fingerprints

Who knew fingerprints could be so hard? We got an email today from our social worker saying that she has someone "on a mission" to find my fingerprints today or tomorrow. She said that if they can't be found, I might have to go to the FBI for them to try again. As patient as we are, please pray that they can find the fingerprints and that we can actually start the waiting process soon. Thanks!

Another quote

Here is another quote about the day his adopted son was born. It gives me chills.

"I wonder what I was doing that day. My old calendar from that year tells me that I was working on my doctoral dissertation, typing way like I am right now. I probably walked to my favorite coffee show and ordered the regular. I was probably also feeling sorry for myself. I don't need a calendar to tell me that. I felt that way every day then.

I'd prayed every morning and night for children. I would have done so that day too, with a desperate whine to my voice. I didn't know that day that my prayers had been answered, in a way beyond all I could ask or even think. I had no way of knowing that the greatest joys of my life so far were here, and yet not here; already and not yet. God wasn't ingoring me. He was training my affections to love these two boys, to be a father theologically, not just biologically".

I can't wait to see how God answers my prayer!

Waiting (and more on the Theology of Adoption)

We now have been waiting for almost 2 months for my fingerprints to go through. Our social worker let us know that my first attempt did not go through. Around Christmastime I was fingerprinted again, and we are still waiting on them. Our social worker has informed us that they have laid off their cori/fingerprinting workers, but she doesn't know how long it will take for other employees to get through all the work and check my fingerprints.

With this waiting, I have finished the book "Adopted for Life" by Russell D. Moore. This is an incredible book on the theology of Adoption, and I was inspired reading it. There is an incredibly great part about waiting... which spoke to me because this is exactly what we are doing:

"You may feel-especially if you are a man- as though you ought to be fighting someone for your children's lives. But there's no one to fight. You may feel as though you should be doing something to hurry along the process, even after all your paperwork is done. But there's nothing more to do. This sensation isn't unique to adoption. God has designed the universe around us so that anticipation is built into the order of things. Even in the most typical situations, after all, God doesn't create babies out of nothing. A woman may cry out from the bathroom, "Guess what honey? The test says I'm prengnant! but only rarely does a woman cry out from the bathroom, "Guess what honey, I just gave birth!" God slowly knits together a child in the womb as his parents wait for his arrival. God does this with almost every aspect of life."

This part of the book goes on to discuss, in a beautiful fashion, how God created the universe in 6 days, not just a blink of the eye. God also made Adam "wait for his queen". It's an incredible picture of patience and anticipation.

"As you move forward, remember that your God is king; so "do not be anxious" (Matt. 6:25-34). Just as our father provides food for the birds of the air, he also provides them with nests and hatching eggs".

It's amazing reading this part of the book, and to just be reminded that we are still waiting because our child is not ready for us yet... whether they are not born yet, or there are still things being worked out... God's timing is best. And, as unusual as it may seem, the more we wait, the more sure of God's soveriegnty I am. I know he has it all planned out. I just have to be patient. God is good, and can't wait to give us the desires of our hearts.