Disappointed and Still Encouraged

Anna and I have been plugging along with life. It's strange to have the everydayness of what you've known for five years, but also have the expectation that monumental change is about to take place in your routine. We have been planning and saving and putting everything together for us to bring our little girl home. And so far, everything has been going along as planned. I would say it's been eerie how well everything has worked out so far, but that would be discounting the obvious presence of God throughout this process.

A few weeks ago, we found out that due to a change in Ethiopian governmental policy, we will be going to Ethiopia twice now instead of once. This of course, makes the saver in me freak out beyond belief. Honestly, I was disappointed when I first received the news. My heart dropped a little, and I started to doubt how we would be able to make two trips to Addis Ababa in a six week period. That news, coupled with the news that the wait times are a little longer, has been tougher to bear that I thought. I'm definitely more impatient than I thought I was. To be honest I'm just ready for my daughter to be with us.

The farther removed I am from the news, I feel a greater calm come over me about the wait, about the cost of four round trip and a one way ticket from Tupelo to Ethiopia. I still don't know how or when it's all going to work out, but God has been so good and so evident from the start. It's difficult NOT to trust that he's going to make it all work. In fact, I don't have any doubt that he will. As a pastor, I get tired of hearing the cliche' "God's going to work everything out." Throughout this adoption, I've seen why that statement is cliche'. It's just true.