Psalm 40:1-3

"I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; 
finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me up from deep mud. 
He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip. He taught me 
how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people 
are seeing this: They enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God." 
Psalm 40:1-3 (The Message)

Waiting is not my strong point. In fact, I stink at the waiting game. Just ask those who waited with me as we waited to bring our two children home from Haiti. Oh boy! Was I a whining, sniveling child! What was supposed to take 6-9 months ended up taking 2 1/2 yrs! We hit one obstacle after the other. We even had people tell us that maybe the obstacles were God's way of telling us not to adopt! I just thought, "Get behind me Satan!" My husband and I prayed about adopting our children more than we had ever prayed about anything before or since. We clearly heard God tell us these were our children. So, we knew we were doing His will by adopting. We also knew that he had a reason for the adoption to take so long - not that knowing God's will was perfect made me any more capable of handling the wait. ;-)

Today, I look back and the wait doesn't seem that long at all. I still don't know why we needed to wait so long - other than God was teaching us patience. I DO know that when things get tough - as they almost always do when you adopt older children - I look back on that time of waiting so that I can remember how my heart longed for these children. I would be lying if I said I never thought, "Did we make a mistake?" when things get tough. I would be lying if I said I never questioned what God was thinking by calling us to adopt. (Those are definitely not my better days.) But, all it takes is a quick peek at my journal from back then to see how my heart ached and longed to be able to hold our children in my arms. That reminder is enough to tell me that all the difficult times are so incredibly worth it.

Thank you God for the wait we had in bringing our children home. Those memories remind me of how precious even the most difficult moments are with my adopted children. My children are HOME so we can have those difficult moments, instead of living in an orphanage somewhere, being abused and feeling abandoned and unloved. I'll take the snarkiest attitudes they can dish out! :-)