NEVER GIVE UP
LOOKING BACK...ADOPTION TRAVEL DAY
There was A LOT of prayer and waiting and expectation leading up to this day. About a year and a half of it. What seemed like forever then feels like the blink of an eye now. I remember feeling like "Pfhew, it's almost over. The waiting is almost over and it's actually happening. Somebody pinch me because I can't believe we are actually getting to do this."
So to the people out there that are waiting... I want to encourage you with this...
DON'T GIVE UP! Not on circumstances. Not on yourself. Not on someone else. Definitely not on God.
Especially when it comes to people. I remember reaching a point where we almost gave up on finding Ethan's file. I remember feeling hopeless and lost in the sea of files. But it isn't hopeless. Because God. He doesn't give up on us so we shouldn't give up on Him. I am SOOO thankful we didn't get to that point. I am so thankful for all of those days of very IMpatient waiting. So never give up on someone you can't go a day without thinking about.
Below is an excerpt from my journal the morning we were boarding to travel across the world to complete this Crazy Parsley Party of 6. The next 48 hours were an insane mix of cities, planes, airports, countries, oceans, time changes, emotions, and jet lag. But even in those hours God was working and weaving and preparing hearts in ways we still don't even realize. God is in the waiting.
Feel free to SAVE THESE FREE DESIGNS (just right/double click and save image) to remind and encourage you on those hard days when you are coming too close to giving up. Listen to the song, Wait On You | Elevation Worship & Maverick City, to give you some pick me up too.
Many Blessings,
ADOPTION TRAVEL DAY
Feb 1: IT'S REALLY, REALLY HAPPENING!!!! Despite how long we have been in this process, and how many times I have begged for it to move quicker, some days I just can't believe it's really happening. Today is one of those days. We are getting on the plane and I still can't believe it. I can't believe how many billion things The Lord must have aligned just for us to meet this tiny little soul out of all of them. This one that he had picked out just for us.
I look back and think all the way back to my teen years and see where He began to knit into me a love for the Fatherless. And I see many threads woven through since then. Connecting moments and hearts and people. Knowing that there are probably a ton of things I don't even see. I find myself completely and totally in awe of it. In awe of just how good God is. Even though I already knew it, I know it now in a whole new way.
I am amazed by His faithfulness. His sovereignty. But, mostly in awe of His incredible, overarching, all encompassing, immeasurable love for the one. For each and every one of us. So much that He says "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." and then He comes after you and makes a way. He moves people and mountains to get to you.
Until I really knew the Lord, I didn't realize how much He had been chasing after me. Even when I didn't deserve it. And He doesn't just meet us, call us his own, check our name off a list, and move on. He continually pursues our hearts until all the pieces are his. That is what He has been doing in me through this season of waiting. Consuming new piece after piece. As we let go and let Him.
The waiting has been hard. So Hard. But, so worth it. I mean, sure, if I had been given the option there would have been no waiting. I would have brought E home from China with me the first time. But, God knows better than I. His ways are better than mine. And the faith and trust He has grown in me, through the waiting, has been worth it all.
In this season, we have seen God mold and change our hearts and align our wills with His. Both separately and together. We have seen Him reveal to us, without a shadow of a doubt, the child he had set aside for us. We have seen Him provide for the mountain of expense that adoption entails. We have watched Him raise up a tribe of people to love and support and help and teach us. We have seen God move total strangers to provide what we needed to walk this out. It's as if He has taken these last months to say "I told you so". (in the most loving way possible, of course) "I told you I would do it, I told you I provide. I told you to trust me.
"Now See". “SEE what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;" "Taste and see that The Lord is good." Well, we have tasted and we have seen. And now we are watching dreams come true. Dreams that we, once, didn't even know we had. Dreams bigger than we could have asked or imagined. He is worthy of all of the glory. And, He has only begun to show us. Sweet boy, we are coming to get you. We are FINALLY coming!!! It's REALLY HAPPENING.
As we travel today, God, we ask for safety and peace for all of us. God, continue to prepare Ethan's heart for this transition and for the hearts of his caregivers as they prepare to say goodbye. We love you and we thank you for all you have done in our lives up to this moment and for all that you have waiting and have prepared ahead of us.