Our Family is safe

Many know that we live in Oklahoma. I just  wanted to post to let all know that our family is safe tonight. Sadly, as many have heard, a tornado ripped through Moore, a town in central Oklahoma. Many families have been impacted, and tonight parents weep for their children and loved ones. The tornado hit an elementary school as well as many other well populated areas.

Dear Lord, as our heart aches for these families, and we hear as the death count raises, we pray for these families, the relief workers, the children, the teachers.  I picture you now, wrapping your loving arms around these babies, but cry as I imagine the pain for those left here on earth. Oh God, how this world hurts and needs you! As this community tries to make sense of this tragedy, please help them to find you. To find peace in you, to find healing in you. To find hope in you. Praise you, that you love us and are a faithful God.

No News for me, but beautiful things for my friend :)

I follow many other blogs about international adoption.  And in many of these, I have noticed a serious lull in posting while they wait their kiddo.  Now I get it.  In the past there have been announcements to make.  I'm completed our home study! We were finger-printed! and so on.

But for now there is not much news.  Our paperwork has finally left stage one, medical exam and all, and is now, hopefully, traveling through gov't offices.  Our lives are going on.  My job is wonderful. Rosebud is hilarious.  My husband has found a new hobby. Our days are joyful.  But I get why there is a natural drop off of posting for myself and other bloggers.  I imagine one can only read so many posts of the emotional roller coaster of waiting before it stops being interesting and is just annoying.So today, I wanted to post about the joy of others.

I have been blessed by finding a friend through this process.  Those of you who joined in Prayer Extravaganza 2013, you will recognize the name of Sammy and Eric as they were the focus of one of the days.  God blessed me with this other mother to email, who understands and is experiencing the same things I am. She has been such a gift! and has allowed me to say things and vent things, and has shared hope with me and fears.

I wanted to write today's post because I just wanted to share with all of you who have been partnering with our family in prayer, that this family gained their sixth member this week!  They are in Lesotho, and have met their beautiful daughter.  Thank you all for your prayers for this family and for mine :) Please continue to pray for them in the days ahead.  Sunshine will have some serious changes coming up. The family will too :) and all of this is done in a totally foreign country.

I praise the Lord for my blessings!  For my son, for my friends, for unexpected support, and for being encouraged by the love and faith of others!

 (For more info on this fam, go to: http://sammyneric.blogspot.com/)


And just because I think it is cute....here is Rosebud with her big sister shirt and her heart in Lesotho necklace. She is so excited to meet M :)

My Prayer for this Time

Romans 15: 13.  This is my prayer for this time.  This time of waiting for my family, for my friends who are also waiting for their Basotho child, for my friends and family waiting here for their domestic adoptions. It is my prayer for my son's house mothers, who care for him now at Beautiful Gate. For the Beautiful Gate family, as they heal from the pain of recent events, as they love and care for God's children.  (for more information about this, visit http://blog.www.beautifulafrica.org/)

Before starting this post, I read over my last blog post.  I began to long for the peace I was experiencing at that time.  April is turning into May, and I have still no new news about M.  I miss him desperately.  And I feel myself trying to hold this together on my own.  Like I can will myself out of longing and inpatience, urgency and worry.  My brain believes in God's timing.  So I am praying today that the Holy Spirit overflow my heart with hope, trust and peace, so my heart and mind can come to an agreement.   And the same for my friends, who probably have felt this same way at one time or another.

Your friend,


Tara G

Too much and too little to say.

I find myself having so much! and so little to say.  Not much is new in the process EXCEPT.....

We have pictures of M!  What a miracle.  He appears healthy and well loved. He has big adorable cheeks an large sweet eyes.

We are preparing for him. Friends and family are lending us warm clothes in his approximate size as we are hoping to travel in Africa's autumn.  We have transitioned our office/playroom into an empty space, soon to be filled with nursery items.  Rosebud wears a necklace with an African pendant, with a heart cut out where Lesotho is. She tells everyone that is where her brother lives.

I love this little man so much! I can't wait to meet him. And yet, I feel a calm patience about the time line.  We were told to be ready to travel in May, however, our paperwork appears to have slowed down.  So it may be later.  And while a part of me fights to become upset and stressed about that, there is a serenity that is allowing me to rest and wait.  I was telling a friend of mine that I feel that I have a front row seat to a miracle.  Watching Christ love my son, seeking and providing for  M's need.  I am prayerful that my son's identity can become not that of an orphan, but that of a child of God.  One who was sought after, loved, cherished.  All of the orchestration!  For my son and my family.  I rest confidently in the Lord's faithfulness, and I wait on his timing. 

Here is what we pray for:

• That the Lord go before us and make the adoption and travel plans ready, safe, and unthwartable  (Idon't think that is really a word)
• That we find the last bit of funding for this adoption.  We have been blessed to be ready for each financial step.  We pray for the last stretch.
• That we are all ready for the family growth.  For M, for Rosebud, for Michael and I.
• Praise for a God who sees and loves all of his children!

I have a great joy in my heart! and am so excited to watch the rest of this adventure unfold :)

T

A simple Saturday morning post

I wrote a long post that was all about me.  So I erased it.  Here were the key points:
A. I am embarrassed about my last self-pitying post.  But it is really what I was experiencing, so at least it was honest.
B. I had a stressful job.  I decided to leave it. I am sad about it.  But I found what I am calling easy happiness, and I'm grateful for the light feeling of being able to handle things in my life again. I feel like I am rediscovering who I used to be.   I have had lots of joy in my last few years, but lightness was gone. I'm glad its back.
C.  I am optimistic that this easy happiness will help me manage this last stretch of the adoption journey.
D. I am back to feeling excited about M.  I am less worried about the "when?" , and focused more on the "when..." (an expectant less stressful more joyful hope and belief in our shared future).

This is a picture of Sani Pass in Lesotho. I love images of my son's country.  I also like the loopyness

of this road.  It feels familiar. 

 I feel like we are on the last loop on our way to meet our son :)

So there is that summation.  There is more important stuff for you to know about.

There are some serious needs right now in Lesotho. I am sharing the blog below, as it depicts some of the needs.  My heart breaks for the needs of children both here, in Lesotho, and around the globe.  This blog is from the family running Beautiful Gate, the orphanage where my son lives.  In your prayers today and throughout the week, please lift up this situation, these children, this orphanage, and the family and staff members who are diligently doing the Lord's work.

http://ourbeautifulmission.blogspot.com/

A new kind of wait

Forgive this and my previous posts. I am writing from my cell phone, so editing is even worse than usual.

I have been trying to figure out how to express the feelings I have in this new section of waiting, but the feelings only make sense in the context of my thoughts, so let me explain what that is like in a day:
(Imagine me Driving my car or doing some other normal activity. Something randomly sparks a thought of M)

I have a son! Yes! I have a son. That is crazy it has finally happened. What is he like? When will we meet him? WHEN!?!?!? Oh crap, I need to go get him. "Dear Jesus, please make this happen quickly." M is growing up in an orphanage. I need to go get him so he can begin bonding and forming resilience. Oh, but don't be so worried. He is in such a lovely orphanage. I feel confident he is loved. Whew I am thankful for that. BUT what if this takes a long time? What of the US state dept is confused about The Hague? How long will Lesotho take to get a court date? How long will my baby grow up without me? Ah, but The Lord has provided for M he will continue. "thank you Jesus!". I wonder what he looks like!?!? I have a son! That is crazy!


So this is a pretty rapid cycle of what my brain goes through on a fairly regular basis. Joy turns into longing incredibly quickly and then back. I am gifted in worrying and so cycles can include financial worries, work worries, travel worries, Rosebud worries. In fact as I am writing this, I am feeling a little convicted about not giving this all to The Lord . What am I gaining from this? I guess just feeling like worrying is doing something as I wait for my son, in a time that there is not much that I can do :( Well, actually There is plenty to do. I have a grant to apply for. A passport for Rosebud to obtain. And other similar tasks.

I have started some fun things. I have enjoyed reading about parenting. I have started Pinning nursery ideas on Pinterest. I have mentally rearranged our house to accommodate our member. But I guess part of me is still hesitant. I believe we will united with our son, but mostly I worry about the when.

Bam. That is the truth of where I am. Missing M and loving him already.


As I use this blog for my own kind of therapeutic intervention, I am attaching a pic of a verse sent to me while I waited for a matching meeting. It is clear I still need it now :)

A Brother for Rosebud!!!!!!

We have a baby boy! He is five months old and we are going to call him M (on this blog). It makes me think of James Bond :)

So what happens next you ask? We wait. We wait for documents to be compiled. Physical exams. For a pic to be sent! For a court date! And for the green light to go get our M. How long will that take? I have no answer to that! I pray daily that our time apart will be miraculously short.

In the wait, I have started reading adoption parenting books. I did not start then before because I thought I would be more motivated once matched. I inserted a pic of the book below. It has been very informative!

I want to write about what this stage of waiting is like, but I haven't found the right words. I will save it for the next blog.

For now: Praise The Lord! For his faith, grace and love. For being faithful to His promise and for loving our son! I pray that I continue to lean on Him for the rest of this journey!

I want to say a special thanks to my prayer partners through this journey! I can never say how much it truly mean to me!!!

Thanks all!

Tara G