To God be the Glory (Part 2)

 

Sunday was an awesome day filled with celebrating Memommy and Gandaddy’s 50^th wedding anniversary and their 40^th anniversary in the ministry. The day was filled with family, friends, and lots of good food and was certainly all about giving God glory!

On the way home from Dearing, which is about a 2 1/2-3 hour drive, Emmie said, “Mom, tomorrow is the day we are going to see Lexi’s face.” Wayne and I laughed and agreed that would be great. However, we knew the possibility of that happening was highly unlikely. The list came out last Monday and with no match, we had resigned ourselves to look forward to the next list. We were even content to wait until January, when our agency would receive files from two orphanages in Guangzhou. 

Fast forward several hours later. . . With the two days of traveling, the time change, and my nagging allergies, I was in bed and asleep at 8:15. Imagine my surprise when Wayne woke me around midnight to say we had a REFERRAL! I was completely in shock and had a hard time even comprehending what he said.

Needless to say, we quickly opened the email and scoured her information and her SWEET pics. With each and every description, we knew she was ours. Here’s the description of her personality and you’ll see what I mean:

·         Active

·         Restless

·         Talkative

·         Has ready smiles (makes my heart melt!!)

·         Fond of reading picture books

·         Energetic

·         Extroverted

·         And my very favorite . . . She likes to DANCE!

Oh my, she is going to fit right in! This list could describe any of our four children! We could hardly wait to share the news with the kids, but being the sweet parents that we are . . . we let them sleep until 6:45 :)! We asked Emmie how she knew and she said, "I just did!" Wow! They all laughed and felt at once that she was the one. Zachary must have looked at her pictures on my phone a million times throughout the day.

We wanted to share a few details about Baby Girl. She is 2 1/2 years old and will turn 3 in March. She is walking and talking and POTTY TRAINED!! She had surgery at 2 months to correct this really long name that I cannot pronounce and is healthy and meeting all developmental milestones. We cannot be more thrilled. (She was even holding an elephant in one of the photos. Wayne says that’s a clear sign – Roll Tide!)

Today we have submitted our Letter of Intent and will share her photos as soon as our agency says it’s okay. We are happy to show her off . . . just want to make sure it’s okay to post them.

Thank you for your prayers. Now the real wait begins!  Throughout this entire process . . . the good and the bad . . . we continue to learn that it’s not about us . . . it’s all about Him! So again we say, “To God be the Glory! He is Good!”

To God be the Glory

As many of you already know, THE LIST came out late Monday night. We prayed that somewhere in the wee hours of the morning we would see Baby Girl’s face. We stayed up late and got up off and on to check our email. By the time I left for school, I was nervous because we hadn’t heard, yet I was hopeful. Around 8:00, I got the nerve to text another waiting mom . . . she hadn’t heard either. We gathered strength from one another, ecstatic that if neither of us had heard maybe it was because the calls had not yet been made.  Together we waited, still hoping.  We checked on each other off and on, but there was no word. Lunch came around and then finally the end of the work day, and we knew that this was not the time. Our Baby Girls were not on that LIST. Late in the afternoon, we received a text that our agency had not found a match (for either of us). We were disappointed to say the least.

However . . . I had thought many times about what I would title the post in which we introduced our new baby girl to our family and friends. “To God be the Glory” seemed to be the only title that would fit, and yet several days after hearing that we must continue to wait, I can honestly still say . . . To God be the Glory!!! He is good .  .  . not because He does the things I want Him to do, when I want Him to, but because He is GOD. 

I will never understand how God takes the hopeless situation and brings peace. I will never understand how he takes those dark, hard, heartbreaking days and turns them into good. But what I do know is that He is Peace and He is Good. He defines the two; they are His very nature. And it is often during the sad times that we can see most clearly. 

This week has been tough for numerous reasons, and although not getting a match was heartbreaking, it was only one of several HARD events. It took me a couple of days to remember that when we said yes to adoption we entered a spiritual battlefield. Couple this with the fact that 47 people received Christ at church on Sunday and another eight agreed to follow Him last night at the Fall Festival, and we have waged an all out war! We would have been naïve to believe that it would all be smooth sailing. 

And yet . . . it is in these times that we must depend on a Savior. It is in these times that we can do nothing but pray and watch God work. We long to be a part of something that only God can do, but stepping out is scary. Yet, KNOWING that God is at work is so worth it. Today, God reminded us in so many ways that He is working all things for our good -  a sweet card from a student, an unexpected answer to prayer, a text from a new friend, supper from some OLD friends :) - all ways that God was just reassuring us that He’s got it all under control. How can we keep from singing His praise? And so we say . . . To God be the Glory! He is God and He is Good!