828 Days

The most often question I am asked is "How is the adoption?"  So I thought I'd give a little update.  We our currently 828 days into the adoption; that is 828 days since our preliminary application was submitted.  I would have never dreamed we would still be in the middle of the process at this point, but we are.  We continue to sit near the top of the list eagerly waiting to see the little face or faces that we will call our own.  And "When will this happen?" you might be wondering, well, we have no clue; it could be today, or week from now, or a month, or prayerfully not, but a year.  We simply do not know.    And although the waiting seems silent, our work to bring our babe(s) home has not been.  Remember that dossier, the profile we had to complete, with pretty much our whole lives in it, well, we had to do it again.  And although, I thought and felt "aghhhh", we completed the updated dossier on Friday.  I think I could be a professional dossier specialist.  This time around it went much faster and thankfully, quite seamless!

It is easy to see 828 days and think "Why adopt?".  All the time, energy, money, emotions, "Is it worth it?"  My answer is a resounding "YES".  If you are in the "children season" of life and the questions you are asking is "Why is adoption so expensive?" or "Why does it take so long?", you are asking perfectly good questions, but probably the wrong questions.  Q and I repeatedly have come back to one simple question in the mess of our thoughts and emotions, "Lord, how can we be obedient to you with our family?" And His answer to "us" has and continues to be "adopt and to remain faithful with steadfast purpose".  Yes, the process has been terribly long and painfully hard, but it also has been mysteriously wonderful and precious.  What a privilege it is to obey and wait!  Sometimes what gets me through the tougher days is thinking about how my Heavenly Father also had to wait for me, I was not always His; I was not always a beloved daughter.  May I be okay with, and even embrace, 828 days of waiting for our beloved child(ren)!

Updating Our Dossier - Round 2

²¹ But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:

²² It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.

²³ They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.

²⁴ The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully andexpectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word].

²⁶ It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.

²⁷ It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.

²⁸ Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].

Lamentations 3:21-28