Alright – we’re over the hurdle at last! We passed court today and can move forward to go bring our new son home.
Praise the Lord!!!!
Now, I’m off to try to make some travel arrangements. Then, I have to work on my getting ready for baby checklist that I have not had the heart to work on recently. I work best under pressure, anyway. (That’s code for I’m a procrastinator.)
Tom Davis asked his readers to help counter the negative image that is being portrayed about orphans in the new horror movie that is coming out by posting how we have been influenced positively. I want to share what my husband wrote about this:
By: Tony
Warner Bros. new horror movie Orphan proclaims that it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your biological children. Let me tell you about how an orphan changed my life…
Last year, a 12-year old orphan from Liberia stayed with us while he was here in the U.S. on a medical visa. Our church was able to bring him to the U.S. in order to repair his hand which had been damaged since he was a baby. You can read more about Moses’ story in some of my articles I wrote last year.
Moses changed my perspective on orphans and poverty in general. He was constantly amazed by things we take for granted like clean running water, washing machines, fast food, you name it. All of the commercialism in America was completely foreign to him. It was actually refreshing.
However, what broke our hearts was the prayerful sobbing we heard at night as he pleaded with God for a family. More than our stuff, he got to experience “a family” and he desperately wanted a permanent family of his own.
We prayed hard about adopting Moses but for a variety of reasons God did not open that door. Today, Liberia is still closed to adoptions. The good news is that our church is helping a Liberian family in our church adopt Moses as soon as Liberia opens back up. In fact, because they are Liberian our church was able to work with the government there to get all the paperwork done in Liberia. Once Liberia opens again for adoptions, the barriers for Moses to have his own family will finally be lifted.
That’s not where the story ends however. The impact Moses had on our church inspired our church to sponsor the entire orphanage in Liberia. Now, each child there has a family in Texas that provides for all of their basic and educational needs. I visited the orphanage last year and those children just wanted someone to know their name. Now they have a family in the U.S. that not only provides for their material needs but also sends them letters and prays for them by name.
But wait… there is even more to the story. Moses touched each of our hearts in our family. We knew that we must do something. While God has another family planned for Moses, he has a little boy from Ethiopia planned for our family. We’re in the final stages of our adoption process and look forward to picking up our son in the very near future. Read more about our adoption story.
Will we love our adopted child as much as we love our biological children? We already do and our biological children already love their new baby brother as much as any of their other siblings. Actually, since God broke our heart through Moses, we love all orphans. We don’t know all that God has in store for us, but we know he is still not done with our orphan story.
Loving orphans is not about our own love. Our love fails us over and over again. In fact, the honest question for parents is – do they love any of their children more than themselves? Most parents will answer “of course” but then make decisions every day that challenge that statement. Loving orphans, and loving all others including our children, is about God’s love.
God’s love for the orphan is really God’s love for all of us, as we are all orphans. Orphaned by sin, adopted by grace.
Romans 8:14-17 (ESV)
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Our little guy turns 4 months old today. It feels like it’s been forever since they called us and we saw a picture of this 9 day old baby. He has grown so much!
It’s beautiful to think that God has a plan for this little man and it includes our family. I’m so excited to watch him grow and see that plan unfold.
I can’t wait to kiss his cheeks and hold these little fingers.
One week from today we go to court. Wahoo!
You get to know your kids over time. Each child is uniquely created by God with their own personality and quirks. Over time, I think I’ve started expecting certain behaviors from them because they have been consistent in the past.
I expect this from Car:
That’s how he approaches everything in life. He’s carefree and sometimes (usually) reckless. He leaps and then looks.
On the other hand, I have Tate. He’s cautious, thoughtful, and leans on the safe side – just in case.
This day, I wanted to catch him jumping off the diving board. I expected feet first (very safe). Actually, I was surprised he was even on the diving board. His first jump, I caught this:
What??? I can’t believe he flung himself off the board!
I guess I need to stop with assuming I know what my children will choose. They are growing and changing and God is working with them everyday to mold them according to His purpose.
I love it when my kids surprise me and do something I never would have expected from them. I’m so excited to see who they become when they grow up. What are they going to be passionate about? How are they going to spend their time? I love being a mom and having a front row seat watching God work in each of their lives. How cool is that?
Speaking of being a mom…
JJ and Pat decided to adopt. Aren’t they a sweet new family?
Not that they had a choice, but they are all adjusting well. These cute chicks were a science project from our friends. They hatched them from eggs and then asked us to raise them. Congratulations, JJ and Pat!
And, speaking of adoption…
AGCI sent us a video of our little guy. He’s so sweet and I’ve watched it over and over. It is so incredible to go from some still pictures to watching how he moves around and interacts with his surroundings. But – it made me want to hold him that much more.
Come on July 28th!
We are counting down (again)! AGCI called us with a new court date (again).
It’s July 28th!!!!!
Thank you, Lord! We’re praying we pass this time. I’ve heard third time’s a charm. MOWA is supposed to be opened by then and we don’t know of another reason we shouldn’t pass. Of course, there are never guarantees.
Thank you all for your prayers and support as we wait to bring our son home. We can’t wait to make up for all the hugs and kisses we’ve missed out on.
Okay – I caved and called. Not because of the security code sign – my husband set me straight on that real quick like. I was just curious and couldn’t wait any longer.
They said our case was released to go to court on Friday. Yay!
But.
Yes. But.
MOWA decided to close for two weeks starting today.
So…now we wait to see if our case has the paperwork we need from them to pass.
It could.
Or, it couldn’t.
I’m praying it does.
Okay – God spoke to me while I was cleaning the bathroom this afternoon. One of the verses my husband sent me was Psalm 40:1.
Psalm 40:1-3 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
I was thinking about that verse as I cleaned, especially verse 3 about many seeing and putting their trust in the Lord. I kept telling God (I know, I do that all the time - scary!) how He needs to do something mighty and big in this so we can all see that only He could work that huge miracle and He would be glorified. But, then He spoke to my heart and I realized who am I to tell God what’s going to glorify Him? He can be glorified however He wants. My job is to praise Him regardless of what I see happening.
I am also praying for the other families in this abandonment delay. Not everyone has been given court dates and I know that makes it harder. Adoption is tough. But, God doesn’t ask us to do easy things. Instead, He strengthens us so we can get through them. I know I feel stronger.
Thank you for all of your prayers and moral support!
I think the stress is getting to me. I was leaving a comment on another family’s blog that is waiting to hear news about whatever happened in court today. I went to put in the security code and it was “tridialn”.
I start thinking…
Hey – that sounds like “try dialing”.
Wait a minute.
Could this mean something?
Is God telling me to call AGCI?
Or…am I just going crazy?
Don’t answer that.
I’m finally posting about our 4th of July. Considering how busy we’ve been lately, I’m feeling pretty good about only being 3 days late.
We celebrated the 4th by going to watch fireworks at a local festival. They did a great job. It was so fun watching 7 guys jump from a plane and parachute onto the field in front of us. We could hardly see the plane. Why do people do that?
The Robbie Seay band was there and Tate loved that. So did I. Here’s Tate and Car “posing” with the Robbie Seay band.
Robbie Seay’s mom started New Life Pregnancy Center in our area, his sister has adopted 2 boys, and his brother works for Compassion and recently adopted 2 kiddos from Ethiopia. I think I like this family!
To top off the weekend, Bear is officially a big girl! She lost her first tooth. Good thing Gideon’s coming home soon so we can have a baby in the house again.
On the adoption news – the Ethiopian government has asked our agency to come to court on Wednesday (tomorrow! agh!!!) and bring their file numbers for the abandoned cases they have. What does this mean? I don’t know, but it looks like things might be finally moving forward and we could be hearing something in the near future. Please keep praying we can bring him home soon.
We met with Nell Ann yesterday and got to play with her sweet boy. What a cutie!!! As we were leaving, Ellie said after playing with baby A, she reeeally wants to bring Gideon home right now.
Me, too, my sweet girl. Me, too.
