A Year Later :

From August 2012…

It has only been a year since I updated since NOTHING has happened until now…

As you can see from the phone in the fridge, I was a little distracted by the twist of events...

As Andy and I have waited in the past year, adoption has been on the backburner of our minds. We have known the process is long, and our expectations have been met peacefully. At various times, our agency sends pictures of children and often you wonder, “Could that be our next child?”, but then the next moment you think, “nah, I don’t think so.” Well, a few weeks ago, they emailed about a little girl in Haiti, and it caught my attention.

I then showed it to Andy, and it caught his attention too. It is hard to describe to people because you are always asked, “How do you know this is your child?” All I can say is your heart is pricked in a strange way that you take the next step.

The next step was to inquire. So we chatted about how she was 3.5 and spoke Creole. One year younger than Sydney…. Not a baby, but a 3.5 year old. Both Andy and I felt a huge peace about it. Peace was the word that kept surfacing. Not an emotional high and not numbness, just peace. (It just so happens that her name means harmony).

We waited about a week and only talked maybe once or twice about it. So we went to “Back to School Night” and right in the midst of the headmaster’s talk, my phone rang and I saw the area code was from Oregon where our agency is based. My heart skipped a beat because I just knew.

I grabbed Andy and we found a little office in the school where we heard them say, we have matched you with this little one.

So there you have it, 18 months into this process, we are switching countries. We started this process the day after the Haiti earthquake when Andy’s heart was opened and he said, “I think we could do one more”. Haiti’s adoptions were then closed due to the earthquake. Crazy how life brings you back to a place you were once.

Our times of prayer during these past weeks, God has been so gracious to lead us to the Scripture “He who believes in Him, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (It just so happens that the name of her orphanage has a lot to do with this name, Rivers of Hope). What we are learning through this part of our journey is just to be open so that His living water can flow through us. We are finding much joy in just being with the Lord and following him each step. John 7:37 was the next verse we kept seeing, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me.” So, we have surrendered to this turn.

The process will take another 12-18 months before we bring her home. It requires three trips. The adoption laws in Haiti change on Oct. 1rst so we will know more then about when we go and meet her. We are thinking it will be November.

I have already had many obstacles in the past few weeks to getting all of this finalized, but I have been clinging to the image of how many obstacles are in a river…. Those obstacles are indifferent to the river if you focus on the source of the river.

My hope lies there.