"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. A few posts ago I was bemoaning my lack of patience. 10 years ago when Eric and I began talking about adoption, it was such a far off concept that I wondered if it would ever truly materialize. Then we began having our biological children, and again there was no need for patience (about adoption, anyways:). And now I am in a season of waiting. In the past 10 years, I have had many seasons. The season of being a burn nurse, a season a being first-time mom, a season of being a full-time nurse and a first-time mom, a season of being mom to two, a season of asking God why my child suffered, a season of leaving the familiar behind, a season of homesickness, a season of growth, a season of being a mom to three, a season of contentment. and now my season of waiting. Today as I was going through my "mommy books" I found a book from MOPS entitled "Just give me a little piece of quiet," by Lorilee Craker. I was looking through, finding paragraphs that I had highlighted in 2006, when I came across this section and the verse above. Next to it I had written "My time will come - my arms are waiting". Little did I know then that three years later my time is coming - and my arms are tingling with excitement. Here is the paragraph:
"At the moment, I am waiting for a child myself, a child who is growing, as I write these words, in her birth mother's womb on the other side of the world. Foreign adoption is a long, winding road full of setbacks and delays. And just when you think you have filled out your last scrap of paperwork, another couple of reams are thrown at you. Waiting to hold my baby daughter in my arms, to see her sweet face for the first time, is getting harder and harder. But I am holding on to the fact that God will sustain me and my family as we wait for her. And no matter how much I want to speed up the process, God is ordering my steps in His perfect time."