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Dear
Saints:
I'll
be back in Columbus before this article goes out in the July
newsletter and is published on the church website. I knew I
wouldn't have the time to write it then, so I'm doing it in advance.
In
a couple of days Liz and I will fly to China to adopt our second child,
Graceanne.
We're so excited we can hardly stand it! We're excited for
Meaghan, too, who has (to our relief) been quite enthusiastic about
having a little sister. We weren't sure how she would take to
the adoption, but she appears to be genuinely eager to see Graceanne.
This
adoption has been in the works for a long time and—to
be honest—Liz
and I wondered whether it would ever happen. We had money
saved for the adoption, but then the chance to come to St. Matthew
presented itself and we realized we had to make a choice—either
to accept the Call and come to Columbus (which would require that we
use our adoption money for our house), or remain in Boone, North
Carolina, and go through with the adoption there.
After
much agonizing prayer we came to the conclusion that God wanted us
here, and so we accepted the Call. However, we couldn't bring
ourselves to contact the adoption agency and tell them it was off—so
we hung on asking for extensions until, finally, they informed us
our time had run out. There could be no more extensions.
We would have to decide, they said—were
we going to adopt, or not?
When
Liz called Holt International and told them we wouldn't be adopting,
it was a sad day for us. I tried to ease the pain by
reiterating that we had intentionally chosen to use our adoption
money to make the move to Columbus—a
decision we both had felt was God's will. But, in the days
that followed, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had acted prematurely—but
how? Holt had told us we had run out of time? We really
had no other option.
Nevertheless,
I went to Liz and explained that I believed God was saying we
shouldn't give up on the adoption. As Christians, I said, we're
called to place our trust in God. Now was our chance to
practice what I so often have preached. Was this a test?
I wasn't sure. I didn't know how we would afford it, I told
her, but if Holt hadn't put a halt to our paperwork we would ask them
if we could continue. When we called Beth (our caseworker at
Holt) she said she had been hoping and praying we would change our
mind and—no—she
hadn't closed our file!
For
the next two weeks we prayed (and searched frantically!) for the
funding we would need to adopt, but nothing materialized. We
thought we were going to have to tell Beth we couldn't raise the
money. But, God is so very good and gracious!
I
was on the phone one evening with my mother (who knew nothing of the
struggle Liz and I had been through for the last several weeks), and
I mentioned that we had reached the deadline in the adoption process
and were getting out of it, to which she said, "Why didn't you
say something to me about it?" I told her we hadn't
thought about saying anything, to which she responded, "But
you're talking about adopting a baby! You can't let this
go. You need to go through with this, and I'll help you."
So,
I want to take this opportunity to say "thank you" to my
wonderful, generous mother—without
whom we wouldn't be adopting Graceanne. Our thanks go out to
Liz's parents, also, who have graciously offered to care for Meaghan
in our absence. I have no doubt they will have spoiled her
rotten by the time we return!
I
would also like to say "thank you" to all of you at St.
Matthew for your many words of encouragement, your cards, your
financial contributions, your gifts and, especially, your
prayers. Without your support I just don't know where we would
be now! I also wish to thank the Council who, when we were
discussing our Call to St. Matthew (way back when), offered us two
weeks Parental Leave if ever we did adopt. I never thought we
would get to use them!
Most
of all, thanks are due to our loving God, whose Son never passed up
an opportunity to receive a child into his waiting arms. How
very blessed we are to serve such a God! Thank you Jesus!
Grace
and peace,
Pastor
Larry |
