Redeeming the Days

I am thankful for a God who is sovereign.  That will have to be enough for me, even when I don't understand what or why things happen.  Adoption is an incredible experience, full of ups and downs.  It is a most precious and amazing blessing, spoken as an adoptive mom and an adoptee.  I hesitate to share the difficult side of it for fear of scaring away some who may consider adoption.  There are 140 million orphans worldwide waiting for families, and in the end, any challenge we face to bring our children home is worth the effort.  Along the journey there are hills and valleys and sharing one without the other wouldn't make the journey seem real, while sharing them both with you makes the mountaintop experience even more sweet when we finally reach it...

For the past two weeks we have been working through what I can only describe as a communication gap in our adoption process.  Upon accepting the referral of our beautiful daughters and son we asked for updated information regarding their height, weight and foot measurements.  We asked a few other clarifying questions and have gotten no response to our questions after two weeks.  Generally, families travel to bring their children home 4-5 weeks following the acceptance of their referral.  We have been eager to hear about our travel date which is usually a few days prior to the presentation date when the children would be presented to us.  We are especially eager because the Colombian courts close for 3 - 4 weeks from mid to late December to early January.  We've heard a variety of dates for different regions, but have also not heard specifically back regarding our region.  Again, we're in the communication gap.  We've been told the process will be approximately 4 weeks, so in order to get finished before the offices close for the holidays we need to have a travel date by mid-November or we would be "stuck" in Colombia for 3 - 4 weeks while the courts and offices are closed.  If we don't get a travel date in time to complete the necessary process before the offices close we would have to wait until January to travel - two extra months before we can see our children.

We sent our final stack of updated documents along with a small gift for the children and a photo book which describes our home, our church, our family and some things we like, and introduces the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  The book is bilingual so that the social worker or foster family can read it over with the children to help prepare them.  The goal is to have this to help prepare the children prior to our arrival.  We have also requested video conference calls per the ICBF website guidelines, but that, too has fallen in the gap.

Being on this side of "the gap" with three of my children on the other side and a holiday deadline looming ahead threatening to separate us for eight more weeks has not been a comfortable place to be.  It has consumed me this past week.  (Consequently I haven't returned many phone calls or emails.)  I don't want to think about the possibility that we won't travel until January, but I know that it is possible, and that if it happens that God can redeem those days I have lost and will lose with my children, too.  If God can redeem the days Joseph spent in jail, He can redeem the days for my children and our family.  If God can redeem the days of the Israelites spent wandering in the desert for 40 years and bring them to the promised land in His time, I know that He can redeem the past week that I have spent wandering about my house wondering what to do about the situation and bring me to my children in His perfect time.  

• Please pray for peace in the midst of the painfully silent waiting to bring our children home.
  
• Please pray for clear communications to fill the gap and make sense of the past two weeks of silence from Colombia.
• Please pray especially that if we are not able to travel until January that the Lord helps the children in Colombia to understand that we are still coming for them and have not forgotten about them or changed our minds.  Pray that He protects their hearts during the waiting.
• Please pray for clarity in travel plans.
• Please pray for peaceful preparations at home.
• Please pray for sweet sleep in our home for Nic and I which has been lacking since we have gotten lost in the communication gap.
• Praise God with us for the eager hearts of our children at home who long for their brother and sisters to come home!
• Praise God with us for the encouragement from family and friends that means so much to us!  You are the hands and feet of Christ!

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.  One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.  Psalm 62: 1-2, 8, 11-12