About 6 weeks ago we encountered another adoptive couple as they were in the midst of a bit of drama. This being their first time adopting I hit them with this pearl of gracious wisdom:
"We will continue to pray for your adoption process. Having adopted once already I can honestly say there's more drama to come for you but it's so worth it."
I knew we had some more dramatic moments to come as well but I didn't necessarily appreciate the degree to which I was prophesying our own future. This has been that week...
Last weekend we were at my parents' house for a family reunion. We decided to go ahead and kickoff one of the few fundraisers we intend to do to raise money for our adoption (more on this in another post). I wasn't sure how it would go and I felt a little awkward about hitting up my family for money. I'm just not a fundraiser kind of guy. As we were packing up to leave we counted the money they donated, it was more than I had hoped for by a wide margin. What a blessing they are to us. Ecstatic!
Sunday/Monday we drove the 1,000 miles home with the three little ones in the car. That'll cause anyone to have second thoughts about adding to their family. Frustrated and tired!
Monday we found out that we have been pre-approved by China to adopt our son. Ecstatic!
Tuesday we got our USCIS approval to adopt. More ecstatic!!
Wednesday I spoke to our social worker and was informed that we won't be approved to get two kiddos in one trip. Disappointed and a bit confused but a little relieved that we can just focus on our son.
Thought about the Wednesday conversation some more... Something fishy about this so I asked a few more questions. 14 emails and a lengthy phone conversation today, we're not getting two children in a single trip. Frustrated and a little heartbroken.
Drama week...prophecy fulfilled.
On the bus-ride home this evening I was thinking about this. Why would God lead us so far down the path of getting two children at once only to yank the rug out from under us in such a fashion as He did? This led me to think about Abraham. God led him down a fairly dramatic path (sacrifice your son) only to stop him at the last second. It was a test of Abraham's faithfulness. Is that what He did to us? The more I thought about this the more I considered the last 18 months of our life, how God has called us to do the ridiculous and how we followed Him right along. Perhaps today was an act of mercy and grace. He showed mercy and grace to Abraham by not actually making him sacrifice his son. Perhaps He's showed us mercy and grace by not exposing us to the potential problems that two children at once can bring.
I'm still disappointed, a little frustrated, and heartbroken. But I know God is sovereign and I know He is trustworthy. If He thinks getting one child at a time instead of two is the way for me to best glorify Him, then let's do it, it'll be so worth it!
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