"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1:27
Does anyone remember the Wayne's World (I am dating myself) skit that they used to do on SNL? The two guys used to say "We're not worthy, we're not worthy . . ." I think of that phrase a lot when I think about our adoption of Gigi. So many times people have said to me, "That's so great what y'all are doing for her" when we discuss adoption. I want to say to them, "No, you don't understand. It is what she has done for us". Then, I want to say to the Lord, "We're not worthy!" And of course, none of us are worthy apart from Jesus; but our adoption process taught me this truth in a new way.
Our family was able to grow closer to each other and closer to the Lord during the adoption. There were many times when I cried out to Him, "Lord, where are you? Don't you see what is going on here?" But, looking back on those times, I see how He was stretching me/us. I can honestly say that I have never experienced the Lord's mercy in such a concrete way as during our adoption. I am talking about stuff like, ". . .and then on Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m., the Lord did this for us; and on Friday afternoon, He did that . . ." I am so grateful that I used my blog to document some of our events because many of my entries are monuments to His faithfulness. Most of you probably did not follow our journey, or you might not be familiar with the Guatemalan adoption process, but the Lord performed miracles. I will never forget sitting in Victor Barrios' office (the former head of PGN) praying and praying while Myra talked to him. Initially he said, "I can not help people with their cases because I would have everyone coming to my office for special favors." After more talking and praying, he said, "But, if there is nothing wrong with your file, I will sign you out". Y'all, he did sign me out, and I picked up my file 2 days before PGN completely shut down. That is NOT coincidence.
Adoption is a wild and crazy ride, but if you allow the Lord to lead you, He will teach you things that were before unknowable. To Him be the glory!
(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and say hi to Meghan @ Adopting Baby Z !)
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Big Kahuna and I have known each other since we were kids and have been married for almost 15 years. We are passionate about our family, travel and serving God. We love helping people and bringing them hope. We laugh ourselves to tears watching classic episodes of Saturday Night Live and The Office. Summer is our favorite season, and we live for warm evenings playing with the kids on the beach.
Big Surf is 14 years old. He's a voracious reader, focused, and spends hours building things. He is our resident techie and is also learning to play the violin. He loves to spend his free time playing baseball, flag football, or out on the trails by the house building his clubhouse.
Goofy Foot is ten years old. He devours his free reading books like there is no tomorrow. He is also the family comedian. If you see him, ask him to tell you a joke! He is tender-hearted, social and compliant. When he is not outside riding his bike, you'll find him drawing or writing a funny book.
Beach Bunny is three years old. She is our sunshine! She joined our family through the unbelievable gift of adoption. Beach Bunny loves to snuggle with us and carefully takes care of her baby dolls. She is super silly and must say hi to everyone! One word that describes her is "joy".
