January 30, 2011

Dear friends and family!

Just a little update on the adoption journey!

We want to thank you all for all of the prayer and support you have given us about our adoption.  It has definitely been a much longer wait than we anticipated.  When we left Bedilu (Levi) in November, we really expected to be going back to Ethiopia to bring him home by the end December if not sooner.  Well here we are approaching February and we are still waiting.

This is what we do know!  Our paperwork and documents were submitted to the Embassy on December 28, 2010.  There was about a week of downtime because of the holiday.  Then the week of January 10^th the Embassy requested a “more detailed police report”.  That is apparently what we are waiting for.  They want more details that speak to how the police found him.

It is hard to explain what the “waiting” is like…..  It is a constant sense of anticipation.  Some days are easier than others.  Some have more tears than others.  Each day for me it means a surrender of my own expectations and my own agenda and claiming the Will of the Lord! Most days my heart is consumed with wanting to just go get him!  At the same time….I wouldn’t want to step one foot out of God’s will for our family! In his goodness and love, God gives us grace each day to sustain us!  We don’t understand why it has to take so long…. And we don’t always get to know the why for sure.  Regardless, we know that what the Lord does, He does well!  He continues to put the pieces of this together!  We trust and rest in the promises of the Lord!

Here are a few scriptures that have been set before us! We will keep you posted!

Love Laurie & Roger

Deuteronomy 33:12About Benjamin he said: “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”

2 Samuel 7:28
Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant

 Psalm 62:8
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

And then this song…..I love the words!  A great praise to our God who loves us!

 

Give me eyes to see                         

Give me grace to see Beyond this moment here. To believe that there Is nothing left to fear. That You alone are high above it all.                                               For You my God, are greater still.

More of who You are
May what I behold,
still my anxious heart.
Take what I have known
And break it all apart
For You my God, are greater still.

CHORUS
No sky contains,                            

And there is nothing That can ever separate us. There is nothing that can ever separate us from Your love. No life, no death, of this I am convinced. You my God, are greater still.

No doubt restrains,
All You are,
The greatness of our God.
I spend my life to know,
And I'm far from close
To all You are,
The greatness of our God.


And no words can say, or song convey,
all You are the greatness of our God.
I spend my life to know,
And I'm far from close
to all You are,
the greatness of our God.

Wisdom...

from a dear friend .... encouragement in the Wait!

WAIT

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, “Wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!”

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to Wait?”

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign.

Or even a ‘no’, to which I’ll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

I’m weary of asking!  I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,

As my Master replied again, “Wait.”

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting…for what?”

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine…

And he tenderly said “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.

You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint.

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

You’d never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends live a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You’d never know should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still…. ”Wait.”