Checking things off the list!

Last night we had "GATE" training (and in case you're wondering, "GATE" does not stand for "Gather All The Education", it stands for "Grief/Loss, Attachment and Trans-racial Education...I was wrong with my guess for what the letters all stood for, but at least I had one word right!).

On our drive there, I told Mike that I was excited to meet other people who, for the most part, are at the same point of the adoption process as we are. In order to have the third home-study, each couple has to take this GATE training, so every couple there was (for the most part) at the same point as we are (which is, ready to have the second home-study) (I feel like I'm using parenthesis a lot in this entry!) (For good measure). I digress. We know a few different couples who are adopting - but no one who is at the same point as us, so I was excited for this training.

I have really enjoyed how God has orchestrated this so far...I can honestly sit back with a smile on my face and count the different ways that He has provided encouragement to us. Most of the time, it is in ways that I NEVER would have imagined. Through people who are so amazingly, perfectly placed that there is no other way it would have worked out except by Him. Some examples: the epic garage sale was one of the most difficult and exhausting weekends I can remember, but through that, I have made some friendships that I cannot imagine not having. People who have been so generous with giving to us and each time, it comes when I am feeling so scared because I just cannot see how it is all going to work together. Friends who, at the perfect moment of feeling over my head, send me a note, or text, or message, to let me know that they are praying for us and for our child.  Each of you play a beautiful role in this story..."it takes a village", takes on a whole new meaning for me! So many people pouring out love to Mike and I, and to our sweet babe. I feel like I shouldn't be surprised at how He provides exactly what we need at the exact time we need it anymore, but I still am!

So, we got to our adoption agency last night and as soon as I walked into the room, I see my RA from my first year at Cornerstone and her husband. What?!?  How cool is that?? They are also adopting  from Ethiopia and are just finishing up their final home-study. God, You are the best. (I wish I could fist-pump God sometimes!) (Again with the parenthesis!)

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

(Matthew 6:26)

The training was actually really helpful to us...each of us jotted down notes and had a lot to talk about on the way home. They really wanted all of us to take in the reality of what adoption is and what it means, and why it is. They noted that most people focus on "Adoption is so beautiful", which it is, but at the same time, it happens because of a tragedy. Our sweet baby will have gone through more than I could ever imagine by the time we bring them home...and then they will have to try and adjust themselves to a new place, with new people, new sounds, new smells, and a new life that they didn't choose to start over. It is so heart-breaking...but, as the case workers pointed out, there is beauty in redemption. While there is loss, there is gain...a daddy and a mommy who have been dreaming about getting to hold them, an extended family who can't wait to meet them, unconditional love, a chance for things that might not have been possible before. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest, and I am again reminded to daily lift up our child to the Lord. To pray for their safety, to pray for their health, to pray that they might know love from the moment of conception, that the Lord's gentle peace will speak to their little heart and soul from the beginning. I pray for their mama, daddy, and caregivers - that He would bless them and call their names. I think it would be so cool to all meet up one day in Heaven and celebrate life!

I am truly so humbled to be experiencing all that I am experiencing! To be called to walk along this road, to experience such peace and joy, to be shown so much love, and to have the honor of praying for the people who will be there in the beginning of our child's life. They will have a part in our child's story that I won't get to be there for, and I will never be able to express my thankfulness for them.

So we continue to check things off our list! Next step: second home-study!