Oh Hague

We're still here in the world of adoption.  It's been quite a busy week on many fronts.  I successfully finished 10 hours of online Hague training and am not so patiently awaiting Doug to finish his.  We await finalization of our home study because we need to get those certificates mailed off to our social worker.  Can you believe that ...she's waiting on us!!

If your not of the adoption world, you may not be privy to what I am speaking of when I say Hague Training.  Lucky you!  10 hours of online course work required by the Hague Convention and our adoption agency of all adopting families.  Not all bad actually ... it really did have a lot of great information.  Lots of physicians, adopting families and been there done that videos on what to expect in our transition, in attachment, in medical issues, referral and in our travels.  I will say, as a believer, the enemy loved to use much of the knowledge to place fear in my head.   The information on the number of children adopted into homes that have autism, sensory issues, and major health issues was alarming.  I won't lie, I found myself wanting to press mute and asking myself if I'd really be up for all of that.  I'm just being honest here.  There's such a balance in preparedness and the enemy arresting your mind to fear.  Has anyone else had this issue or am I just whacky?

Now, don't get me wrong.  I know this adoption won't be full of roses.  In fact, when I picture the first moment we meet Levi, I find myself wondering and thinking that he'll probably scream his head off and even run straight away from us.  Hey, I would!  We're white, we'll smell different, we're strangers, we'll speak a foreign language - you name it!  Wouldn't you be petrified?   It makes me laugh a little that anyone would picture something different.  I try to imagine myself being put into the arms of a black family, whom I've never met, who spoke a foreign language and smelled weird.  I KNOW I'd be petrified and resistant.   I have heard stories of older children running to their new Mommy and Daddy in delight.  It happens, it's not outside God's possibilities, but I'm also preparing for that other scenario, a terrified and screaming 3 year old and assuming that's more like what our first moments will include.  No let down then in my heart.  Maliah was 10 months old and if she could have run she would have.  Yep, preparing my heart!

I have begun to pray all sorts of things over Levi.  Seeing as how we're seeking a child who is 3-4 then we know he's somewhere ... alive ... being cared for.  As we walk through paper work and you follow us along, it may be easy to forget that at the other end of all of this is a child, with a face, a heart and soul.  Right now, our Levi is somewhere.  What could he be doing?  Where could he be?  Linger in that will you?  Our son is somewhere RIGHT NOW!  I'm praying that someone is loving him.  I'm praying that someone is making eye contact with him, letting him know he is precious, holding him and talking to him.  I am praying that at night, someone is tucking him in.  Maybe, just maybe, he's in an orphanage where his Nanny finds favor over him.  I am praying that ... selfishly, that he is favored.  I want our Levi to have the best possible care given the circumstances he is probably in.   I'm also very aware that many and none of these things might be happening right now.   That thought makes my heart ache and makes me wake in the night!

I am praying that the Lord who knows him, is telling him in some way of the Mommy he also knows he has created for him - a half a world away!  I'm praying that he is being protected from illnesses:  tuberculosis, respiratory infections, scabies, HIV and more!  I am praying now against the spirit of rejection, fear and abandonment in him!
I am praying for his attachment into our family.  I am praying, selfishly, for a smooth and easy transition and yet preparing with every tool I can find of one that may look very different than that prayer.

Would you pray with me for Levi?  As the Lord brings him to your mind, would you pray over those things I mentioned and anything else he prompts you to pray about?  This adoption isn't just ours, it definitely requires the "Village" so to speak.  We know without a doubt that our community is not only valued but necessary in his safe arrival home.  From the fundraisers we are doing to the prayers you pray ... it's all a part of this journey - all necessary and all treasured!  And if you are prompted to pray for Levi, would you let me know.  Leave me a note here or through e-mail and let me know when, or how or what the Lord led you to pray.  I have no doubt, he'll call up his warriors in the times necessary to pray if we're listening ... wouldn't it be awesome to look back after he comes home and see if any of those times correlated with things going on in his life!  We might not ever know, but then again ... the Lord prompted me to ask ... so he might just show us!

"I have heard you, replied Jeremiah the prophet.  I will certainly pray to the Lord your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the Lord says and will keep nothing back from you."  Jeremiah 42:4


"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing.  Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.  In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."  Psalm 5: 1-3

Thank you in advance for being one of the warriors he is raising up to cover our son!