Clothes and interesting conversations

I was wandering around a local homeschool resource fair yesterday when I struck up a conversation with one of the Sonlight curriculum vendors. Somehow it came up that she was in the process of adopting. Funny how that seems to keep happening. She told me about her story and of course I told her about mine---rather, the story God is creating using our family. I told her about how we have had the referral for a while but are unable to bring our children home yet because of the moratorium on adoptions in Liberia. Adoptions are on hold while some much needed reforms are made to the laws to help protect the children. She asked how long it would be and I said weeks, months, a year or more? I just don't know. Her friend interjected with "Wow, and you're still smiling about it?"
I walked away from that conversation a little confused. Um, why wouldn't I smile about having to wait? I know, for those of you who know me or have known me in the past, patience is NOT something I excel at. I pondered this lady's comment most of the evening and on into to the early morning hours. Why can I smile while talking about how long it may take to bring Lydia and Leo home? The only answer I have is; it is not I but the Lord who gives me the grace to trust in His perfect timing. I know with every fiber of my being that He loves them so much more than I ever could, and believe me I love them so much my heart aches at times! So I smile when I talk about how long it may take because I can't do anything to change God's timing and I am glad for His ways are perfect, steady and unchanging.

A couple weeks ago, Rachel and I spent an afternoon shopping for the perfect outfits to send to Lydia and Leo. Our adoption coordinator traveled to Liberia last Saturday to set up foster care homes for the children who were matched with adoptive families.She was able to pack a few things to take to the orphanage.Rachel and I decided we would try Old Navy first. Of course, I walk over to the little girls section and pick up the cutest little sundress and immediately start crying. Rachel knows what to do. She just wraps her arms around me and gives me the tenderest hug. Do I detect a glisten in her eyes as well?
We ended up choosing an adorable pink sundress with matching flip-flops. They had hearts on them. For Leo I bought plaid shorts and a shirt. I can see him now with his big toothy grin smiling while he unpacks it. We also sent a box of hair creme for the orphanage. I have zero experience in buying this sort of thing. My husband and I went to Dollar General and I proceeded to wipe out the shelves. I was loading the entire contents of the shelf into our buggy when my husband said "Hey why don't you save some for the other customers?" I looked around and said "what customers?" and kept on loading up. My rationale was "Hey I am sending this to Liberia. We are in America. If someone else needs this stuff they can drive around the corner to another store and get it. They can't do that in Liberia. Can they?"

As I was packing up Lydia and Leo's outfits I began praying for them. I hugged the clothes tight, imagining what it would be like to hold Lydia and Leo in these clothes. "sigh" I even had my daughter Rachel take pictures of me holding the clothes.

Lydia and Leo will be moving into a foster care home in Liberia this week. We hope to get more information soon on who they are living with etc. Please keep them in your prayers. Transitions, even good ones, are often stressful and difficult.

We Can't Save them All....

Hi Everyone. Adrian here. I've been reading a fantastic book about Mother Theresa, called "Serving the Poorest of the Poor". Towards the end of the book, she recalls a time early in her life where her work was called "a drop in the ocean". At that time, she said: "We will never be able to care for all orphans, cure all disease, feed all the hungry, or treat all the lepers. But, our purpose is not to cure the world's problems, but to demonstrate Christian love."

This reminded me of a great blog post I came across not long ago, where the author questioned whether adoption is truly the best answer if the goal is caring for orphans. His point is that it costs thousands of dollars to adopt one child. With that same amount of money, many, many children can stay in their own country with relatives, or extended family. From an economic standpoint, adoption isn't very cost effective. However, it's not only about money. It's about personally touching the life of someone else. Seeing them smile and laugh, caring for them when they hurt. Teaching them the love, grace, mercy, and principles of God. Giving them a loving family. As Mother Theresa said, we can't save them all. But, if we all do something, more and more will be saved, both physically and spiritually.

The answer is multi-faceted. The comments from the blog post catch it best, from multiple points of view. The first commenter asked this question: "Am I adopting to save a life or am I adopting to become a parent to a child?" The answer for us is "Yes". It's both.

Another comment that I really like: "We have repeatedly said that adoption is not the answer for Ethiopia/Africa, but it was the answer for our boys."

Here's another that is very good. "We are to help the orphans and widows. Plain and simple. There will be many ways to do this: adoption, financial aid, missions, supporting a child through an organization, etc. We are just called to continue to minister to them as Christ does. In this way we are living the Gospel which is most important for all Believers. I don't expect that a pagan journalist is going to understand my faith and the working out of that faith.
I can not understand why my little one's mommy gave them up for adoption but I have to believe that they were Providentially placed in our home for a reason...maybe even to learn the truth of the Gospel and take it back to their homeland someday. That is not only taking care of a very small part of this generation but hopefully impacting many generations to come. "

There are so many other great comments. I'd love it if you read them.
Here's the article:
http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2008/08/is-adoption-the.html

Thanks,
Adrian