Waiting and Remembering

January 1, 2013

Remembering miracles and treasures...The day we met Sierra:

One of the most difficult parts of any adoption journey seems to be the waiting- After jumping through seemingly hundreds of hoops, any tasks that could bring a sense of control are complete and there is nothing left to do but WAIT and PRAY and TRUST that God will move mountains on behalf of suffering children.  Psalm 77 encourages us to overcome discouragement by REMEMBERING what He has done before.  So today, as waiting for an adoptive placement seems endless, I will remember our first adoption journey.  Perhaps it will encourage others too ...

I had prayed for 10 years to adopt a child.  Circumstances said "wait."  Then, in 2009, my husband, David, came to me and said "I can think of no reason not to adopt that is not selfish.  Sign us up for the classes."  Tears flowed as this first obstacle was moved.  One year later, in January of 2010, our home-study was complete and we were WAITING on a placement.  The social worker had said it could be two years- even though we had agreed to either gender, any disability or ethnicity.  I was DISCOURAGED. This was the scripture God took me to that morning as obstacles again seemed impossible to move:

Psalm 77:19

Your road led through the sea

Your path through the mighty waters...

a pathway no one knew was there.... 

And then Psalm 66:5-6 Come and see what our God has done, what miracles He performs for His people!  He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and His people went across on foot.  There we rejoiced in Him. 

On Feb 20, 2010, the phone rang.  Our social worker's voice seemed surreal..."we have a match for you...."  Here is the first picture we ever saw of Sierra-  The social worker emailed it to us after we said "yes!" to her referral... We saw this treasured picture of her for the first time on my phone while sitting in the car...In tears we stared and laughed and cried.  It's like our first ultrasound picture of her.  It felt like we were watching God part the Red Sea...

 Here is David treasuring her in front of the foster home where we met her for the first time.  (Her first word came 2 months later "Dada!)  

Finally, we brought her home on March 8, 2010.  Here she is on our first night together- listening to bedtime Bible stories with Ianna, Leora and Liam who had prayed for her for months...

And seven months later on October 29, 2010- We were beyond surprised with another priceless treasure.  Sweet Alyssa, Sierra's biological sister, was entrusted to us.  Here is the FIRST time Sierra saw and held Alyssa.  Our precious daughters have changed us forever... 

We praise God daily that Sierra and Alyssa have each other-  and we have them.  

It was all so worth the wait for HIS TIMING.  It was worth every tear on the journey- and there were many.  Oh praise God that He allowed us to not "play it safe."  In a perfect world, adoption, foster care and orphan care would not be necessary.  But, this world is far from perfect.  Yet, today I look at my beyond-precious-daughters and R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R.   HE IS FAITHFUL!!!  

Isaiah 43:19 "For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness.  I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

And He did.  And He Does.  And He will.

So the wait continues for more children. And along with many other waiting families, we will savor the wait and try not to obsess over when that phone will ring...