Part 2 . . .

Continued from the last REALLY long post . . . That night I journaled for about an hour, just pouring out my heart to the Lord, and asking Him to both test and try me in my steadfastness in this decision and to confirm it at the same time!  Word to the wise: be really careful about this request! :)  The Lord is faithful, and He both hears and ANSWERS our prayers.  Thankfully, though, with EVERY test and trial, there has been confirmation.  Here are just a few:

The night before the conference, we had a really bad storm, and three trees fell in our backyard.  Chann was left at home with 4 kids without power for 2 1/2 of those 4 days.  So, on my home, I was preparing how I should tell and persuade him that I thought it was time to pursue adoption and how God had spoken this so clearly to me.  I thought of all the arguements that he might have for this not being the right time. . . .   So, I get home around 6 pm.  He and the kids have all been in the yard all day long chopping the fallen trees and clearing debris.  They were filthy and exhausted!  We ate dinner, got kids clean and to bed, and finally sat down on the couch around 10:00.  Chann leaned back and closed his eyes, and said, "Tell me about the conference."  Knowing he was exhausted, I told him we could just go to bed and talk about it later.  He said he knew that I was dying to tell him things, so to just go ahead.  Again, I hesitated, telling him there was so much, I didn't really know where to start, and that there was so much, I could talk for days, and I just knew he was too tired.  Really, I thought, "I can't tell him now.  He's too tired, and he's going to say no!"  But instead I started telling him about some of the adoption stories I had heard.  He could tell there was more, so I just blurted it all out, that we were supposed to adopt now, and not just one, but two! . . . His response was, "Ok."  I was a little in shock!  There was no protest, no list of reasons why I was crazy, just ok!  God had been speaking to his heart as well.

He suggested that the next step was to take some time and be intentional about praying about from where we should adopt.  He said that he felt like maybe we had just assumed we would adopt from China because I went there, but that we should ask for direction and see what the Lord had for us.  At first, I was a little taken aback.  My first step would be to DO something.  God told me to adopt, I said, ok, so let's do it.  Thank the Lord for a wise and Godly husband!  While adopting from China would never be wrong, I definitely would have missed some of the blessings God had in store for us as we just sat and prayed and listened for Him.

The whole time we prayed about it, but we didn't talk about it much.  Here and there, little things kept directing us to Africa.  In that time I learned that a friend we hadn't had contact with in years was in the process of adopting her second son from Ethiopia!  We also have sponsored a child from Ethiopia for the last 7 years and have often talked about how awesome it would be to go meet her.  My friend was able to go meet her sponsored child on her first trip to meet her son!  One night I was getting ready to tell this to Chann, not at all relating it to us.  Just telling him that she was in Ethiopia and reading some of her blog to him, but before I did, I asked him what he had been thinking about where to adopt.  He said, "Ethiopia has really been on my heart."  I very excitedly told him about our friend.  Then when we were talking later, we realized how during this time that we had been praying, both of us, separately had had conversations with people that led to Africa somehow, often not even relating to adoption.  Then I remembered that at the conference I had gone to talk to a lady who had adopted two girls from China.  In our conversation, she sor of flippantly said, "But, if you adopted from somewhere else, say Ethiopia . . . ." which at that point, I had totally dismissed.  Now, it was another piece of rhema.  We started to pray specifically about Ethiopia.

I decided to go ahead and look at a few agencies.  The first agency I went to serves 11 countries!  I was so overwhelmed!  I thought, "Whoah!  How can we just pick one?"  So, I began to look at the requirements for every country. .. .  Out of all 11, we only hands-down qualified for one!  You can guess which one . . . Ethiopia!

A few nights later, we were having dinner, and our oldest son said he didn't feel well and asked to go lie on the couch.  The television was off, and since it takes 3 remotes to turn all the components on, I didn't know he could do turn it on.  He can!  I went in to tell him to turn it off since the rest of us were still eating and to check what he was watching!  He said, "Mom, please let me watch it, it's okay.  It's just about them making a playground for their backyard."  The other kids finished eating and joined him in the living room.  We stayed at the table to enjoy the rare quiet moment! :)  Then our oldest daugter said, "Mom, you gotta' see this!  They're making their backyard like Animal Kingdom!"  Chann and I go look, and the family whose yard is being redone has adopted 6 kids from . . .Ethiopia!  That may seem like just a crazy coincidence, but we NEVER have the television on at that time of day, and we had just been praying for the Lord to confirm to us that Ethiopia was where we should adopt!  Chann and I looked at each other and knew that our children would be waiting for us in Ethiopia!

My favorite confirmation so far, though has been this:  I was driving home from a wedding rehearsal in the pouring rain, thinking through a lot of things that were going on with my parents.  I was asking the Lord to show me how to handle the situation, specifically how I could help, and if I could help.  I was saying, maybe we shouldn't be adopting now.  There is so much going on.  I wonder if we should use some of the money for adoption to help somehow. . . . My mind was racing in a million directions, and my heart was very heavy.  I stopped and said, "God, just tell me what to do!"  I looked up, and in red letters on the license plate of the van in front of me was ADOPTION.  I almost didn't believe what I was seeing.  I have VERY poor vision, especially at night, especially in the rain.  I really shouldn't have even been able to SEE the license plate in front of me!  I thought that I was making it up!  So, I got a little closer.  Yep - ADOPTION!  I don't think it gets more clear than that!

After telling this story to my friend, she said, "Wow!  God speaks to you through a megaphone!" 

This is already super long, but there are still more stories of the Lord speaking His confirmation to us as we start this journey!  And, I know that there are even more to come!