From 3 to 4

Earlier this year we really felt God stirring our hearts to adopt.  Even from Joel’s first trip to China, we knew that this was something that we wanted to do—it was just a matter of when.  As most of you know, we had hoped to have a third child but when the news came that I was pregnant it also came accompanied with the news that the baby was not doing well.  The day before Thanksgiving in 2009, we said goodbye to our third child and mourned the loss of never getting to know our little one.  It has been a long journey and not one that seems like it will come to an end until we are united in Heaven with Jesus!  I like to think that Jesus will be the one to introduce us.  J

 

For the first year and a half I mourned a lot.  Sometimes I am not even sure what brought the thought to mind, but I was pretty emotional in worship and around small children.  I heard someone say that in some situations you mourn the past but in others you mourn “what could have been.”  I was definitely mourning what could have been… “my baby would be 6 months old today”…. “maybe our baby would be taking his first steps now”…. “our baby would be 1 year old this month”….  And sometimes I don’t even know what I was thinking but the tears would come—maybe just as a longing for a mom to hold her baby.  And honestly I still do mourn this child.  Even this week, there have been at least 3 times that I teared up just thinking about him/her.

A little more than two years after losing our baby (the beginning of this year), we felt like maybe God was ready for us to adopt.  I had just recently visited our local foster home (orphanage) and was talking with a good friend of ours about the possibility of adopting from this country.  I walked around the apartment with this baby in my arms….singing sweet songs of Jesus…and just enjoying pouring love onto him.  Later I shared my experience with Joel and we both felt like maybe it was time.

Just a couple of weeks later we were in Thailand and were able to talk to another mom who recently adopted while living in this country, and we were also able to talk to some counselors about things to think about before adopting.  We also saw some really cute kids while we were there and the timing seemed more and more right.

After we returned from Thailand, we agreed that we would pray for 30 days to make sure that we had a clear word from the Lord before we moved forward.  Every night we prayed together that God would give us direction about the adoption.  Each and every day God was giving us a peace in our hearts to adopt, and it was very exciting.  It still is exciting!

Our family will be coming back to the states at the end of this year and if all goes according to plan, we will bringing a sweet precious baby home with us.  God continued and still continues to give us a peace about adoption, but during that 30 days (on day 28) God gave us other news.  We are expecting a baby!

This baby is due just one week after the third anniversary of losing our third baby.  God is good!  For me, it is just another reminder that God loves me and knows me better than I know myself.  He knows how hard that time of year has been, but now He will give me another reason to rejoice!  How precious that He would give me a gift during that time! 

A lot has been going on since my last post.  We have been trying to get our plans together for what is going to happen for the rest of the year.  So as of now, here is a summary of what we think is going to happen.

During the first week of November, our family will travel to Thailand to prepare for the birth of our baby.  The baby will be born in Thailand because of some past complications that I had with my pregnancy with Isaac and Autumn.

We will arrive in Thailand about one month before the baby is born.  Most airlines will not let you fly if you more than 36 weeks pregnant.  We talked about flying to the states instead, but I have taken that flight a few times now, and I can’t imagine taking it while being 36 weeks pregnant!  So we will enjoy some down-time before the baby comes—maybe ride some elephants??  (OK, I won’t be riding any elephants, but the kids can!)

After the baby is born, we will need to stay in Thailand for a couple of weeks to process the baby’s American citizenship and obtain a passport.  However, if all goes well and in a timely fashion, we just might be home before Christmas.

We will be in the states for about 6 months, going back to China the first to middle part of June 2013. 

We went for my first check-up yesterday and besides our due date being off by a couple of days, everything seems to be fine (we are not having twins—for all of my family who kept teasing that it was always a possibility).  We heard the heartbeat and were even able to see the baby moving around on the ultrasound.  We are very thankful that God has given us the opportunity to love and care for another one of His precious creations. 

We still are looking forward to the day when we WILL adopt and the day that we can tell that child how long we prayed for him and looked forward to the day that we would finally hold him in our arms!