Silent Prayer Answered

Just before Christmas I was laid off. Why I was laid off is a long story for another day. I started making phone calls and interviewing the very next day and on the December 16th, two weeks after losing my job, I was offered a new position with an amazing company.

That certainly was a prayer answered but it would not be the only prayer to be answered this Christmas season.

We received notice in early December from USCIS that we were to appear for our biometrics (fancy word for more fingerprinting). Not having a job made pursuing an adoption unrealistic and my heart was heavy. However, we already paid for the I600a and not showing up for the appointment would have been a waste of the money. I prayed daily leading up to the appointment telling God that I believed in His will and that I would serve His children in any way I was called even if that meant that we wouldn't be bringing home a child to our family.

December 21st arrived and we went early in the morning for our appointment. Todd went first and with his fingerprinting complete, he left to run errands with the kids. I went next and finished my fingerprints a few minutes later.

As I left the office and walked to my truck I said the simple prayer I have been saying over and over for months, "God this is all in your hands and I trust in your plan. I know it was you calling us to care for orphans and I will do whatever it is that you ask of me....even if it means we're not adopting....I will patiently wait for your plans to be revealed."

I got in my truck, started my car and turned my phone's ringer back on. My status line was showing I had just received my daily verse from the app Daily Bible. I tapped on the icon and the day's verse read.

And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

                                               Matthew 8:15

I can't remember a time that I received a more clear cut, timely and direct answer to a prayer before that morning. I believed before that we were answering a call from God but now I hold on to that answered prayer knowing that in His time we will be called upon to say yes to a child who deserves to grow up in a family.

When God Says Wait......

What do you do when God tells you to wait? Do you tell Him you don't have time to wait? Do you tell Him waiting is not convenient right now? Do you try to convince Him that your plan to hurry up is better than His?

Maybe you do all these things but ultimately you still must wait, we all must wait. But does God mean for us to be idle while waiting? I doubt that very much.

My job situation is very tenuous at the moment. Find me someone in the US who thinks they have job security.  I need to figure out my job situation or we will not be able to pursue this adoption at this time. Fortunately, I am frantically looking to fix this situation but while I do that I'm asking myself what God wants of me right now. I can't seek new job opportunities all day and night. So what does He want me to do or to discover during the time I'm not out solving employment issues?

I KNOW that he did not put the conviction of adoption into my heart so that when an obstacle came along impeding it I would be able to justify abandoning His idea. I use all capitals on the word know because I KNOW in every cell of my being that God wants me to go to Uganda. I KNOW that God has planned for a specific child for our family who is waiting. I know this like I know I am mother. I can't be convinced I'm not a mother; I am a mother. I know this like I know my eyes are green. They are green. I know we're going to Uganda to adopt. We are adopting because God told me so.

But until then? Get your house in order, girl! Here's a partial list of my to-do's. Some of them trivial, yes, some of them just huge looming to-do's that I hate thinking about.

• Strip and seal the stone in the shower. DONE
• Create family budget and ways to save. DONE
• Sell furniture from business. Working on it!
• Input 2011 bank statements into Quick Books. Ugh!
• Write (yep, I'm writing a book!)
• Get the kids teeth sealed and get Kate's glasses ordered...believe me, this has been on the list for a while
• Clean out the kids bedrooms. Ick!
• Write thank you cards to those who have supported our adoption.
• Support others who are a step ahead of me in their adoption process.

I'd love to hear what other mothers are doing during their wait. Tell me what things you put on your list or checked off a long overdue list.