A story while you wait part 2

So we drove home December 15 feeling pretty low. What happened? Did we hear wrong? What was going on? There was not a booming voice from heaven with an explaination. So we just waited. We didn't really do anything with the adoption for the next few weeks. Christmas and New Years kept us busy!

Then one day, we got an email from our agency. It contained a list of children waiting for a home. There was very little information. Just names, ages, and a sentence or two about the child/group. One group of 3 caught our eye. Honestly, it was because of their ages. So we decided to inquire about them. About a week later, we got a bit more information. A reference card if you will. Containing basic, non-detailed information about each child.....and a picture. Whoa. Cuteness was everywhere! We thought for a while and decided to tell our parents that we were considering these kids. By now it was the middle of January. The snow came and went and Brent's hand had been bothering him greatly for a few weeks.

We decided to send a letter of intent. Our updated dossier was translated and re-submitted. This took about a week. The consejo for January was the last weekend. We were told that our dossier was held up and did not make it to that consejo. We were pretty thankful for that. The doctor scheduled Brent's surgery for the middle of February and recovery was either going to take 1 month or 3 months depending on what he found during the surgery. According to the MRI and the doctor, Brent had DESTROYED all the cartilige in his wrist. He could not even pick up a bottle of water and was in EXTREME pain and had not slept through the night since before Christmas. He usually only got about 2 hours of sleep a night. We were both having a very hard time spiritually and emotionally, Brent physically, we were struggling really bad. In fact, moving to Antartica was very appealing! So if we had been assigned the kids in January, there may not have been enough time for Brent's recovery nor our spiritual/emotional recovery.

So we were ready set for the February consejo. :) We decided not to mention to anyone except our immediate family that we inquired about the 3 siblings. Just wanted to keep it on the down low since the last time it didn't go so well. It was hard when everyone would say, "well how are things going with the adoption?" My usual response was that we were just waiting. Which was true, we just didn't specify that we were waiting on a certain 3 kids.

My birthday came - I am now 30! Wierd! Brent's surgery was the next day after my birthday. That was the best day. Ever. He was instantly out of pain (except for normal surgery soreness) and he has slept through the night since the 2nd night! PRAISE THE LORD!! Also the Sunday before our pastor preached on Psalm 55. It was great. In the Psalm, David says he wants to have wings like a dove so he can fly away. Funny - so did we! Then at the end David still places his trust in the Lord, even though his own son is trying to kill him. God used that in our lives. Hope was reborn!

This brings us to present day! Sunday came and we told our Sunday school class - hey we might get kids Wednesday. So we had a few more prayer warriors with us. Then Wednesday came, the day of the consejo. I was off from work and headed to the doctor. Wow. I didn't even know what to pray. The only thing that kept coming to mind was "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There were 2 other families in our agency who had requested children and Peru does not like to show favortism by giving children to more than one family in the same agency. So we knew there was a possibilty that we would not get placed with the children this time around. Then Brent got an email around noon saying it was very possible that we were getting them. Then at 4:55, I got a phone call. It was not my area code, so I debated on whether or not to answer it - could have been a wrong number and I have our agencies in my phone and their name was not popping up - but I answered. It was P from our agency! What?! She had just gotten a call from her daughter! Peru had just posted everything on the site! It was offical! We had the 3 kids. They never post anything early - it's usually the next day. P said she and her daughter usually have a race to see who can check the site first the day after the consejo. Wow! Amazing! I called Brent.

We had to print off our acceptance letter. So we also printed the picture we had a few times and after church headed off to our parents to show them the picture of their new grandchildren!

I emailed P today, just to make sure it was till official and that they had not changed their minds. It's official! We got the docutments today.

We are so excited. We don't have a clue what to do next. The next few months are going to be a whirlwind I think. Thank You Lord!

"Tonight’s the night......Two worlds collide in a beautiful display
It’s all up tonight
When we step across the line.......We can sail across the sea"