C'mon let's celebrate! - Tuesday 17th June

There are so many reasons to celebrate in life and in our lives specifically but firstly we want to celebrate our Lord and Saviour Jesus who has walked with us through all the ups and downs of adoption. In the Bible in Psalm 68:6 it says that God sets the lonely in families and later in the Bible it reads that we are adopted sons/daughters of the Lord, what a great family to belong to!

     While we have carried some deflating news at times through this process, Monday the 16th at 11:10 the phone call was anything but deflating. We've had other phone calls, way back in Feb 2013 when we heard we could do a Skype interview with the American agency, to our call with the agency here in the UK. There was also the elation of the approval call that we had eagerly desired for close to a month. They were exciting and encouraging, but still only a signpost on this twisting and turning road. The call on Monday morning was more than just a signpost it was more like a convergence onto a new roadway, it was to state that we have been officially linked for an adoption. You are probably interested in some details, here are some to whet the appetite...

     We have been linked with two little girls aged 1 and 3 who are from the northern part of England. We have always been interested adopting two and after looking at many profiles, having oodles of emails back and forth with our wonderful agency we are so excited to be linked with these two little girls. There is much to do before the adoption takes place. We have a trip there in mid- July to meet people in their lives, another trip in late July for a matching panel meeting. At that meeting it is determined by a panel of professionals and adopters if we are in fact the right mom and dad for these two. Provided that the panel approves us and the decision is ratified then after another couple of weeks we then proceed back there to be introduced to the girls, stay near the foster home and be around more and more until eventually bringing them back to our home in Overton in the late summer.

If you are interested in reading the story of the last Thursday the day of our meeting with the local authority social workers feel free to carry on reading. Once again thanks for supporting us by keeping up with our story, if this is your first read then please go back to earlier entries to catch more of the story.

Thursday 12th June:
This entry will be in parts, the first is what if feels like today here at home as we await the arrival of our social worker and two social workers from the local authority of the children we are hoping to adopt. Anticipation is a word that I have written about before and once again that term has taken centre stage, interestingly though the meeting this time in our house. We have the opportunity to be the hosts, to put on the lunch for all to enjoy, to set the tone of comfort as opposed to a clinical, whitewashed waiting room in an office with no character. This is right up our street, showing hospitality, cooking, baking and opening up our home. It has been said that highest form of hospitality is adopting, to literally welcome people you don't know into your family and home 24/7 not just for a day or two.

We don't know what the outcome of today's meeting will be, we hope and pray for a green light moving forward to the next stage, that is in God's hands. As I was reading today I came across this passage from Psalms 40, I've read that scripture quite often but have not seen verses 4-5 like I did this morning... Blessed is the one  who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud to those who turn aside to false gods.^[b]5 Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Later today we found ourselves reflecting upon the meeting and the whole day. It was relaxed, it was a time to be hospitable and have honest discussion. Throughout the day we really felt peaceful, whether that be the final prep of the house, playing a game while we waited or the actual meeting. There was a sense of calm, the weather was gorgeous and everything went like clock work.
During the meeting we asked some questions and the social workers asked us some questions, none was a surprise to us. They already knew a great deal about us, this was more confirmation than new information and the helpful tool of putting a face with a name, or in our case faces with names. So what about now? that is the question that we ask ourselves, it is another space of waiting, albeit not as harried or long as other interim periods.We do plan on hearing some news on Monday, again hoping for, praying and expecting, but until the mobile rings...

Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own, - June 4th

     What is the church? If I had a nickel for everytime I heard that question asked I could probably buy a latte or smoothie, essentially I've been heard that question or topic discussed many a time. Being a church leader it is very pertinent to my life and it is a point of conversation that arises and is a subject matter in most books that I pick up. There are many clever descriptions and definitions out there and I think I should put my hat into the ring with my own.

     The church is a Christ centered group of people, they are friends, they are family, the church are the ones who are there when you can't make it on your own. I have always thought that to be true but never more than recently. If you are part of The Community Church (West) then you are the ones that I'm writing about, some of our friends and family here in the UK. As you are probably aware Rebecca and I moved to the village of Overton in Hampshire in the late summer of 2008. At that point we left Goshen and our friends and family, along with other family and friends across other parts of the US. We turned up in this place without many friends and with no family. That was late summer of 2008 almost 6 years ago now (my how time flies).

     Over the course of living here and having the great opportunity to lead the church we have developed many deep friendships, we have truly found friends and family. During this adoption process there have been many ups and downs and the church has been there in the ups and downs. They have been cheerleaders when that was required, they have been prayer warriors, they have been shoulders to cry on and people with whom we have shared a special celebration meal. They have been all of these aspects of support along with daily lifting us up in prayer and gently asking how is it going. Not demanding answers, not being intrusive, rather interested, keen to know how we are doing as much as the 'latest news'.

     How does that make us feel? Immeasurably blessed, just a few years ago we were a couple of Americans who they decided to invite and bring across the ocean so that we could walk with them and eventually lead. A gamble sure, they did not know how we would cope with the cultural changes (there are many, too many to list in a simply blog entry) how we would handle living in the centre of a village and all of the village quirks (again too much for one blog entry). I've never thought of us as risk-takers but moving here was risk and with high risk comes high reward.

     The song Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own came on my Ipod yesterday while I was at the gym and the realisation of those lyrics to the title rung true in my head. I totally know that we can't make it on our own without Jesus as Saviour and the Holy Spirit leading and guiding, but I also know that we can't without others too. I have heard the term church-goer used before, I don't like or use it because we are the church, the people are the church community, we don't just 'go', we are.

      If you are a reader of this blog and not part of a church community can I encourage you to investigate a people, a church community that you can plug into.

Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own by U2 written by Bono for his father's funeral