It has been about a month since I last chimed in on the adoption process and it being Thanksgiving Eve I thought it would be a good time to share some thoughts. I'm thinking of doing this once a month.
I've had to confront the virtue of patience the last several weeks. If you noticed the ticker above we have been waiting for little over month for our court date. While this has been frustrating it causes you to inwardly reflect a little more when you start considering what you should be thankful for (especially at Thanksgiving). When one truly takes the time to contemplate on what they should be thankful for the lack of patience in all areas of life becomes rather convicting.
Of course there are the obvious things that always come to mind one should be thankful for; family and friends, health, and the meeting of various physical needs. Then I started to consider the patience God has had with the human race on a macro-scale; he promised redemption after the fall, saved mankind in an ark, chose to bless all nations through a single nation, remained faithful to that that nation for centuries even though they turned their back on Him many times, and provided a Saviour from that nation that did bless the nations. On a micro-scale he pursues each one of us on personal basis. Yet we continue to turn our backs on Him on a daily basis. However, He is still there even though we aren't much of the time. Then when you consider we are His adopted sons and daughters then you just begin to realize how his heart must ache for us when we aren't with Him. As a result I really have no excuse not to show a patience in regards to this adoption. I trust God that this adoption will be finalized one day. God has submitted his dossier (adoption paperwork) for each one of us with the sacrifice of his Son. The sacrifice has been found legally sufficient. He is simply waiting for the day we come home. Because of that I trust I can be a little more patient before we get to bring our daughter home. I've looked over some quotes on patience this week and this little one was one of my favorites;
"Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God’s will."
Jeremy Collier
I spent a lot of time reflecting on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 over the last week. I had quite a bit of fun thinking about it in regards to the adoption. I looked at each verse and tried to find something relevant in the verse pertinent to the adoption process. I probably took too much liberty and made some stretches but I had fun doing so. Below is the passage and under each verse my little commentary. Those of you in the adoption process might have some of the same feelings. Enjoy;
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
Commentary: Lenka and I were content with our two boys Sam and Nate. Then we were quite surprised when had Emma. We always felt that if our family was to grow it would be through adoption not another biological child.
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
Commentary: Jordan was born this year phycially. Emotionally she was born to us first as an idea and now we have a little face to love. Every time you become a parent you sacrifice a lot and things that were once important pass away. With this adoption we gave up money, time, and a family trip to Florida. What we planted (gained) is new ways to be stretched and trust God. Ultimately Jordan will be uprooted from the world she knows and our lives will change as well.
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
Commentary: Hmmm the kill seemed like a bit of stretch. In a way I had to kill earthly desires in my life to make this adoption happen. Our pastor makes the point quite often that your offerings/sacrifices shouldn't be easy they should hurt. However, through sacrifice comes healing and greater and deeper understanding of God's love. During the adoption process many fears have been torn down; what if the child is not healthy, raising a child of a different race, we can't handle another child, or where is the money going to come from. Again as each fear was faced our faith in God has been built. Adopting from Ethiopia has also forced us to really to face stereotype or prejudices as related to the AIDS crisis in the world.
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
Commentary: Each piece of paper that had to be redone caused one to want to weep. Seeing Jordan picture for the first time caused us to laugh and dance. The fact that we don't have her home for the holidays causes us to mourn.5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
Commentary: When we started considering adoption we scattered many stones. Investigated many different agencies and countries. However, as we gathered the stones in we found our agency and country. We embraced the country of Ethiopia and one of their daughters. The adoption process makes me want to sing sometimes. Something tells me that is not the meaning of "refrain" in this context but I couldn't resist :P .
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
Commentary: Adoption is all about searching inside yourself and determining what is important in life. When you search deep inside you see what you need to give up or throw away and what is important to keep.7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
Commentary: I felt like tearing up our medical forms many times. No other part of our paperwork process was more frustrating and tore us down. However, when one focused on the end then any frustrations were mended. During the dossier process we were in constant contact with our adoption coordinator. During our waiting period, both pre-referral and post-referral, we have tried to keep communication as minimal as possible. We kind of feel that we need to give people in charge the space to work and they can't do that with us hovering. However, I expect our relative silence to end when things begin to move again.8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Commentary: Adoption is all about love. A inexplicable bond of love of parents for a child that is not of them. There is also a hate of sin in the world that would cause so much suffering that any child would need to be orphaned. War is waged when you have to go to the New Hampshire Secretary of State Office for the second time trying to get a letter of reference authenticated and having the notary's signature being rejected again. Peace coming 24 hours later when the months of paperwork is complete and you FEDEX it to Virginia.
I made a quilt for Nate with this fabric.
As you can see these blocks are in Sam's quilt (maybe in a different order but you get the idea).
This was I believe a gift for someone from our church.
And these two are backs from the baby quilts.
I made a quilt for Nate with this fabric.
As you can see these blocks are in Sam's quilt (maybe in a different order but you get the idea).
This was I believe a gift for someone from our church.
And these two are backs from the baby quilts.
