3 1/2 Years: Looking Back

We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps
-Proverbs 16:9

I'm sitting here thinking about how our adoption journey has played out over the course of time. It has felt so long and yet I remember the start of it like it was yesterday. It has not been an easy road. We have worked our tails off in paperwork and fundraising, been excited, been discouraged, seen other families speed ahead and pass us by, been stretched,  been on our knees in prayer, felt loved, encouraged and challenged, felt supported, felt forgotten, questioned and praised. SO MANY EMOTIONS! It has certainly been a roller coaster ride, one that has made my stomach twist and turn at times and also one that I have raised my hands high and felt the wind whipping through my fingertips with excitement and expectation. But through it all, our eyes have been on HIM and we give all glory and praise to our Father, who has written this story in His timing, in His way, because His plan is always sovereign and always good, even when it is hard.

I wanted to go back and write out some of the highlights that have unfolded over the years through this adoption. It's so neat for me to look back now and see how God has worked in them, even when we felt discouraged and helpless. It makes me thankful! Thankful that He knows better than me, Thankful that He doesn't leave us in the valleys, but walks through them alongside us, then leads us up to the mountaintops. This ever constant up and down, this journey called life. He's always there!

• April 2012: Angie reads MB Chapman's Book, Choosing to See, and God starts laying adoption on her heart. She looks up Show Hope's website about grants for adopting families. Angie starts praying about what this could mean, certainly she is crazy! They have 3 kids under 3. Around the same time, Maverick is born and abandoned soon after in China.

• Spring-Fall 2012: Angie asks Evan to pray about possibly adopting a child. Evan says she is crazy and is not feeling the same way, but agrees to pray about it. Angie waits impatiently patiently as God makes it more clear to her.

• Fall 2012: Angie feels led to go on mission trip in Haiti in December. 

• December 2012: Angie heads to Haiti for mission trip and her world is rocked. Prays for God to break her heart for what breaks His. Comes home totally convinced the Spirit is moving in them to adopt. Approaches Evan about adoption again, who admits that he has not been praying, because He knows God is not going to say "Nah...Let somebody else adopt. You're good." Promises to ACTUALLY PRAY about this and seeks accountability and counsel about it.

• End of December 2012: Evan takes 2 week hiking trip on Appalachian Trail. Lots of time to think and pray. While Evan is gone, Angie writes her first journal entry to their son, because she is 100 % certain that Evan is coming home and saying "Let's do this."

• January 2013: Evan comes home from trip and confidently says "Let's do this!" Angie cries and jumps around living room like it is Christmas morning.

• February 2013: Submitted application to Lifeline Children's Services for their Ethiopia program. Open to a healthy child ages 0-3.  Home study conducted.

• February-December 2013: Insane amounts of paperwork, fundraising and training

• December 2013: Paperwork complete...Officially get on the wait list for Ethiopia at #164 (That is a crazy high number) Told this could be a 2 year wait.

• November 2014: Complete emotional exhaustion and frustration and confusion over such slow movement over the past year. Angie hits emotional breakdown. Unsure if we should stay put in Ethiopia for many more years (like 5-7 according to current movement) or switch countries or processes. Angie does obnoxious amount of research and is totally overwhelmed and burnt out. Angie and Evan agree to a season of prayer after some prompting from God and their case worker. Immediately they feel peace!

• December 2014: Agency sends us an invite to a webinar for Ethiopia families to transfer to the China program. We already know we don't qualify for China but sign up anyway. (What can it hurt?) During webinar we hear that in certain cases, waivers are offered to families willing to adopt from the special focus list (more moderate to severe special needs). We decide to apply for a waiver. If we are approved we take that as God opening the door in a new direction and we jump.

• January 2014: Approved for waiver to enter China program. Transfer to China program (Are we really doing this?) Feeling all kinds of nervous and excited! Update home study (for the 3rd time) Opened to a child ages 0-4 with special needs. By the end of the month, we are looking at our son's face and his file. We say "YES" to a sweet 2 year old with a congenital cleft palate. So in love...cannot breathe! Is this happening?

• February 2014: We submit our letter of intent to adopt Maverick and receive Pre-Approval. Lots of dancing and praising God in the kitchen.

• February-April 2015: Tons more paperwork. We find out that Maverick was in Show Hope's care for a time period while he was in the orphanage.  Show Hope will send us any information that they have on him once our adoption is complete. Apply for grant from Show Hope.

• April 2015: Maverick turns 3 in China. We send him a birthday party. First time to see him smile and get good video of him. We find out that he has lived in a foster family for the past year (Answer to prayer. That is more personalized attention and a family environment which will help him with adjustment once he is home)

• April-August 2015: More paperwork, more fundraisers, receive grant from Show Hope (the same organization that I looked up when this adventure started).

• July 2015: We connect with Maverick's foster brother's family while they are in China completing their adoption of Joshua. The boys will be able to stay in touch once home in the US. A piece of Maverick's past, always available to him!

• August 2015: We receive our official Letter of Approval to Adopt Maverick. Lots of dancing and praising God in the kitchen AGAIN. 

• September 2015: Waiting for Travel Approval.....We're coming Maverick! So in love...cannot breathe (again)! Is this happening?!?!

The Lord has done great things for us

 and we are filled with JOY!

-Psalm 126:3

This has been a long 3 1/2 years, but I KNOW God has been with us through it all. To walk down this memory lane and see how He was working the pieces together, the pieces that made no sense to us in the moment. To see how he began opening my eyes to adoption right when Maverick was being born on the other side of the world, to softening Evan's heart and confirming this call to care for the orphan, to how he grew us in our faith and what age and needs we were open to in the long wait in Ethiopia, to getting a waiver for a program that we did not qualify for, to connecting us to our sweet boy, who was actually in Show Hope's care at some point, to getting the Show Hope grant, to finding Maverick's foster brother, to bringing us here, ready to get on a plane to scoop up our little dude 10 months after we entered the China program. It's still all so surreal to me! All that I can say is THANK YOU LORD! Thank you for working on our and Maverick's behalf even when we could not see. "You're a good good father and perfect in all of your ways to us."