Babysteps

Babysteps . . . when we say that, we mean it can be an attempt at looking at something positive that really is a stretch.  It's a REALLY small, sometimes seemingly insignificant, step in the right direction.  However, when our children take that first baby step, IT'S A BIG DEAL!!!!

So, this little tidbit of news is a babystep in both senses!  Our home study will be in two weeks!!!!!!  Yes, this is another step in a really long process. . . .  Even after it's completed, it could be a year or more before we even get a referral, much less start the process of bringing our children home.  Yet, IT"S A BIG DEAL!!! 

For me, that email that our home study really is happening soon, brought up so many emotions.  The first, sheer excitement that this really is happening!!!!  Secondly, a longing for our children, just to know their names, and, yes, see those sweet faces that I constantly imagine!  Then, the questions: how hard is this language barrier going to be? how does a child simultaneously deal with the grief of lost parents, lost culture, loss of all things familiar, and embrace a new family,with whom they can't even speak, not to mention a new home that doesn't look or feel right, a new culture that they don't understand?  how will I balance my time between 6 kids with very different needs? will our biological children still be as excited when our new brothers and sisters actually get here? how will we know which children are meant to be ours, since there are so many waiting? will I know as soon as I see their pictures, or will there be difficult decisions?  . . . . Then, I remember. . . God has this, ALL of it - down to the very last detail - already under control.  He already knows the answers to the questions that haven't even formed in my head yet.  Even now, He is preparing my heart, calming me, speaking truth and wisdom.  Does that mean it will all be easy?  No way!  I am not promised nor called to a life of ease .  I am called to pick up my cross DAILY, never an easy task; I am promised that I will suffer as Christ did.  But, as Paul says in Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

These two verses in Mark have also given me much hope in the past few weeks:
10:27 "With human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."