The Year of Waiting

 

Sometimes waiting just really bites.  I know, that seems a little harsh, but it’s absolutely true.

2014 was the year of waiting for my family. At the beginning of the year my husband and I heard from God that it was time to start the paperwork to complete our second adoption. At the beginning of the year our children were 10, 8, 6, 3, and 2. So, you know, we had a lot of free time to take on more kids. *Snort*

When God asks you to do a really hard thing, you only have the choice to obey or disobey and we chose to obey. Even though we had no idea what we were really getting ourselves into.

Our first adoption was super quick, like freakishly so. We finished our paperwork at the end of April 2012 and had a call about our son in mid-June and he was living with us by the middle of July.  Our second adoption proved to be a much longer waiting game.

We thought, because we were open to a sibling group and because of our ability to care for special needs kids, that we wouldn’t have to wait very long.

But wait is what we did. We would occasionally receive calls about kids and we would say yes, we are open to being considered, but then nothing would happen. Another family would be chosen or something else that we never were told about.

In the meantime, we had things going on. We had a 3 year old with some behavioral problems that were making me want to pull out my hair. We had a busy, busy, busy 2 year old boy with some attention deficit issues that required my absolute full attention every single day. I would sit in my bedroom in the morning, crying over my Bible, asking God WHY. Why do you want us to do this hard thing? Why are you making us wait? Just let us get some closure already.

The longer the waiting continued, the more I realized that God had some stuff to work out in me and in our family before we were ready to bring home any more children. 

The issues with our 3 year old (now 4) got worse before they got better. I was reading books, I was talking to his speech therapist, I was talking to early development specialists. With time his behavior has calmed down. It’s not quite so crazy all the time. But all those months that we were waiting to get the call about finding an adoptive match for us, God was preparing me for our new children. He was helping me learn skills to cope with the needs that they would have.

Another thing that God was doing was solidifying a support network of people for our family. Because being an adoptive family requires a lot of support. We cannot do this on our own. And slowly, slowly, through the last twelve months, we have made new friends and strengthened other friendships that have provided us with the people we can call on in a crisis. These are the friends that I can text 304 times a day and they always text back.  God knew that we needed time to make that happen.

One last thing that the months of waiting provided was time to strengthen our family relationship and my marriage relationship. God knew that adoption can rip a family apart. Bringing in new children from hard places into a family throws the family into chaos. If the family is not already strong before that happens, then it’s very hard to continue. My husband and I were able to build strong connections with our children. We were able to build stronger connections with each other. The connections that keep us going through endless sleepless nights and dinnertimes that sounds like we live in a zoo.

Finally, in December 2014, three days before Christmas, we brought home two beautiful little girls that we pray will become our forever daughters later this year. These were the girls that we waited for, even though we didn’t even know their names.

Waiting on the Lord can bring discomfort and sometimes even pain, but His plans for us are perfect.

Read all the stories of learning to wait on God here.

Meet Michele of the Preschoolers and Peace blog. According to my Twitter profile, I am the wife of one, mother of five, daughter of the King (God, not Elvis). Lover of books, passionate about orphans, have a serious crush on school supplies. I would also add that I love to cook. Sometimes it’s just oatmeal, sometimes it’s 30 meals at a time for the freezer. And sometimes it’s just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

My husband, a New Zealander, and I have been married for 14 years, have lived in two countries and 9 flats/houses. We both have traveled extensively and lived overseas a good portion of our lives. This makes us a little quirky sometimes. I spell things differently. He has an accent. Our kids have multiple passports. We feel at home everywhere and not at home anywhere.

My husband and I homeschool our seven children, ages 1 year through 11 years. We have never done it any other way and it’s a way of life for us. Schooling with little people underfoot is something I have a lot of practice with! You can find Preschoolers and Peace {and Michele} on Facebook and Twitter, and also Michele loves Instagram, so follow her there,too!