From China with Love

"Paperwork Pregnant"

It's true adopting a child is not the same as carrying one in your own womb. I know, because I've carried two. Really, I had great pregnancies. No major morning sickness, weight gain or complications. A lot of heartburn, trouble sleeping, Charlie horses and feet in the ribs. Other than that, pregnancy was great!

I remember when I first found out I was pregnant with Mackenzie! I couldn't wait to start feeling all the symptoms of pregnancy. I actually WANTED to be sick and fat and tired! I wanted to have cravings and intense smells and a maternity clothes wardrobe! After all, there is no such thing as being "a little pregnant." Either you are pregnant or you are not.

But these things took time. And before I was "cute and pregnant," I just felt blah and bloated. Then I heard her heartbeat. I know that should have made it feel real, but really, that could have been a sound effect. I didn't look pregnant. I barely felt pregnant. Only God knew what was going on inside my body.

And that, my friends, is where the similarities of natural pregnancy and this stage of adoption lie. I am "paper work pregnant." I am in the "first trimester," if you will. I don't look like I'm adopting. Sometimes, I don't even feel like I'm adopting. It feels more like going to school...or therapy...or a job interview...or an interrogation...or applying for the space program. I am "paperwork pregnant." I keep saying that my daughter is out there, and God knows she is- he knit her together and has ordained our lives and spaces to collide in his beautiful time. But I don't know who she is. I don't know where she is in that great big sea of 1.2 billion people, 556,000 orphans that is China.

And as we press on through paperwork, interviews and background checks we are also reaching out to our "village" to help us bring her home. This, dear reader, is where natural pregnancy and paperwork pregnancy really part ways.
It's been said, "It takes a village," to raise a child. But in the case of adoption- in the case of our adoption- it takes a village to bring a child to her forever home. While we will provide for our "Little Sister" for the rest of her life, by God's grace and provision, we must rely on the heart-promptings of others to give selflessly to bring her home to us!

So thank you. Thank you for walking with us by FAITH and not by SIGHT. We have nothing to show for our efforts.
No baby bump. No morning sickness. No ultrasound photo to say this child exists and she is ours. And yet you give, and we "praise God, from whom all blessings flow."

"Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

"We walk by faith and not by sight."
  (2 Corinthians 5:7 )