Some things are surprising, like when your ten year old gets in the car on a Wednesday night after church and asks to hear Tom Jones songs. (It's Not Unusual)
Or, when the five year old asks to say prayers after the family bedtime Bible story, and remembers to pray for the sick, and even mentions your sponsored child in Guatemala by name. I didn't know he was even paying attention to that part!
Or how much fun it is to play with a fidget spinner. That's seriously entertaining!
Or when the closest thing you can find to a healthy breakfast item in the Kansas City airport is something called "dirty fries."
Some surprises are not so pleasant, like when your adoption agency announces they are again extending the estimated wait time for a referral - this time to twenty four to thirty two months. While that one wasn't earthshattering, it was nonetheless disappointing. (I note here that the wait time is not within the agency's control, but is based entirely on processes in Haiti.)
Our journey has had plenty of surprises as it has stretched on and on. We've shared the joy of others who have brought little ones home, and cried with foster parents who wrap their love around hurting children, and we've learned about joy and contentment from some of the poorest children on the planet in Haitian orphanages. Then there are the frequent surprises when Care Portal requests cross my laptop screen and some unexpected source fills them every time. Somehow, there is a is an intangible connection between pain and surprising joy, which I can only describe as hope.
We saw it in kids aging out of orphan care and learning new job skills to provide for their families. We felt it in Haitian worship overflowing from hearts full of gratitude in the midst of indescribable poverty. We've experienced it alongside longsuffering foster parents rocking newborn babies born addicted to substances they didn't choose to take. We see it modeled anytime someone opens their heart and their home to nurture the broken, pray for the vulnerable, and stand up for the weak. We have felt it when social workers pour out their efforts believing that people can change and no one is a lost cause.
We feel it when $5.00 donations come in to further our puzzle fundraiser, or when people ask about the adoption out of the blue. To be sure, the agony of the wait lingers, but hope says that there is something to look forward to and to keep pressing forward.
But as I write this, I am most especially reminded of history's greatest surprise that took place in a garden tomb 2,000 years ago. When a group of women went early on Sunday morning to prepare Jesus' body, they wondered among themselves who would roll away the stone so that they could do the sorrowful task before them. When they arrived, they found the stone had been rolled away, the body wasn't there, and the symbol of their grief and pain was now the site of their greatest joy! Life as they knew it would never be the same!
The God who surprised the world on Resurrection Morning, speaks life into our weary souls as we continually trudge forward. Most recently, we were surprised when a friend from church did an on-line Lu La Roe party for us. It was such a gift to do nothing whatsoever and have a jump in our adoption account. Many, many thanks to our on-line host and the consultant who shared her commissions with us and did all the work! We're writing their names on puzzle pieces to symbolize their contribution in a way that we won't forget. Thank you!
And speaking of that, yes, the puzzle fundraiser is still ongoing. This one is going to take a while, I'm afraid, but we will see it through! If you haven't had the chance to join in on the fun, here's how it works. For every $5.00 donated to us through Pay Pal, or direct cash or check, we will write the donor's name on a piece of our puzzle. Once assembled, we'll have a meaningful keepsake for our daughter - butterflies from around the world on the front, and the names of people who helped bring her home on the back! Every donation makes hope spring up in our hearts again as we never know where they're coming from or when to expect them. I look forward to the day I get to surprise all of you in return withnews of a referral - a name, a picture, and a story of a life you've helped to change!
If you would be so kind, join us in praying for the children growing up in orphanages around the world, and that somehow this process would take another surprising twist and take less time than expected. Even if that doesn't happen, we will continue to wait and to hope, and thank God every time He surprises us with blessings of any size.
This is the part of the blog where I often close with a scripture. Since there aren't really any scriptural references to butterflies, I'm going to paraphrase slightly and beg your forgiveness. :)
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will sore on wings like eagles. [or flutter on the breeze like butterflies] They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!" Philipians 4:4
"Give thanks to the Lord. His love endures forever."
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