Waiting
is defined by dictionary.com as: “to remain inactive
or in a state of repose, as until something
expected
happens”
… yep, that is it. To remain inactive …
that might be the hardest part of waiting.
Often we can find things to keep us active which ultimately can help
keep your mind off of what you are waiting for.
Since being in this process starting this past April/May, we have had a “task”
to do almost the entire time. We first
had the process to complete: home study,
orphan application to the US government, fingerprint appointment, medical appointments,
dossier completion, originals, copies, notaries … and then the fundraising came
next. We have reached a point where
there is not a “task” to do and the true waiting has begun. We have been blessed to become fully funded
and don’t even have to worry or think about that piece any longer.
I had an adoptive mom tell me last night that waiting in
adoption is like being at the end of a pregnancy when you don’t know when you
will go into labor. The hard part with
adoption is that this part of the pregnancy can go on for months (or in some
cases years). Thankfully we don’t keep
getting bigger in that process … er, uh, well maybe a little bigger with stress
eating, but not a growing baby inside of us!
When we were in the adoption process with Kylie we waited nine months for
our first match, which ended up falling through. The wait, anticipation and then disappointment
is another part of this crazy process. The
precious child in our first match was born on my Grandma’s birthday (yes, the
grandma I have spoken of through this blog who was adopted) so letting go of
her was really hard … but she wasn’t our child.
A month later, our sweet Kylie was born and we couldn’t imagine life
without her. God’s plan was for Kylie to
come into our family and we are amazed that we were ever chosen to be her
parents. We have a child who has been
referred to us, but until we have our first court date we do not know for sure
that we are the family for her. We know
that even after having her picture for several months now, she may not be the
child that we get to receive into our family.
Another part of this process … love deeply and fight like a parent would
knowing that you may have to let go if things don’t progress with being able to
adopt that specific child.
I watched a
family go through that process with a child from Ethiopia a few years
back. They loved deeply this sweet boy,
but then after it was determined he wasn’t adoptable, they had to release him. Not that they had physical custody of him,
but they had loved him with parental love in anticipation that he would join
their family. Their hearts still love
and long for this sweet boy but there is nothing that can be done other than to
pray for him as he will live his life aging out of the orphanage system.
Waiting is hard in this instantaneous society we live in. We don’t want to wait for anything … and for
many things we don’t have to wait. What
lessons we learn through waiting. We
trust that God is in control of this process.
He knows what needs to be done and He will make things happen when they
need to happen. I say that knowing that
this could take many more months (and I hope not years). How easy will it be to continue to wait? My hope is that we can continue to trust in
His timing and we ask your prayers for us in this process. We pray for this sweet girl waiting in Ghana …
her name means “fortunate one” and we believe that God has amazing plans for
her.
Psalm 27:14 – “Wait
for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
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