One of the reasons I fell in love with the Korea program is that it's predictable.
We knew from the beginning what each step would look like.
Well, God knew from the beginning that each step would not look like what we thought it would look like.
We've recently learned that the 4-5 day required stay is quickly evolving into a 3-4 week stay.
We still don't know when we'll travel, but it means...
We really need to work on our Korean!
Our three bio kids are so coming with us. That's just too long to leave them behind!
Dustin will have to take an extra 2 weeks off from work - time that he doesn't have built into his vacation time.
Plus 3 more round-trip tickets across the ocean. Maybe we should take swimming lessons?
Thinking outside the box here.
We'll need to figure out where to stay, how to get around, and what to eat with 3-4 kids in tow...in a city of 10 million...where we don't know the language. No big deal.
A faith-growing opportunity if I've ever seen one.
New sights, new sounds, new language, new foods, new brother.
Bring it, Korea.
When I was in elementary school, I wore ugly blue tight jeans that were rolled up to reveal rolled-down socks. Pair those with a huge tie-dye shirt and some enormous bangs, and you get a girl who entered the awkward phase of junior high a few years early (although I blame part of that mess on the 80s). That girl also listened to Steven Curtis Chapman. A lot. And this was back when Christian music was comparable to a B movie. But I was rockin' that look, lovin' those songs.
I did eventually grow out of the awkwardness that defined me for a good four years. And I left Mr. Chapman far behind. So it wasn't until we attended the Christian Alliance for Orphan's Summit VI in Minneapolis that I realized I'd thrown the baby out with the bathwater - or, more appropriately, I'd thrown a really amazing Christian singer out with the big bangs.
We had the privilege of hearing Mary Beth Chapman tell the story of adopting - three times - and then losing one of their daughters through a tragic accident. I saw Steven Curtis and Mary Beth with grownup eyes, heard his songs with grownup ears, and cried many tears for their loss, but also tears of joy for the work that God has done through tragedy. Show Hope is a big part of that work. (Read Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman to hear the rest of their story.)
Last week, Dustin and I opened a letter from Show Hope and shed tears together again.
Show Hope has awarded our family a $4,000 grant in our adoption of Jeremiah.
Exactly what we need to finish our adoption expenses.
The financial portion of our journey started with a grant from Lifesong for Orphans and ended with a grant from Show Hope. The in-between was filled to the brim with support from our family, friends, and our church. God is good, my friends. He is so, so good.
While we can't say we're done, we're on a different phase now than we were in February, when we first saw our son's face. I guess you could say we've traveled in faith, we've finished that part of our journey, and now we can get off the bus.
We'd love for you to pray with us that we can get on the plane in the fall of 2012 to bring Jeremiah home. God is faithful, and will complete what He has begun in His good, good time. What an amazing privilege to hold our great Father's hand as He takes us to Korea.
Two years ago, almost to the day, we learned about Both Hands at the first Summit we attended. We knew right away that, if we ever needed to raise funds for an adoption, we wanted to do that through Both Hands.
 Summit VI, Minneapolis
A year later, we sent off our application requesting to do a Both Hands project to raise the funds needed to bring Jeremiah home. A few weeks later, we received a call from Aimee and JT from the Both Hands Foundation.
And last weekend, with 25 volunteers, 13 gallons of paint, and tons of love, we completed our Both Hands project.
The Both Hands Foundation staff watched the above video in their staff meeting this morning, with tears in their eyes. Their tireless work to help bring orphans into families and to meet the needs of widows has gone far beyond their reach, through the outstretched arm of our Father. Tomorrow, we leave to attend our third Summit. To be refreshed, encouraged, and strengthened to continue in the work God has called us to, both through our family's adoption of Jeremiah and through Adopted by Grace, our church's orphan care/adoption ministry. There, we will receive required training for our journey to adoption and beyond; and we will have the opportunity to thank JT and Aimee in person for all of their support, prayer, and encouragement.
Another chapter has ended.
In spite of the fact that I am perpetually 10 minutes late to everything, I like to get paperwork done on time. We've been pretty diligent in doing just that, and in sending in every check needed when it was due. Nobody's had to wait for us, and it's been a nice feeling to know that.
God has clearly shown us the adoption road, and we want to walk well and not falter.
And when it's time to wait, we want to wait well.
 We've received several emails this last week from Regina, our caseworker, regarding our place in line. She told us recently that we were number 7 in line, and she let us know this last week that, while we are currently at number 5 in line, the three families ahead of us in line will not be ready for their referrals for a few months. So that leaves...drum roll, please...us!
After reading the email, we looked at each other (with HUGE smiles on our faces) in disbelief, both of us wondering how we were going to come up with the remaining $18,000, but more than that, so completely excited that everything was finally happening.
I'll confess, we thought about shortcuts. Should we borrow from a bank? After all, if anything is, adoption is a cause worthy of borrowing money for! Or maybe borrow from our inheritance (with our parents' permission) with the intention of paying it all back?
Or maybe...
Maybe remember that God is on time, and that He has a child picked out already for our family - a child who will be ready for us exactly when we are ready for him. Because sure, it's possible for us to borrow from people and then spend years paying for the child who will be so worth it. But if God has been so faithful to provide everything we've needed up to this point, it would be foolish for us to assume that we have to take the rest into our own hands.
I read a story once of a man named Edgar who runs an orphanage in Mexico. He and his boys had run out of food, which wasn't unusual, and he sat down with them to pray. After they prayed that God would provide for their needs, Edgar had a choice: either he would go out and ask friends and neighbors to give them any extra rice and beans they had on hand, OR he would wait for God to answer his prayers. And keep praying.
After they were done praying the first time, the littlest boy piped up and said, "What kind of food does God deliver?"
Edgar smiled at the boy and said, "God desires to lavish His riches on you. Let's see what He provides.," They prayed again. Again, the little boy spoke: "Do you think...Will God bring us...meat?"
The faith of a child: to ask for the best in their time of need.
The man challenged that little boy to believe that God heard them as His children, and to ask again.
The same day, a man had flown into Monterrey, Mex. for a business convention. He told Beth Buckenberger, author of Reckless Faith, that he had lots of extra "product" that was no longer of use to him. Beth, embarrassed, told the man that she had forgotten what his business was, and he explained that he represents a meat company, and had brought choice cuts for potential vendors. Beth, connected to several orphanages in the area, said yes, of course she knew of people who could use it! She called Edgar and as she explained, he whispered, "Praise God!" and then turned away from the phone and shouted the news to his boys, that the Lord's response to their prayer was on its way over!
 __And the boys at Edgar's home ate meat that night that would make a king jealous.
That man could have prayed, and then gone out on his own to do what needed to be done. But instead, he stayed on his knees in a room full of children who had the faith to ask for the best.
God likes to be asked for what we need.
So even though a small part of me - a part of me that's getting smaller every day - would like to go out and ask every bank in town what rate they could give us on an adoption loan, I'm going to tell my soul to be still.
I'm going to keep praying, and I'm going to ask my children to pray with me. Because they know how to ask for the best, and I have a God who delights in giving it.
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so provie to be my disciples." - John 15:7,8
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