Joys and Pains

As you may know from previous posts, Mike and I have decided to pursue adoption and/or foster care given our battle with infertility. And please don't take our decision as a surrender of our dream to one day have our own children naturally - it's just we want a family and we're ready to pursue different paths to reach that destination.

We completed the county's foster care training about a month ago and fully expected to get a placement phone call the next day. When that didn't happen, I expected the call within a week. Yet week merged into week and we never received a call. I contacted our social worker who assured us that she hadn't forgotten us, but that the number of children coming into the system had slowed down so it might be awhile before we get a placement call.

This was a blow to us since we had heard so much about the need for foster parents leading up to our training that we never thought there would be a waiting period. I even told Mike, "I wonder if God has a plan bigger than what we see, and maybe there's a reason we've not gotten a call yet."

Not even 2 days after our conversation, I received word from one of our new international workers that her sister was 4 months pregnant with a boy and she was looking for an adoptive family. Actually, the sister wanted our worker and her family to take the baby - but extenuating circumstances may make that difficult. The worker told my boss to pass a message to me that if I were interested in at least contacting her sister to ask about adoption that I should send her an email - which I did that night. She then passed along my message to her sister. And now we wait. I know there are a thousand things that could cause this opportunity to slip away, and I must learn to be patient and trust God. But I can't help but dream of boy names, picture a nursery, or imagine life as a mom. It's been nearly a week since the mother received my email, so I'm hoping that at least by the end of the week I'll know whether she's even interested.

Two things make this situation cool:
1. I have been praying about whether to move to another job for months now. BUT if God had listened to me then I never would have made this connection.
2. Mike and I already are certified for adoption (because of our foster care classes) so if the mom decides to choose us, we already are 5 steps ahead of the game.
3. my mom works in a law firm, so she has easy access to adoption laws in each state. AND one of her lawyers is from the home state of the mother, so the lawyer could maybe recommend someone to help us.

But, before I get ahead of myself, let me close by saying that our earnest prayer is for God's will to be done, and for this child to find the best, most loving family for him - even if it isn't us.

Gone forever and a day

I just realized it's been almost 2 months since I've posted - not that there's been much to share. Mike and I completed our foster care training, so now we just wait for the phone to ring. The disturbing train of thought, though, is that in essence we're hoping for some child to be abused or neglected so that we get to be a family to him or her (even if just temporarily). Eerie.

We also made a journey to Pensacola where my youngest brother, Ashton, graduated from high school. While there, my mom made a tentative job offer for a start up company my parents are beginning with another couple. They are looking for a manager of their soon-to-be data storage facility and my mom asked Mike to consider the job. It'll be at least 6 months before anything develops on this front, but it's something to consider.

I got busted at work over a trivial joke, but it's one more black mark on my record. Thankfully the situation was quickly diffused, but I think it served to further solidify my conviction that firstly, I'm not made for cubicle life, and secondly, I don't quite fit in at work. For now, though, all I can do is pray and wait for God to say when, where, how and what.

In more exciting developments, I'm beginning to grasp this concept of living a life of ministry without title, position, strategy or schedule. It happens when I least expect it: at Goodwill with the cashier, at Don Jose with our favorite waiters Marvin and Alberto, and at the pool with random soccer fans (GO USA!). Everywhere we go we encounter people who hunger for acceptance, significance and relationships. Offering these things is much easier than I expected, and more natural than viewing people as targets or, worse yet, enemies to be converted. This is all new to me, but we'll see what develops!