Pictures!

Perfect timing - I got these pictures from another adoptive mom who was just at EN visiting her daughter over Thanksgiving. This was such a special unexpected blessing at the perfect time!

God's perfect timing - IV

After taking a break from the adoption process for Dillon's birth, we started up again in the summer of 2005. Again, we started praying for the child or children that God had planned for us. (Eddie was born in the summer of 2005 - right about the same time we started praying for him and again for Lilibeth.)

Shortly after Christmas that year God clearly directed our attention to a little girl with special needs in Guatemala. We prayed and prayed and prayed about pursuing adopting her, and God worked out seemingly impossible situations to move us towards bringing her home. She was about 3 years old and was developmentally delayed. Both my husband and I have had a lot of experience and education working with developmentally challenged kids, and we really felt the Lord's guiding in throughout the whole process. I could give you many, many examples of doors that He opened that seemed like impossible hurtles at the time.

But, long story short - the agency representing this little girl matches kids with families instead of families with kids. So there isn't a waiting list - it comes down to who is the best family for the child. After about a month of pursuing this little girl it was down to us and one other family. The next step was going to be phone interviews with a team of social workers. Of course, this was a unique process for us and I felt a little uncomfortable with it (it almost felt like I was 'competing' for this child), but we just kept giving it to the Lord and asking Him to bless this child with the family that is best for her and to prepare our hearts for whatever the outcome. So, after we said that we still wanted to pursue the adoption and continue the process with the phone interviews we got a phone call (the next day in fact) saying "This has never happened before and it is unheard of, but this little girl (who by the way, was in a government run orphanage) was also assigned to another agency and she has already been matched with a European family!" So after all the doors the Lord opened for us, he definitely slammed the last one closed! It was difficult, but also bitter sweet to rest in knowing and seeing that the Lord will take care of the outcome!

And He certainly did have a bigger plan than we ever imagined. The Lord ended this process for us in the middle of February, and at the same time he brought Lilibeth and Eddie to Eagle's Nest Children's home. It is so amazing to look back at how the Lord moves through even painful situations to bring about His perfect plan.

More prayer requests

Please pray for us that we would trust in God's perfect timing. We talked with our social worker this morning and were told not to expect the kids to be out of PGN until February. (She is not even sure that their case has been resubmitted yet.)

There are so many unknowns right now with Guatemalan adoptions. And so many factors involved in this adoption that are completely out of our control. Please pray that we will have peace with where the Lord has us right now. Also pray that the Lord will move in the hearts of the people that do have more "control" over this adoption, that they would make decisions that are in the best interests of Lilibeth and Eddie. Pray that as Abraham willingly gave up his son as an act of obedience to God, we would also give Lilibeth and Eddie up to the Father and His timing, His control.

Thank you!

Swim time!

We are so thankful that Lilibeth and Eddie are in a children's home where they are loved and taken such good care of! They have so many opportunities to grow and develop there. Including playing in the swimming pool! When they get here they will have to adjust to our boring scenery, cold weather, and no pool! :)

God's perfect timing - III

We originally began our adoption process in the summer of 2004. At that time we also began praying in earnest for the little baby girl that God had already created specifically to be in our family. We prayed for her health and the health of her birthmother, and we prayed that God would protect them both from harm and that he would give her birthmother strength and comfort.

A few months after we started the adoption process, we found out that we were pregnant! Even though we were thrilled we were also a bit grieved because God had already created a love in our hearts for a little girl that we did not even know anything about yet. . . We were surprised at this turn of events, but God was not. He graciously planned for us to cover Lilibeth's first few months of life in prayer. (Lilibeth was born in the summer of 2004 - right about the same time we started praying for her.)

God's perfect timing - II

On Tuesday's blog I posted a copy of an e-mail I sent a friend - In that e-mail I said:

I'm also praying that God would mightily show Himself to our social worker and others at Crossroads through our adoption process. In some ways we've already seen His blessing and answering that prayer, and we trust He will continue to do that!

Another amazing way that God moved through our referral was by revealing His power to our social worker. She was so thrilled about our referral. When we started this process with her and told her that we wanted siblings - specifically a girl born in the summer of 2004 (Lilibeth was born summer of 2004) and her sibling born sometime during or after the summer of 2006, and that preferably we would like the sibling to be a boy (Eddie was born summer of 2006) . . . I think she thought we were crazy! (She did approve our homestudy though) :) She repeatedly, throughout our process reminded us how unlikely it would be for a sibling group younger than Sophia and that it would obviously be even more unlikely for them to be the exact ages and genders we wanted. We were really resigned to the "fact" that we would be matched with an infant.

So all that to explain that she was so amazed with our referral - And she said a few times, "I'm just amazed at how God answered all your prayers!"

Please continue to pray with us that God will glorify Himself through our process and that people would see Him and be drawn to this mighty God!

God's perfect timing

I've just been thinking a lot lately about how God has mightily answered our prayers throughout this process. SO, to encourage you, I thought I'd list some of the ways He has been moving. This will just be random thoughts/blog entries.

I was looking back at God's timing for everything so far. Here is a copy of an e-mail I sent to a friend on Monday, September 24th:

This whole process is teaching me to just let go and really trust in God's perfect timing and perfect wisdom. Knowing that no matter what happens it will be for good. So, I'm learning not to get all upset about things that are really beyond my control. (Like why didn't we get to be on the waitlist right away.) Of course my first thoughts are - "wait a minute, why wasn't our process like that!" But I know better than to dwell on that. It's really a growing experience for me. I'm usually much more of a "hands on," "get it done," "assert yourself" type person. Anyways, just random thoughts, but all to say that it's really been good to rest in knowing that God is in control and working all things (even the hard things) together for our good! My biggest prayer through this whole process is that no matter what happens God will amazingly glorify his name through our process. We are actually kind of in a unique situation working with Crossroads, because as far as I know, most of their employees are not believers. So I'm also praying that God would mightily show Himself to our social worker and others at Crossroads through our adoption process. In some ways we've already seen His blessing and answering that prayer, and we trust He will continue to do that!

Here's are excerpts from an e-mail I sent just four days later on Thursday morning, September 27th:

We got a referral this morning!!! Okay, let me back up. Last night I told my husband that I am praying that if God wants us to move ahead with Guatemala, then he would give us a referral THIS week . . . So, this morning my phone rings at 8 am. It's my social worker. She says, "I know now why Joanna told you to hang tight." There are siblings (3 year old girl and 1 year old boy) . . .WOW! We are just amazed! Not only did God answer my prayers about siblings (I wanted a girl that exact age and a baby boy!), but he also gave us our referral when we asked for it.

(NOTE: We were number 7 on the waitlist when we decided to pray for a referral by the end of the week.)

Psalm 139

O lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows those we love better than we do, too, and what is mysterious, confusing, or vexing to us is not so to Him. And right now the Lord, who sees when we sit and rise, watches our Lilibeth growing into an independent, sweet little girl, and our Eddie learning his first words and taking his first steps.

You hem me in, behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

Those we love and long to protect are covered by the only one who is really able to keep them safe. We pray that God will hem in Lilibeth and Eddie, protecting their hearts and souls while they are without family, so that they will be able to receive our love later. This verse gives me hope that the Lord can indeed answer that prayer.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn; if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast.

We grieve this separation from our daughter and son. Throughout life, we will sometimes be apart from those we love- husbands on trips, parents in nursing homes, small children off to school for the first time, grown children overseas serving on the mission field- and then the longer, harder separation of death. This brings anxiety and sadness. But nothing can separate those we love from God. This idea is gloriously amplified in Romans, in a verse well worth pondering every day, a verse that can be read with trumpet fanfare or a sweet small voice: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38-39)

If I say 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

God sees everything. What seems dark to us is not so to him. We do not know exactly what is happening in Guatemala and why Lilibeth and Eddie have not been cleared for adoption. But God does. He sees the events and people around us radically differently from how we see them. We fear darkness will hurt those we love. Perhaps it will. But to him, it is not hidden or dark.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

What joy that Lilibeth and Eddie have been knit together by God! I have not carried them in my womb; I have not been there for their beginnings. But God was there, creating them, watching them. God told Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jer 1:5). God carefully crafted David before he was king, Jeremiah before he was prophet, and Lilibeth and Eddie before they were home with family.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

To us, Lilibeth and Eddie's delay is unexpected and vexing. To God it is not a surprise. These days and nights were written in the Lord's book long before we stumbled across them. The unique life that God planned for Lilibeth and Eddie has already started.

Surely this psalm could also comfort the heart of Lilibeth's and Eddie's birth mother, if she could read it. She could glimpse God's plan arching above the brokenness and uncertainties of her life. She could see that there was an eternal purpose for the babies made inside of her and find comfort in her decision to protect these carefully created children instead of ending their lives in abortion. Perhaps she will find these verses. If I believe that God has laid his a hand on Lilibeth and Eddie, I can believe that he may lay his hand on her as well.

What a treasure God has given us in these words and in others that speak his promises to our hearts. Thank you, Father. ***


***This is a modified excerpt from an excellent book I am reading right now. The title is Carried Safely Home: The spiritual legacy of an adoptive family by Kristin Swick Wong. I highly recommend it, especially for those whose lives have been touched by adoption. I'm about halfway through and it has been such an encouragement to me! It describes what we are going through so exactly and with so much Godly wisdom and encouragement.

More pictures

(Lilibeth is on the right)

New Pictures!

Must see video!

One of the gals that went on the mission's trip to our orphanage with my friend put together a great video! It had me in tears by the end and not just because Lilibeth blew me a kiss!

Don't miss out!

Next week there will be a series of radio broadcasts concerning adoption. I'm looking forward to listening!

You can get find out more and see the broadcast schedule at: http://cryoftheorphan.org/Display.asp?Page=Broadcast

"Open your heart for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9

May you be greatly encouraged during this next week!

Praying for a miracle

God has worked many miracles for us already in this process, and we are praying for another one! We found out yesterday that the Guatemalan Christmas Holiday season starts November 15th! Which means that the government staffing at PGN (the court system) goes down to half starting November 15th and going through the rest of the year. Of course, this means that everything goes much slower there. Our case still has not been resubmitted to PGN yet because the corrections are still being made. Please join us in praying that the corrections will get done soon, and that our attorney (Pedro) would be able to quickly resubmit the case.

We have not been told which reviewer the case is with, so we don't know how far along it is. (The case has to be reviewed by three people before it can be signed out by the "final authority".) We are also praying that once we are back in PGN the Lord would move our paperwork quickly through so that the kids could get out before the end of the year. From our discussions with our social worker this sounds very unlikely, but we know that the Lord will work miracles here if it is best (after all, He is the actual Final Authority!), and as always we are praying that He will amazingly glorify His name through this process.

Thank you for your prayers and please don't hesitate to post or e-mail questions - we are glad to answer them if we can. We appreciate all of you!

Eddie

Whoa - a spider just landed in my lap!

Not funny!

Lilibeth

Where's the crow's nose?

Where's his eyes?

Muy Bien! (Very Good!)

Good news!

I have a friend who is on a mission's trip right now to Eagle's Nest and is spending time with Lilibeth and Eddie! She was so sweet and e-mailed me right away about them. Here are some of the descriptors she used for them: "AMAZING. . . awesome. . . laugh a lot. . . beautiful . . . SMART . . . outgoing . . . cuddly . . .VERY, VERY smart. . ." All these among other very encouraging comments about these kiddos. I'm so grateful to her for spending time loving them. She also described Lilibeth DANCING to the hokey pokey . . . apparently it was very cute and had everyone cracking up . . . "she shakes her whole hiney when she dances."

Sad news

We just got news that our case has been "kicked out" of PGN. This means that there are corrections that need to be done to the paperwork before it can be resubmitted. Please pray that the corrections will be made quickly and efficiently and that our case will be resubmitted soon. Please also pray for us that we would keep our feet firmly planted on our Solid Rock during this time of uncertainty.