Puzzle Pieces

It's been interesting that although these last couple of weeks have involved a complete turn of direction, there are just some puzzle pieces that have fallen into place by the change - some things that just seem to make more sense or fit a little better now that we know we are heading to Ethiopia and not El Salvador. Some may calls these "co-incidences". We will give God credit and call them "God-incidences".

-Early on in the adoption process, we both started sensing and speaking that we would be doing more than one adoption. We felt in our hearts that God had more than one planned for us. (A little crazy since we're both 43 this year, but that's ok.) So going to Ethiopia and then back to El Salvador fits the picture.

-Last year around this time I was doing a Beth Moore study on the Patriarchs. There was a lesson about Joseph waiting in prison for 2 years, because he had been forgotten by man, but not by God. At that time, I had this odd sense that our adoption process would involve a 2 year wait. (Even though our timelines were 15-19 months.)

-In November, I was looking at some adoption blogs and found these Ethiopian kids, an 8 year old boy and twin 4 year old girls, that caught my heart. I brought up at dinner that maybe we should put Mia "on hold" and go get these kids first. The girls had fun arranging bedrooms in their minds and thinking about having 7 kids in our family. After three days of praying, God told me "No - stay the course with Mia." Had we put Mia on hold at that time, we would have lost all of the agency fees we had paid. By waiting 2 more months, God changed our course without us losing fees.

-After speaking with the Ethiopia coordinator for AWAA, we found out that you cannot start the Ethiopian process until your youngest is 2. Kaden just turned 2 in September. (This takes away the question of "Did we hear wrong last January? Were we supposed to start in Ethiopia?" - It would not have been an option.)

-I ordered this cute Pottery Barn bedding for Mia on ebay. I had lost a bid on it once and was so excited when I got it the second time. When it arrived in the mail though, it seemed a little "babyish" for a toddler. The funny thing is, that because of Kaden's age, we are only eligible to request an infant from Ethiopia and not a toddler (and not an 8 year old and twin 4 year olds). Don't you just love how HE is in ALL the details!

I know that there was purpose in us being in the ES process for the past year. I know that God put Mia on our hearts for the future. I also think about how their government would not have recognized the need for change and more resources, if they had not been flooded with volumes of dossiers they couldn't handle. I believe that God will use our paperwork, along with that of many others, to begin to move and change the process in ES. Please pray with us that they would receive aid and resources and that they would pass laws that would help move these ES orphans to loving Christian homes.

I love that God is not surprised by any of this (even though we were!) I love that His plan was laid out before the foundation of the world. That is why all the pieces fall together the more His plan unfolds. I cannot tell you how anxious I am to get to the end of this story. I know the last chapter is going to be great!

"But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purpose of his heart through all generations." - Psalm 33:11