So here's the deal... I have NO idea what I'm doing! You wouldn't believe how long it's taken me just to set up this bare bones, ugly little blog! I'm trying.
I've never been a scrap-booker, blogger, “journaler,” you know, anything that requires creativity or sharing my feelings and thoughts. I'm going to give it a whirl because the last time we met with our Social Worker, Whitney, she suggested that we document our story for our future kiddos. So, I'm doing this for you, kids. I'm going to try to document how we evolved from a family of five to a family of seven. It looks crazy to even write it. But, Jeremy and I feel like that's what we've been called to, a love that looks crazy on paper (or my laptop screen) (and probably to most people in the "world"). We know that God will turn it into a beautiful story.
I agonized over what to call my blog and finally came up with Psalm 68:6, "He places the lonely in families." This was long after we had decided to adopt, and it struck me. I tried to look into a few commentaries about the context of the verse and what I've found is that he is most likely talking about the the Israelites. After they escaped from Pharoah, they were scattered and some were separated from their families. They were sometimes welcomed into a different family. Another said that it he is talking about God welcoming the lonely into His family. That is our goal. We want to be loving parents to our new kids, but more than anything, we want them to know that God desires to welcome them into His home. We want them to know the love of Jesus and His grace that saves them.
I'll never forget (well, actually I hate saying that because I probably will. Jeron says, "It's just a figure of speech, mom.") the song by Wayne Watson (whom you've probably never heard of) called "It's Good to be Lonely." The lyrics talk about how it's OK to be lonely every now and then to see that God is really ALL we need. When we feel like there's no one in this world who will love us, when we fail at some noble pursuit, when there's no one to go home to... our God is ENOUGH!!! But, what if someone doesn't know God? They don't have the same opportunity to realize that He is all they need. They are just truly lonely.
I'll never forget (well, actually I hate saying that because I probably will. Jeron says, "It's just a figure of speech, mom.") the song by Wayne Watson (whom you've probably never heard of) called "It's Good to be Lonely." The lyrics talk about how it's OK to be lonely every now and then to see that God is really ALL we need. When we feel like there's no one in this world who will love us, when we fail at some noble pursuit, when there's no one to go home to... our God is ENOUGH!!! But, what if someone doesn't know God? They don't have the same opportunity to realize that He is all they need. They are just truly lonely.
I want our bio kids and our adopted kids to know that God is always enough. I believe our adopted kids have the advantage here. They're coming from a country rich in love, rich in tradition, rich in culture, but they don't have access to all of the material things that we have. The fact that we're Americans is a blessing and a burden. We have to be on our toes at all times, making sure that we're not letting something that we have access to, replace our need for our great God.
Our three sons have been taught and shown the love of Jesus. I hope that our ET kids have been given the same blessing, but if they haven't, we feel blessed to know that we will have the opportunity to share that with them. Someday our Ethiopian kids will be able to tell us their story. I'm sure it will include some times of loneliness. My prayer is that all five of our kids will know Jesus intimately, and that they will never know true loneliness again.
