It's a Boy, Part 2!

October 9, 2008.

The day we waited for, prepared for, longed for. On that day we expected to welcome our firstborn into the world. For five months we anticipated this day, until that appointment when we found out that she would never make it to her due date. Which, by the way, according to our specialist was October 8^th. 8^th, 9^th, it made no difference. On both those days in 2008 we had empty arms and broken hearts.

October 8, 2010.

We got the letter from USCIS letting us know that our visa approval was being forwarded to our country. Good news, but not a big milestone. I scanned it and emailed it to the woman who is guiding our case.

The day was a hard one. Easier than last year and the year before, but still hard. I felt pretty draggy and down, and was really wondering if we were making the right choice about our adoption, if we were somehow misreading events, and so on. I sent up quite a few complaining, "are you sure you know what you're doing?" type-prayers, if you know what I mean. So, while T napped I dragged out my bible study and after finishing it read a few Psalms, praying for God to grant me peace and assurance. I came across these verses:

"But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan." "Oh Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more."

I thought, there it is, my peace, my assurance. I decided to stop complaining and move on with my day, confident that God knew what he was doing, even if I did not.

That evening, as we were about to tuck Tommy into bed we got a phone call from our caseworker. I thought that was odd. Usually when I email her a document she emails back to let me know she got it; she doesn't call. I thought it was even stranger when she asked us to put her on speaker.

She wanted to tell us about a little boy. That day she had received his adoption release. All of the families in front of us turned him down because they wanted to wait for girls. We were floored. Shocked. Completely caught off guard. We weren't expecting any news like this until at least the end of October...but thought we would be waiting until December.

She told us to think it over and call her the next day with our answer. October 9^th.

As you can imagine, we said yes. Wouldn't you?

I continued to be amazed at how good God was to answer my prayer for peace immediately through scripture, and then how he moved in a huge and awesome way to not only reassure us, but to take a day of hardship and turn it into one of happiness. I thought immediately of this: I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow...Jeremiah 31:13b. That is what God has so masterfully done for us. Taken two days that were days on which we thought we would receive the blessing of a child, Leah, but instead faced grief and sorrow, and once again made them days of rejoicing. His timing was perfect.

As for our boy, I have to be very careful with my details- the curse of leaving the blog public. He is young, and the spacing between him and Tommy falls within my "perfect" range of 18 months to 2 1/2 years. He has no known health issues (I say known because they only test for HIV). He is in an orphanage, and he has been cleared for adoption.

If you would like to join us in praying for him and this ongoing process we will be creating prayer cards. Each will have his cute little face and one (or two closely related) specific prayer requests on them. Each card will have a different request. All we ask is that you take a minute each day to pray for the one thing on your card. I will also be posting specific requests and updates as the case progresses for those of you who want the whole laundry lists. If you would like a card, please email or FB message me your address, or if you live close to my parents you can pick one up from them.

In the meantime, please pray for the little guy's health and safety (our code word for him is mtoto- pronounced mu-toto- which means young child in Swahili), and that we would be able to get a court date soon. For me: if you followed our last adoption you know we lost a referral when it turned out that the first boy we were matched with was not available to be adopted. Although we are clearly thrilled with the way things turned out (Tommy rocks!), I have a lingering fear that it will happen again. Even though this time our referral has already been cleared for adoption (orphan investigation complete), I have a worry that the orphanage will change their mind, or something. We've already had a little scare on this issue...hence the delay in relaying the news. I know it is silly, but, it is where I am struggling right now.