So where are you?

I have been getting this question a lot lately, so I guess I haven't done a very good job of explaining where we are in the process! So, for my sake, so I can remember what happened when as I look back on this adoption journey years from now, and for your sake so you can better pray for us, here is where we are:

We are praying for the 4.7 million orphans in Ethiopia. {And would still LOVE to adopt from there one day!}

But,

Right now, our DOSSIER for the Democratic Republic of Congo is in our Director's hands! And she is in AFRICA right now! She is currently in Ethiopia, but is heading to Congo in a week or so, and she told us that she MIGHT be able to get us referrals while she is there!!!!!
(For those of you who aren't down with adoption lingo, a "referral" is basically a picture & information about a CHILD that meets your qualifications for age,etc.)

So we COULD possibly see our children's faces in the next week or two!! It's incredible. I am obviously still somewhat in denial or I would be bouncing off the walls with excitement!!!!! I think I am trying not to get my hopes up in case it doesn't work out... because we technically don't meet their marriage requirement of 5 years (but have been told by multiple other agencies that shouldn't be a problem) and there's lots of unknowns because we're a "pilot family". But at the same time it all seems to be happening so quickly that my "prepare way ahead of time" self doesn't know what to do. I was the girl who studied for an exam starting a week or 2 before and didn't even look at the material the day of. So I was all preparing myself to get on the "waiting list" for Ethiopia two weeks ago, with a 3 month wait for a referral, and then 6-9 months to bring him home.

Then the Lord threw open this door to the DRC and it was like "Get your dossier to us by the end of next week" and "I may get you a referral while I'm in DRC in 3 weeks" and "It should probably take about 6 months to have them home after you get the referral."  I guess I'm a little shell-shocked (in a good way). This isn't how my little plan was supposed to unfold. But hasn't God already reminded me SEVERAL times during this adoption process that I AM NOT IN CONTROL? For some reason that's a hard one for me to remember! I guess He knows that, and saw that I needed to be reminded AGAIN to rely on Him alone. So honestly, that's what I've been doing. I feel completely out of control of all of our adoption details (which I AM, so probably a good reality check) and I have just given up trying to control it and have been turning to the Lord in prayer daily- for our children, that He would work out all the details of our adoption, and that everything would happen in His perfect timing. (Not the "average adoption timelines" that I have been relying on and planning our life according to!)

Of course He would open the door for us to rescue orphans from a fairly "new" country, where we don't have hundreds of people to compare our experience to or know what to expect at all. But that's ok, because my God created the universe and everything and everyone in it! He REIGNS over ALL.



We sang this song this morning at church, its an awesome Sovereign Grace song that I used to have playing on my blog, and it was a great reminder that I just want to glorify God with my life- however HE wants to do that! So let His will be done in me!

So, if God is calling us to adopt from the DRC - then that is exactly what we want to do, anything, as long as His name is glorified! It may not be the "adoption experience" we were envisioning {we may not even be able to go to the country to bring our children home, more on that later}, but at the end of the day (or hopefully the end of this year!) two children will no longer be orphans, but loved and cherished children in a home that loves the Lord.

We are still going to the Lord in prayer on behalf of the many families we know that are adopting from Ethiopia and the millions of orphans who still need loving familes! But the Lord has also opened our eyes to the extreme plight of the orphans in the Congo as well... if you want to see some of the pictures that have been on our minds as we pray for our children, you can look at this adoptive momma's photos from her trip to bring her son, Miles, home from the DRC. But be warned, they are NOT for the faint at heart. The Lord may just open your eyes to the need for these children to be RESCUED.

"But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless." -Psalm 10:14

"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation." -Psalm 68:5

Please pray for our babies! I look at the pictures from this orphanage every few days and it causes me to PRAY for our children! PRAY that the Lord would protect them from harm and disease! PRAY that they are LOVED ON and would form loving attachments with a caregiver until we can bring them home to love on them forever! PRAY that they will receive food and nourishment!

I have no idea if the orphanage they are in right now is like that one, or if by some miracle it is nicer (and similar to the ones we've seen pics of in Ethiopia) but the sad fact is that orphans in the DRC don't appear to be cared for nearly as well as the orphans in Ethiopia {which makes me love & respect the great work Ethiopia is doing even more}.  Hopefully we will learn something soon, as soon as our Director gets back from the Congo (or possibly while she's there, if she can get a decent internet connection!). We covet your prayers for our child(ren) where ever they are! And for us that the Lord would be preparing us to love and parent them well! (Yes, we realize that it could be a little crazy over here with our son being only 18 months old in six months, but we know that if the Lord calls us to it, He will sustain us through it!)

Wow, that was long! If you're still reading, well hopefully that answered most of your questions! =) Good night! All this blogging has worn me out. ha