three years ago...



2012



2009



It's so hard to believe that three years ago we were throwing together a yard sale before Thanksgiving to raise funds for our adoption application fee.  THREE YEARS!  We have had friends who decided to adopt and have been home for over a year during that time... friends have had babies... school years have come and gone, Christmas has come and gone over and over, MFA programs have been started and completed, new jobs have been started, houses have been sold, moves have been made, little girls have grown to young ladies, little boys to toothless wonders, major disasters have happened world-wide... years... real, full years have gone by... and we still wait.  She still waits.

I don't often post here because I know I sound like a resounding gong:

"We're still waiting...."

"We're doing more paperwork/updates...."

"We need you to give us some of your money..."

"Please, please pray for us..."

To be honest, I'm really jealous of people coming home with their kids.  And Orphan Sunday makes me grumpy too.  For crying out loud, I am TRYING to do something.  Some days I just want to post on facebook or craigslist:  "hello. do you need a mother? call me."  I'm certain it wouldn't be the strangest thing on there.



And then I look back.  Ah, the glory of perspective.  The bad/hard/sad times are often the exact same times where miracles were brewing.  My perspective is just different.  There have been miraculous times from the very start.  That yard sale way back when... we raised around $2,000 and paid that first fee.  Friends and neighbors pitched in with items to sell and helped us sort, pack and haul away the goods.  Coffee was sold, Raffle tickets were bought, t-shirts were sold, grants were given, even a guitar was sold.  And remember that Noel CD that sold like hotcakes for days!?!  Insane amounts of money were raised and faith grew by leaps and bounds.

The moments I can rise out of myself and catch a glimpse of what HE has planned, in HIS time, for HIS purpose... wow. 

We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character, and character produces hope.  And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.  Romans 5:3-5