Learning to Wait

Waiting is hard, really hard. We've been waiting for 5 weeks to be logged in to China's system and still no word. And this has really gotten to me, I feel so frustrated, our case is not moving forward. Our child sits waiting on us, another month passes.

Emilee is taking a photography class at our church and I ride with her because Taylor likes the children's activities that are held on Wednesday evenings. Last week a couple friends invited me to a group called Mom-to-Mom and its for, well, you guessed it moms :) who can learn from each other how to be strong for their families, and to be a place of support and uplifting for each other. Last week was nice, I really enjoyed it.

But last night blew me away, I believe everything happens for a purpose and I believe I was invited to this group so that I would hear last night's speaker. This woman is a friend, I am honored to know her, she is a doctor, a professor of education, published in her field and she is a mom. She talked last night about the influence a mom has on her family. She spoke about being joyful always, about praying without ceasing, and being thankful in all circumstances. And she talked about waiting. On how hard it is, and how we can and must rely on God as we wait. There is no way to describe what an eloquent speaker she is but she cut through everything I've been feeling and it helped my heart so much. She shared special scripture verses - Isaiah 30:18, Lamentations 3:21-26. Then I really stepped out of my comfort zone and shared with the women at my table how hard it is to know you have a child a world away and be powerless to do anything about it but wait. And a friend at the table shared the verses Psalms 62:5-8. I've met many people who do not understand how you can love a child you've actually never met. But these friends so get it and validated my feelings that I've been having lately. And finally, as I left to pick up Taylor, I ran into another friend who asked me how our adoption was going. I did not go into any detail, I just told her we were waiting and it was really hard. And she said, hold on a minute, and she got out her Bible and opened it up and read to me.

"I will climb my watchtower now, and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint. And the Lord said to me 'Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell others. But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient. They will not be overdue a single day." That is His promise. Everything will happen when it is supposed to. I feel so much better, that everything happens as it is supposed to. We have Taylor because everything happened in the timing it was supposed to. How could I ever forget that?

So we wait for our LID and it will be issued on the day it should be. And then we will wait for our LOA and we will celebrate big time when we get that! And then we'll wait some more for a few more steps and then we will travel to bring Jennifer home at the exact right time. And I commit to trying to be more joyful while we wait.