Trying to Be Patient

We all have things we look forward to in life. Summer break. Graduating high school. College. Getting married. Going on your dream vacation. You know that feeling when you simply just want to be there? No more planning, packing, tests...just ready to be there.

God continues to give us hope in growing our family, any patience we have is a testimony to Jesus in our life - but we are still human, and my flesh says, I'm just ready to be there. In Thailand, with our son. Jason, me and this precious little boy. Finally united.

So, knowing and trusting that God's timing is perfect and mine is not, we ask God to use us here and now, and as we can, we prepare for what God has ahead for us. These past few weeks, I've gotten a chance to peak into another family's life who just traveled to Thailand to pick up there daughter. I continue to learn more about what our experience may be like, and I get SO excited the more I learn.

Here's a little more insight for you on what's ahead for us!

• We are going to be watched like crazy. Both when we are in Thailand, and once we are back in the states. For that matter, even now as we go through this process. Kinda scary to think about, yet also, what an opportunity to show Christ!
• Since adoption board meetings happen at certain times, we'll be in Thailand and meet many other families from around the world adopting there child from Thailand. This is kinda exciting to think about who we'll connect with.
• When we meet our son face to face, we've been told it's the strangest, most uncomfortable and breathtaking experience all in one. We'll be nervous, excited, expectant and thrilled along with other families going through the same craziness around us. 
• We are praying our son's foster mom is using our photo album. I've heard of other children cling to there photo album like a child would cling to a blanket. They would kiss the pictures. And, when they meet the parents, it's clear through the photo album that they are "mommy and daddy." Our son received our photo album back in July! Pray he begins to recognize our faces.
• We've heard many foster families in Thailand treat the children as little emperors and empresses. God is SO good to love these children!
• The grief our son will have in leaving his foster mother is going to be heartbreaking. One piece of advice we've heard is that the intensity of his grief will remain the same, but the frequency lessons the more he is with us. Would you be praying now for our son and the hurt he will endure as he enters our family?
•  We've heard that adoptive children typically attached to one parent over the other. Pray for both Jason and I as one will be on the receiving end of this and one will not be? And certainly our son could change this one day into it, one week into it, one year later.
• One piece of emotion and feeling I want to try and capture is how out of place we feel in Thailand, how people look at us, how weird the smells are, how different our skin color is, etc. This will be what our son will feel as he enters our country, and stays.
• With all the stress, travel, lack of sleep AND bringing a child into our hotel room with a different immune system than us, there is good odds we'll get sick at some point. Which we thank God we never have gotten sick when traveling overseas, so something we'll want to be mindful of. And asking you to pray that God would protect our bodies when we go?
• Our hotel looks sweet that we'll get to stay in with an amazing pool that we are excited about spending much time in. And hoping our little boy likes water (wouldn't that be sad if he didn't)! Plus, it sounds like there are neat local markets, an aquarium and more. The last time we went to Thailand, we only spent the night in Bangkok, so really excited about exploring! Jason and I LOVE adventure!
• For our adoption board meeting, we'll meet in person and answer questions about our adoption and why we want to adopt this little boy. We got a tip that we'll need to explain any adoption education we have had. One additional question that is helpful to know beforehand is they might ask about how long we've been married and why we haven't had children before now? When asked without warning, I would probably get emotional. Thankfully though to get warning as we've had, we can prepare our answer now in a way that not only shares the truth but can put God on display in a Buddhist culture.
• Important piece of information that was news to me in following this couple's story - until we finalize our adoption (8 months after our son is home with us), the Thai government/adoption agency can take him back. Now, this is if we don't "pass" our meetings with our home study agency, but still, a little nerve wracking. Which means, no pictures of our son on the open internet until everything is finalized! I realized it wasn't final until 8 months, what didn't cross my mind is what happens if we don't make successful progress reports. I don't believe this happens very often, but still.
• Lastly, we are going to get to share our story with people at the airport, stewardess on the plane, and I'm sure so many more as people love watching an orphan go home with their new parents. We know God will use people all over the world to be gracious to us as we embark on the long journey home. Would you pray even now that we don't miss opportunities to give God the glory as someone makes a comment about how lucky this little boy is or how sweet we look as a new family? This is continually a story God is writing, and I don't ever want to share it with giving credit to whom it's due.