Six months ago we were matched with our sweet baby boy.
Six months ago he was 10 months old. He's now almost 17 months old and growing older every day.
Six months ago I just assumed we would be further along in our adoption at this point, close to having him home even and yet we still have so much waiting left to do. Some days it's agonizing. Really nearly every day it can be agonizing because we have absolutely no idea when we will receive any of our approvals and move forward with completing our adoption of Ryan due to the unpredictability with the India program.
I feel like our life is in limbo.
We have been contemplating putting our house on the market in the spring but we're not sure if our adoption will be final by then. Doing so before we travel to India would mean we'd have to update all of our paperwork which would cause more delays. We would like to make vacation plans but aren't sure when we'll travel to India so that's been put on the back burner, too. There are other life decisions that are hanging in the balance as well because we can't really do much without it affecting our adoption in one way or another. On that note, we have been waiting for our ARC approval for nearly eight weeks now. It could be eight more weeks, eight months, or even 11 months like one precious family I read about recently. Eleven months for one approval. My heart sinks a little when I read these things and I pray that is not God's plan for our sweet boy or any of these beloved orphans waiting for their families. BUT we've waited TEN YEARS to begin this adoption so waiting a few more weeks/months p r o b a b l y won't kill me. Make me crazy, most definitely - and I consider myself a pretty patient person. I teach kindergarten :)
THEN I read this:
Isaiah 43:5-7 (NIV)
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
God's promises right there >>> I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
Praying the next blog post is one announcing our ARC approval! :)
Also boldly praying and believing in the miracle that we will be on a plane to get our boy VERY SOON! Please join us in believing and praying this prayer.
I totally understand how you feel. Once you see that sweet face, every day that drags by is so very hard. Hang in there! Praying for you!
ReplyDeletethank you!
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI too know what you mean about feeling like you would be further along in the process by now. Because of state side agency issues we too have already experienced delays and now we are trying to get everything settled with a new agency. But once that referral is received I can only imagine the agony. I pray God gives you peace and will be at work in the process in India to move things along. One thing I think we all learn during this process is trust in the Lord in a deeper way. Afterall, there is not much we have control over during this process and we must look to Him to be at work on the behalf of our children. But we have the comfort of knowing He loves them even more than we do. I look forward to the next post and seeing that you got the approval!
Thanks - some days I have peace, and others I'm just an anxious mess. A lot of nights I just don't sleep well.. You are right - I am definitely learning a lot about trusting HIM!
DeleteMy heart goes out to you. I love and am so challenged to pray for this verse to be true in our adoption cases. May God give you his peace and allow you to see his answer to your prayers on Ryan's behalf!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteGod gave me that same verse months ago during a very uncertain time concerning the adoption. Love it when He uses scripture to speak truth and bring encouragement. I'll be praying for your journey to move forward soon!
ReplyDeleteI know, right? Love it when He does that too. Thanks for the prayers.
DeleteI understand your frustrations. My husband & I have been with our agency for almost 6 years now trying to adopt from India. We have had 3 failed child proposals and in January 2013 got our 4th Child Referral. We were told this time around it will be a smoother process....not!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are still waiting for State Approval seven months later!!! We too have put off things in life such as vacations thinking we would have to travel to India at same time. However the past year I especially have learned that it will happen when God says it will happen and in the meantime we all need to go about our daily lives and take vacations and live a little. Although it isn't easy to do we gotta try. I check my email like a hundred times a day just incase our agency has an update but nothing. I always have to contact them and it is very frustrating as I am not a patient person. Adopting from India has been the hardest thing we have ever done in our 16 years of marriage. It is frustrating to know that we are at the mercy of India and they take their sweet time while our precious children are waiting in an orphanage for us to get them. If only they could move faster with the approvals then none of us would have to wait the grueling wait. I keep hearing that in the end its all worth it.....but how much longer do we all have to wait?? Your in my thoughts and prayers. All the best.
Christina