Hope

So, for a lot of reasons (too many to go in to) adoptions from Ethiopia have really, really slowed down. We've only been waiting for 4 months and 8 days, but it already feels like a long wait. Once we reach that 9 month marker, I'm really going to struggle with the wait. I will admit, having a pretty extreme case of 'baby fever' I have asked God lately if we are supposed to continue to wait. I've asked Him why he'd have us choose Ethiopia if this is how it was going to go (slowly). I've asked lots. And He has provided little tid-bits of hope.

You see, this is not just about us. There are over 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone!! Over 147 million in the world!! This is not just our story or our child's story - it is so much more. I firmly stand behind adoption. period. Being adopted myself, it is something I've always held near.

Anyway, we got a phone call, recently, from a friend who knows someone who started a small adoption grant organization that really wants to promote adoption awareness. We were asked to send the founder of the grant organization our story and she was going to use it at a large public event in February so that it may provide some encouragement to other families thinking about adopting or in the process. What a HUGE blessing.

Also, we got a personal invitation from Show Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's grant organization that gave us $6,000 toward our adoption) to come volunteer at his concert in Wisconsin in October. They gave us $6,000! Are you kidding me? I'd volunteer for more than just a few hours for them!!! It's a PRIVILEGE to be able to provide a service for them and I'm very excited about the opportunity.

So, these things, I'm taking to be hope from God - telling me - this is why. These opportunities are why. We are waiting - and He is our hope in the waiting.


Psalm 62:5-6
Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
      for my hope is in Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
      my fortress where I will not be shaken.