It’s pretty funny how God works in our lives. Paki and I
were joking around the other day that the moment we start to settle into a
routine or get “comfortable”, God steps in to rock our world. Comfortable is
not where God wants us to be. What do we mean by that? Well, we just passed the
2 year mark of having Kanoa home with us and feel like we’ve turned a corner in
the behavior challenges. That doesn’t mean we don’t have regressions (there was
an amazing display of tantrums and destruction just this weekend), but it’s
no longer a daily/hourly event and, for that, we rejoice!
Just over a month ago, a fellow adoptive mom shared a
picture of a little boy she met in the same region that Kanoa is from. I saw
his picture and, like most of the precious children I see through Reece’s
Rainbow, I want more than anything for them to find a family. After our
experience with the adoption process in 2014 (and subsequent challenges we have been walking through), I said NEVER AGAIN! Haha. And then I
read what little Jeff said. “When is my turn to have a momma?” Oh, my heart
just broke. A little boy that, through no fault of his own, is growing up in a
government institution and desiring to have a family- to be loved and belong.
So I prayed. And prayed. And finally got the courage to bring him up to Paki.
Paki’s response, “I’m praying we are NOT the family for him.” Hahaha! We are a
family that has FIVE KIDS- young kids. Our mini-van is full! Lord, are you
sure? Well, as soon as I started the discussions, God started working. Little
things started happening- a random letter in the mail from the booking agent we
used for our flights last time. (We have NEVER heard from them in the 2 years
since we’ve been back AND we’ve moved.) Some relatives Paki hasn’t seen in
years pouring into him about the importance of loving on children. They had
fostered/taken-in/provided respite for 287 children for various periods through
their lifetime!
We’ve decided to step out in faith and are asking God to
direct our path. We know the hardships, we know the cost, we know the ugliness
that can come from kids growing up in a system not designed to nurture children-
we are not naïve or disillusioned. But we also know the joy, spiritual growth,
and love that can come from opening our hearts and home to “the least of
these”. (Matthew 25:40) As Paki said,
God will direct our path, but we have to start walking. Please keep us in
prayer- that we will have wisdom and favor through the paperwork process. That
God will prepare our hearts and those of our other children to receive another
sibling. (Kale’a is kinda bummed that she’s not getting a sister!) That the
attacks of the enemy will not discourage us- it happened last adoption and we’ve
already seen some things pop up! And most of all, that we will continuously
seek God’s will.
Thank you for your love and support- please meet “Jeff”.
(Jeff is an alias given for his profile on RR.) And yes, now we have to come up with another name starting with a "K"....
