In Due Time

"...while they were there, the days were fulfilled..." Luke 2:6

I'm thinking on these words today, as the new year begins and we eagerly anticipate what it might hold. What will be fulfilled this year, in God's timing, in accordance with His plan? Will we welcome home Geovany? I want this year to be about more than just the waiting for the fulfillment of that dream. Each day has a purpose. Each day brings me closer to Christ. Each day...

Just my musing for today as we continue walking this road. Sometimes its feels as if I'm just literally putting one foot in front of the other.

Rob is preparing for a 10 day trip to Guatemala. He's taking a team of 18 people from our church. They'll be spending several days in a chapel factory, helping build chapel structures and then several days in Coban working with a local church. They will also be spending an afternoon at REMAR, conducting a VBS, playing with the kids and delivering literally hundreds of shoes, backpacks, socks, underwear and pencils. The outpouring of love from our church congregation for a group of orphans in Guatemala is overwhelming. What a beautiful testimony to what the body of Christ can do.

Because the items going down can't be in packages or look like they're for resale, our family spent an afternoon taking underwear and socks out of their original packaging, balling socks and pulling tape off the girls underwear (if someone could explain to me WHY women's underwear is packaged that way, I'd certainly love to know!!).

Blessings,

Rumblings?

I've started this post in my head at least a dozen times today. One year ago today we flew home from Guatemala after signing a power of attorney in the lobby of the Raddison, promising to do whatever it would take to bring our son home. We wondered how we would tell our family. How would we tell our friends. What would people think? Would our case be allowed to continue? Could we get a dossier together in time? So many questions. Yet, in the midst of it all, we had a deep-seated peace, knowing that God was in it and if God is for us, who can be against us?

If you had asked me then where we'd be today, I would have told you, with all confidence, that we would be preparing a Christmas for five beautiful children. Never would I have guessed that we'd still be stuck in the system.

Rumblings...preparations...pieces beginning to fall into place...

We learned last night that the investigations division (Minor's Court) has agreed to release our case back to PGN without going through a judge. Good news. Wonderful news. A beacon of hope as we pass this anniversary day without Geovanny at home. Not the first thing we've seen in the last few days that makes us wonder if our forever reunion with our sweet boy could be closer than we've dared to hope.

What's next? We really don't know. While they've agreed to send our dossier back to PGN, we don't know when that will actually happen. For all we know (our attorney is on vacation this week) it could have happened already. We pray that it has. There's still the issue of the document in question. Will we face a kick-out to get it fixed? Maybe. Or maybe, somewhere along the line, the problem has been solved and when PGN gets it back, they'll approve our case and release us. It's almost too much to ask for, but we ask anyways. Trusting that God knows what's best. Hoping for another miracle. Dreaming of a day we don't have to say good-bye to our son.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the gift of God's Son to us, my thoughts turn to Mary, the mother of Jesus. I think of how conflicted her heart must have been as she prepared to give birth to the Messiah, knowing that He would not be hers forever. Knowing He would be scoffed and rejected. I'm challenged by her courage and her strength and her desire to serve God no matter what. May I be as willing as she was to say "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true."

Blessings,

In Whom Do I Trust?

Today started off as one of those mornings where I just wanted an answer to this adoption craziness. All we've heard is that there has been no movement. No movement back towards PGN. No movement towards judicial review. No movement.

As Christmas approaches, I picture our son sitting in an orphanage, no decorations, no tree, no visible symbols of a celebration. But then another picture comes to mind, the picture of little boys sitting on the floor in front of a teen-age girl who is reading them a Bible story from a simple Spanish children's storybook. God nudges my heart. Isn't THAT what Christmas is about? Geovany may not see any visible signs of Christmas. He most likely won't receive any gifts. But he is hearing about the reason for the season.

As I questioned God, and began my reading for the morning, I came across this verse...

Isa 2:22 -- Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. How can they be of help to anyone?

I was challenged, once again, to remember that as wonderful as our attorney is, he is not the one in which we place our trust. As much as we appreciate all our agency has done for us, they are not the ones in whom we should be trusting. Our trust is in God alone. He has not forgotten Geovany. He has not forgotten us.

Isn't God gracious to continually meet us where we're at? To gently remind us that He understands. He doesn't condemn me for asking, but takes my hand and leads me back to truth my heart needs to hear.

Blessings,