Ants in my Pants

The Ides of March are upon us, and though we won't officially see the first day of Spring for 3 more weeks, I have ants in my pants!  I am ready to start Spring Cleaning, and I am ready to meet our new daughter!!

Home Improvement News

By the grace of God we have made some wonderful progress on our "Master Suite," as we lovingly call it. You may have seen my post from the weekend entitled, "Progress in Pictures." Since then I have been able to start painting!! Larry finished sanding the closet so this week I was able to paint all the bedroom walls blue, AND I was able to prime the closet and paint it blue as well! 

 I spray painted our door handle and put it back on and spray painted some electrical plates. I even made a trip to Lowe's to buy more paint (Larry was jealous, as he is always looking for another reason to go to Lowes).

Finally, I finished painting the last pocket door and last night and this morning Larry worked on putting those pocket doors in (which took much longer than you would think, as usual). Tomorrow the LAST BIT of dry wall is going up! WAHOO! I cannot WAIT for this room to be finished so the Spring Cleaning can begin!! Give us ONE MORE WEEK!!

Adoption News

There has actually been some movement in our adoption journey, but not in the way you would expect. We were LID 4 weeks ago and have only seen the one file. Through the "miracle of facebook," I was blessed to connect with a fellow Lifeline mom in Georgia who was logged in on the same day as me and is also waiting to be matched with a girl around the same age. We learned yesterday that there were actually 18 families from Lifeline logged in on the same day, and we are all waiting to matched with girls! This is a huge number of families, compared to the average 10 families that are normally waiting at the same time. We were told to expect to have to wait 6 months to be matched! 

This is one way that GOD is moving in MY life during our journey. As excited as I am to "find" our new daughter, God has really given me his "peace that passes understanding" as I wait. At the same time that we are adopting to fulfill the Gospel of Jesus (and not to meet a personal need to expand our family), I have not been struck with the urgency that other adoptive families have for the entire orphan community. In truth, adoption was not an easy decision for us, and it is certainly not one you can force onto someone else! I am overwhelmed by the statistics that there are 147 million orphans worldwide, and approximately 6 million in China alone! Can you even fathom that number? Those are real babies and children without loving forever families! 147 Million of them. Fortunately, that is not a burden God has called any one of us to carry, but he has called our family to LOVE ONE.

That being said, the thought that there are even 18 families logged in on one day that are ITCHING to be matched with a precious daughter- ONE daughter out of 6 million orphans sitting in China, waiting- and we are being told we must wait 6 months to be matched with ONE, well this has moved my spirit to pray in a way I have been waiting for since we began this journey last July.

Please understand this is no fault of the adoption agencies or even of the orphanages, necessarily. I am not trying to place blame on the Chinese government agency in charge of orphan care or to complain that they need to get their act together. The number of orphans in China is staggering, and I know that everyone is simply doing the best they can. Unfortunately, the truth I have learned from other adoptive families who have "already been there" is that China is not as quick to get children with minor to correctable special needs "paper ready" for adoption, but focus in on the children with more moderate to severe special needs. So while there may be hundreds of little girls with "minor special needs" sitting in Chinese orphanages, and hundreds of families across the globe waiting to bring them home, they are not being put into the system and being made available to be matched!

This led me to ask the questions: Does not every child matter and deserve a forever family? Is not every child precious in God's sight? Is it not the will of God that we take care of orphans? Wouldn't matching one of these girls with minor special needs still fulfill the need to have ONE LESS orphan in China?

The answer is a resounding YES!! And so I am praying. I am pounding on the gates of heaven and petitioning the Almighty God, whom Scriptures say holds the hearts of kings like channels of water in his hands- I am petitioning my sovereign God, the God Who Sees and loves the orphan, to MOVE in the hearts of the Chinese government to start making a huge number of girls with minor needs paper ready for adoption. I am trusting that as I pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," that my God of Compassion will "make it rain" files!! I believe He will open the flood gates of files, and 6 months wait will not be a reality for the 18 families who were LID with Lifeline on Feb 3, 2016.

Will you pray with me? Not for my sake, but for the sake of the little girls in China who wait.