Another Life Change .....

We have had a crazy six months here.  So much has happened in many areas in the lives of the Goodreaus, but just nothing regarding progress in our adoption.  When you first enter the adoption process it is easy to quit making plans in life because you are waiting for that little one to come home and you don’t want anything else to get in the way.  Sometimes then the wait goes on and on and on, until one day you realize that we have no control of the timing and we have to continue to do the things that God is calling us to and take the opportunities that come onto our path. 

In February of this year another life change began.   My sister and I felt God clearly calling us to step out and start an adoption agency.  The agency we have worked for and been mentored under for five years had some changes coming with our director being called to the mission field of Haiti.  When we learned of that change we felt this strong calling by God to step out and start our own agency.  Just to be clear, my first words to Anita when talking through all of this were, “I can tell you what I am not going to do, I am not going to start an agency.”   Anyone else out there know that feeling of the exact thing you tell God you are never going to do become the EXACT thing that He ends up asking you do to?  I thought I had learned never to do that, but clearly I am still a major work in progress!  After many months of paperwork we received our agency license on August 15^th.  We are now a fully licensed agency in Minnesota … Legacy Of Adoption … you can check us out at www.legacyofadoption.com.  I cannot explain why the timing of this happened the way it did, but I can say that had we had our little one home already I think I would have missed or passed on this calling to open an agency.  Scaling back in my current position to get ready for our daughter only to find that she still isn’t home, but in that ‘scaling back’ now had the time to pursue the involved steps of opening an adoption agency.  God always has each detail figured out.

Another adventure is about to begin for us.  In mid-July we came upon an old farm house acreage property that was super exciting to find.  Living on acreage is something that Chris and I have desired for many years, really our whole marriage.  When we moved into our current home 11 years ago we had put that dream to rest believing that it would never happen.  We have so enjoyed this home that God has provided for us and have not been looking for that long dreamed of property.  It has been a crazy month of figuring out if this is a good idea to pursue this property which would actually reduce our mortgage.  Our offer on the property was a long back and forth ordeal and we came to a point where we really didn’t think it was going to happen.  When all finally was approved through a purchase agreement with a contingency requiring our current house to sell we had our house on the market within a few days.  We went on the market on a Monday afternoon and by Wednesday we had an offer.  It was a week before inspections were completed and all items figured out through that process, contingencies were removed and we have closing dates on our sale and purchase set for September 30^th.  We are completely overwhelmed and so grateful for how fast this all happened.  We don’t know why we didn’t have to go through a long grueling sale but we are so thankful. 

So, more lessons on understanding that sometimes we wait, and often there can seem to be some purpose in the wait that we hadn’t been able to see prior.  We are still, at this time, planning to continue on with our adoption process in Ghana.  That is what we have come to for the moment.  We need to be sure that God is closing that door, not us.  We understand that some more changes are coming in the region that our little one is in, so we need to wait a little bit before continuing in the process.  With a move into a new home we will also have lots of paperwork to re-do.  I am pretty used to paperwork this year, feels like it is all I have done!

The Curve Ball

Waiting is hard.  It really kind of stinks actually. We have three major life changers that we are waiting on right now and we have had to exercise extreme patience in the past couple of months.  It can feel like God is trying to ‘teach us patience’ at times and I wonder does this lesson ever get learned well?  I have heard the sayings “Don’t pray for patience” or “My mom prayed for patience and God gave her my brother” … Quite honestly I don’t really believe in having to be “taught patience” what I really believe it is comes down to is learning to believe in the Lord’s best in each situation.  The real lesson for me is knowing over and over, with each day, that God is in control of this and He has a plan that requires us for the time being … to wait. 

 

We have finished yet another year of baseball.  Really my favorite time of year.  I love being at the ball field and could sit and watch baseball or softball daily.  It has been in my blood for a really long time.  Being a pitcher in days past I got to experience the fun of throwing pitches that the batter did not know were coming.  It is quite fun to throw a curve ball, change up or off speed pitch and watch the batter try and hit it.  I have vivid memories of trying not to laugh on the mound because sometimes it truly (from the pitcher’s perspective) just looks funny.  I have actually seen batters tip over trying to hit the ball that was vastly different than what they expected to come.  It has gotten me thinking that sometimes I think that God is just one of those ultimate pitchers.  He throws curve balls and has the vantage point of watching us not knowing it is coming.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that he throws traumatic things at us to get a laugh, but in my pitcher’s mind I just think sometimes He has fun with it. 

Chris and I are in one of those moments where we have seen a few curve balls over the past several months.  We are feeling right now with this adoption process that God has a different path He may send us on and we have swung and missed a ball that He never intended for us to hit.  It is hard to remain content in the “not knowing” but we are doing our best to listen, trust and discern what He is telling us.  Please pray for us and with us about this.  We do not know if we should be changing to a different program or staying put in this program having less and less confidence that it is going to go anywhere.  We don’t want to be one of those families that “gives up” when we have so clearly been directed to where we are at and we have the face of a little girl who we have been “referred” (although we don’t yet even know if she has orphan status).  We also don’t want to continue chasing pitches that are not the ones we are supposed to hit.