Almost There

Is it possible that one week from today this process will be complete? If the schedule holds we’ll arrive in Savannah with little Gus sometime next Thursday evening. We leave tomorrow at 1 PM. I can hardly wait. This week has seemed to crawl at times.

Assuming we are on the verge of bringing Gus home I’d like to mention the one overwhelming constant throughout this experience: God’s faithfulness. He has provided exactly what we’ve needed at every step of the way and I’m not just talking about money. He has provided strength. He has provided support. He has moved us to do things that I didn’t think we could do. From the moment we said, “Let’s adopt from Ethiopia,” He has gone before us.

I hope to write more in the weeks ahead as Erika and I reflect on this process. But over and over again we have been amazed at God’s goodness to us in providing exactly what we needed exactly when we needed it. I hope as Gus becomes a part of our lives here in Savannah that he will be to us a constant reminder of that goodness. And my prayer is that little August David will grow up and live as an ongoing testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of God for the rest of his life.

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God is Great, God is Good

At this point in the process news comes on Wednesdays. At least it seems that way. Two weeks ago we found out that we would have been submitted to the embassy that day were it not for some missing paperwork. Last Wednesday we found out that we had in fact been submitted to the embassy. Today we found out that we have now been cleared by the embassy. All that we need now is an appointment at the American embassy in Addis so that we can bring Gus home. Here’s where things got messy.

You see, we bought tickets last Wednesday night to travel to Ethiopia tomorrow. Our plan was that we would clear today (which we did). Then, we would get an appointment for sometime early next week (which we didn’t). Turns out, the first available appointment is Monday, June 20th. That’s two days after the date marked on our ticket home. There will be a series of planes taking off tomorrow that would have eventually gotten us into Addis and we won’t be on them.

We’ll know tomorrow the date and time of our appointment and we’ll rebook our flights. But the main thing I want to say tonight is that I believe God is firmly in control of this situation. I believe that, even though things didn’t work out like we hoped, our loving Father in heaven is actively working out all of these events to accomplish His great and good purposes. This process has been fraught with wonderful success and devastating disappointments. I want to be careful that I’m not just expressing praise and thanksgiving to God when things go our way. Today things didn’t, which led to some tough decisions and frustrated plans. But God still deserves to be praised.

The forces of darkness did not thwart God’s plan. I believe Satan hates children and adoption but I do not believe for a moment that he has ever gained the upper hand in the course of this adoption. No matter what happens we know that God is great and God is good and that He will be glorified even if we don’t understand.

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