Monday, February 11, 2013

Moments of Weakness

     For the record, 99 percent of the time, I am cool, calm and collected.  Well, make that about 90 percent since it’s basketball season.
     I have signed up for about a dozen adoption newsletters over the past two years.  They’re all very similar in that about once a week they send an email begging people to adopt.  They have all these reasons why adoption is the answer, and they almost always include pictures of beautiful little boys and girls. Well, I unsubscribed to every single one in a moment of anguish last week, only to have to go back thirty minutes later and re-subscribe to my favorites.  I think I could be losing my mind. Seriously. 
     I know there are hundreds of thousands of orphans.  I know there are children waiting.  I know that I can make a difference in this world.  That’s why it’s so frustrating.  I get these emails begging people to adopt with all these great reasons why it’s a good way to extend your family.  We already have so much invested in bringing one of those little faces home, but we’re having trouble getting this thing off the ground.  It’s like we’re stuck in the mud without a rope or a chain.  I thought, “I don’t even know who to blame for the inadequacy of the process, but don’t blame me.  I AM TRYING!!”  Thankfully, I had bookmarked most of my favorites, so it didn’t take me long to get back on the lists.  I felt so dumb.  I need those emails, and I need to look at those faces, and I need to be thankful that Brock and I are in a place in our lives in which we are able to be patient.  We have two beautiful children to keep us busy, and we have so many positive things going for us at the moment.  We have absolutely no reason to feel sorry for ourselves.
     I get frustrated from time to time, but I am truly at peace with where we are in our adoption process.  Before and immediately after our conference call last Wednesday, I was anxious and worried about all of the changes and uncertainty in Haiti.  Brock and I had even talked about changing countries.  Before the conference call, I sent in a question to the director asking for specific guidance or at least a professional opinion specific to our family.  I just wanted someone to say, “This is what’s best for your family”.  The director read my question to the group and suggested that we pray and ask God for guidance.  She said that the agency would be seeking God’s will in the decisions that they would be making and that we should seek God’s will for our own families.  She hit a home run with that one because I immediately felt a sense of trust in our agency. What a relief!  Thank God the director got it right.  She can’t make a decision that belongs to God.  I have absolutely no doubt that God has led us to Haiti. From my knees, I gave it back to Him and felt that peace that I had somehow lost in the days prior.  I opened my Bible, and the verse in bold, although it’s not in bold today, was James 1:2-4.  It says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Thank you, Lord.   

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