughters from China. I have heard him before and cannot wait to hear him again. I just love that in this quiet time, my heavenly Father has used these two artists to give me a gift of encouragement!

Mother's Day!

Wow...I hate to say it, but I am glad to have this day almost over with. It has been an exhausting Mother's Day for me. Between church, trying to coordinate lunch with my husband's parents and his brother's family, my son not feeling well, my daughters fighting and telling on each other all day, my husband not feeling well, and my son hitting my niece with his wooden fishing pole and giving her a big knot on her head...I've about "mothered" out. :) It is amazing to me, however, that for a brief moment this afternoon, as I was standing alone in the living room (after just having cleaned up some Sprite that my son spilled on the carpet) I thought, "Wow, my heart is aching for my child that isn't here yet. I can't wait for another child to join our family!" Crazy I know. :) Well, that's the response I get anyway from strangers in the store or at soccer games who see I have 3 and find out we are adopting. I prefer to think that God's grace is being poured out onto my life in a way I cannot explain. I am truly blessed by the gift of my 3 beautiful children and I cannot wait to meet the 4th!

Bwover!

We don't want to focus each day on the "waiting" since it is going to be a while, but we do want to use the time to prepare our other children for a new family member. We have just begun to mention to my 3 year old that he might be getting a new little brother who will be sharing his room. "He not share my toys, " was the first response that we got. :) The next morning, he came into the kitchen and said, "where's my bwover...he not come last night?" He has mentioned it a couple of times since then too. He told a total stranger in the store this week that, "I don't know where my bwover is!" It might have been a little too soon to broach the subject with a 3 year old, but we talk about it with the girls and wanted to share it with him too. I guess when it gets a little bit closer and we actually put another bed in his room, etc., it will get a little bit more real. :)

Ready, Set, Wait!

Wow. This has been an unusually busy week for us. I am sure I am not going to have something to write about every day. On our other site, I tried to journal at least twice a month, but I'm having fun playing around with this "blogging" thing so who knows. :) We got our "Waiting Families Newsletter" today and it said that there are 13 families waiting. Since I think we have been the most recent family added to the list, I am assuming we are number 13! Now the countdown begins. It really is a Ready, Set, Wait kind of deal, so here we go. In the waiting...I have read a great book lately that anyone interested in finding God's heart of compassion should read. It is called "Fields of the Fatherless" by C. Thomas Davis. It is a very easy read and great to do as a devotional. I highly recommend it.

On the list!

Yeah! I got an e-mail today and we are on the list for a referral! I do not know what number we are yet since I won't be notified officially until our dossier is processed, but from what I have been reading on our forum, I'm thinking anywhere from #12 - #16 maybe. It feels amazing to finally know that we will be moving up a list slowly but surely until we receive our referral for our little boy. No more paperwork holding up that part of the process at least. Somehow getting on the list makes it seem a little more real to me. I guess it is similar to when I had my biological children...it didn't quite seem real until I heard the heartbeat for the first time. I guess when we finally get a referral picture maybe it will be like seeing our baby on the ultrasound for the first time. :)