At the end of the process

So my plan with my blog was to be open and honest with our process through adoption. However I realize that I have allowed it to be a place to complain and be negative. Almost always I feel this way after bad news but a few days out and the Lord shows me something new about our situation.

These last few days have been hard, I won't lie. It's tough to be so close after such a long journey only to be held up again. I have questioned why we decided to adopt, why put ourselves through pain and heartache. Then I got an email from Stephen yesterday that again reminded me of why we are doing this.

Adoption is AMAZING! There are children all over the world that need homes. These children need someone to fight for them, to say "I'll go through pain to end the sadness you feel everyday".

Is it easier to have children biologically, most of the time, YES! Adoption is slow, hard, you have little control over how your case is handled. And in the meantime your heart is growing more and more in love with this one precious little picture that you have been given. It takes the statistics of 147 million orphans and makes it REAL. They have real faces, real pain, real emotions.

God loves life. He loves redeemed life. Lives that were destined for sadness, loneliness being changed forever! But there still is an enemy, his goal is to seek to kill and destroy. He stands in direct opposition to the heart of adoption.

As christian families we have more than anyone to offer these children. A lifetime of not only hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ but seeing the gospel lived out everyday of their lives.

So we decided to adopt knowing it would be hard. But in the mist of it, it's easy to lose your focus and be consumed with the pain. Yet if I will just step back and remember why we are doing this it puts everything into perspective.

We're going through this for the Lord.
We're going through this for the love of a sweet child.
We're going through this because God's Word says 'Love your neighbor as yourself'

God has a special place in His heart for adoption. The idea was His to begin with.
As Christians we know we can't earn our way to heaven. That has been once and forever paid for by the blood of Christ. Yet the scriptures also tell us that TRUE and UNDEFILED religion (the service and worship of God) is to 'care for orphans and widows in their distress'.

So I want to apologize for being negative and allowing my blog to become a place of complaining and whining. Yes this is hard, I won't deny it. But this isn't about me!
It's about HIM! He went to the cross for me and endured unbelievable pain, I can most certainly handle this temporary and fleeting pain! It will come to an end! Before long I'll be able to post pictures for the world to see our beautiful sweet baby girl!

Until then please continue to pray for us as we attempt to finish this journey strong!