It is two years now since we embarked upon the journey of adoption, and ours has spanned both the American scene and now the British one too. Seems like a short amount of time compared to the 23 more years needed to catch Abraham and Sarah in amount time waiting for their promised child. It happened again while on our America trip in November that somebody prayed over us, and felt that we were like Abraham and Sarah. I have now lost track of the number of times and places where we have been encouraged in that way. While they went through such difficulty in moving from their homeland, had to pick up their belongings and tents numerous times, had to wait for years for promises of God all did come to pass. They faced much trial and testing but as Rebecca spoke in Goshen a couple of weeks ago there is a price which follows the promises.
If you would have said to us a couple years back that at the end of 2013 and the dawn of 2014 that we would be awaiting a couple more meetings with our social worker in this country and looking forward to a panel meeting in the new year we would be quite surprised. Just two short years ago we were eagerly filling in applications and forms to do with the process in Indiana, at this point we had booked tickets for our month-long adventure of February 2012. At that point we didn't know what to expect only that we knew we were on the right path, and that was a winding one, sometimes hardly paved with clarity. A good friend who we love and trust once shared with Rebecca to enjoy the view while we travel down this road, there is much to see if we look up. How often do you and I miss the intricate and beautiful details of nature becauase we are staring the path, or the interesting animals scurrying around because we are fixed on the path and not the surroundings.
Our drive back to Indiana from New York just a couple of weeks ago was gorgeous, fresh lake-effect snow blanketed an area which took at least 4 hours to drive through. The roads were clear a snowflake in the air from time to time and hardly any traffic so gazing around was not difficult. It was for the most part a crisp sunny morning and still enough to where the snow had not melted off the trees or been blown about. It was a canvas of white, one like we don't witness now living in England, and one that was so much fun to drive through and take in while we chatted about wonderful time in Elmira, New York. Im thankful for those memories which could have easily been missed had we not taken in the view.
We are still gazing around us, where we have come with our adoption process in the last few months and clear pointers of how to move forward in this country. We still love to tell the story of how God provided a house for us to live in where there was seemingly nothing around. The church family that we so love continues to grow and increasingly be a place of life, evidenced this past weekend where we through a Family Christmas Party for the village and had over 100 people come and enjoy! We have so many we've met and become friends over the last year, friends who weren't there at the beginning of this journey but can join in now.
