It's a Girl!

When I see Temple’s name (our adoption coordinator) on my phone or my inbox my heart starts beating a little faster.  Is this it?  Does she have news?  Do we have a child?  My mind races . . .  For the past several months every message from her has been instructions or questions regarding our paperwork.  But today was different.  My heart sped up as I read the subject, “Getting Closer!” When I read the information it was again just a few questions but the last line caused my heart to jump into my throat. “we are definitely getting VERY close . . .”

I was drying the dishes in the kitchen when I read the message to B. He said in a very stern voice, “Stop what you’re doing and go sit down on the couch.”  What?  Why?  He led me over to the couch and said Wendy we need to pray about this, right now!  Absolutely!  Let’s pray!  I’m so thankful for the Godly husband I have to lead us to the feet of our creator during that moment. 

The next morning couldn’t come fast enough.  I wanted to talk to Temple about the details of her e-mail and to see just how close we were. 

To my surprise she picked up on the second ring and quickly started explaining the reasoning behind her questions.  There was a little girl that was ready for referral.  Hooray!  What fantastic amazing news!  However, because of some details we would need to wait a few days until we received an official referral.     

When I hung up the phone my first instinct was to try and get a hold of B.  I knew he was in class so I sent him a text and told him to call when he had a chance.  My next thought was who else can I tell?  The Lord brought a thought to my mind of something I was reading that morning.  I had been making it a priority to fill my mind with truth in the mornings to help ward off the lies from Satan I experience throughout the day.  B had been so encouraging to remind me that I must keep truth in my mind as a defense, my armor.  On that particular morning the piece I was reading reminded me not to “run to this neighbor or that” but to run to my Savior.    

Immediately I started thanking the Lord for this glimmer of hope that things would start to move forward.  I prayed for this child and that we would rest in God’s sovereign plan for our family. 

We received this news on Thursday, May 3. Four looooooong days later on Monday morning the phone rang with a call from Temple.  Were we ready to review this baby girl? 

YES!  YES!  YES! 

We (im)patiently waited for the e-mail that would hold our first glimpse of her.  A couple of extremely long hours later the e-mail popped in to my inbox.  I called B, “It’s here.” It seemed like it took him forever as I sat there staring at my computer screen wondering what she looked like, what her name was, what her story was, and all the other details the message held.  When he finally arrived I clicked on the word “Referral”.  There was a long e-mail with all the details of this  process.  The first thing we saw was her birth name, then her birth date. The message went on to explain the details of what would come next if we accepted this referral.  There were warnings of the problems we might encounter and mention of a 5% loss of referrals.  Another warning to guard our hearts and to protect the integrity of our sweet girl in this process.  After we thoroughly read the message from the agency director we continued scrolling down and there she was . . .

The first thing I noticed were her eyelashes, they were so long and beautifully laid on her plump cheeks.  She was peacefully asleep in the first picture.  With the next picture her big, brown beautiful eyes stared in to mine and tears fell on my cheeks.  The reality of this being our daughter was too big of a thought for my mind to comprehend in this moment.  We received ten pictures and with each one my heart fell more in love with this beautiful child that God had ordained for our family.  I wanted to hold her, to kiss her, and whisper to her that I loved her. 

On Thursday, May 10, 2012 we officially accepted the referral of our daughter.  The process is moving forward, slowly.  I’m reminded of John Piper’s sermon in which he pointed out eight similarities between the believer’s adoption into God’s family and earthly adoption. “Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) seriously planned.” Ephesians 1:4-6 makes it clear that our adoption as believers was predestined from before creation. This is true also for the adoption of our little girl.  God planned from the beginning for this little girl to be a part of our family in His time.  We still have a long road ahead but she is our girl and will arrive in our arms at the perfect timing of God’s plan for our lives in order for Him to receive the most glory!  In this I am placing my trust each and every day!

We have had trials that brought us to this place and at first I was hesitant to ask others for prayer, not wanting to focus on the struggles we were facing.  But without hesitation I ask that you pray for our family, pray for our daughter, pray for her caretakers, pray for her birth family.  We know that there is still a possibility that the something will change and that we possibly will never bring her home. The reality that 5% of referrals are lost is on our minds. However, we are trusting in God’s plan and praying that His will be done in all three of our lives.

P.S. You might wonder why I'm not posting pictures of her.  As much as I would love to, we are instructed that legally we cannot post her pictures on a public site.  But I promise you as soon as I get the word that I can post them you may get tired of seeing her.  

Waiting.