Motherhood Month - 8

Progress:  Today is officially one year since we were approved to adopt.

How I'm feeling:  Slightly down.  But only slightly.

Craving:  Nothing; I just finished eating (why does this always seem to be my answer?).

Thoughts about our child:  Hoping to meet you soon.

Thoughts about our child's expectant mom:  Praying for you.

Most recent baby purchase/gift:  Don't believe I've bought or been given anything in the past month.  My sister is working on finishing the baby quilt I started, though.

This month God:  Has been reminding me that it is an honour to be persecuted for His name's sake. 

Update:  My sister & niece did drop by after I wrote this and gave me a sweet card & gift.  It touched me that she remembered it was one year since we'd became paper pregnant.

Mother's Day 2014

I am so thankful to God because I was so blessed this Mother's Day!  I went into Mother's Day not dwelling on it too much, so I was not expecting anything.  These stories I am going to share are so precious to me that I am actually reluctant to share them.  But this is how my day went:

First of all, the previous day we had celebrated my mom's birthday, and during the prayer before the meal, my brother thanked God for all the moms there and all the people who would be moms.  Which includes me :)  God was getting a jump-start on the Mother's Day blessings! 

The morning of Mother's Day my husband and I had church in our home with six others Believers like we do every Sunday.  I was in the bathroom when I heard my husband welcome in an older gentleman I greatly respect.  I heard this man cheerfully boom "Good Morning!  And next year we will be able to wish you a Happy Mother's Day!"  Yes, this man has been earnestly and continually praying that we will be chosen this year (even without us requesting that he pray for this).  I have no idea what God's will is, but, wow, is it ever special to have someone praying about this, which is so precious to us, with such confidence.  "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."  James 5:16 NKJV

After this I greeted a lady and told her Happy Mother's Day and she replied the same to me.  Then I went and sat down in my seat.  My brother, sister-in-law, and niece came in and my sis-in-law was going around the room greeting everyone.  When she came to me, she unexpectedly gave me a hug, planted a kiss on my cheek, and gently said "Happy Mother's Day.  You have a mother's heart."  I promptly burst into [hopefully quiet] tears.  I knew she truly understood, because she is an adoptive mother herself.  She kept her arms around me and said some more sweet words until I had collected myself.  At that point I noticed I had dropped both my Bible, and the hymnal I had had on my lap, on her bare foot.  Oops.  We had a chuckle and then I wiped my tears away and church started.  My husband also whispered a quick "Happy Mother's Day" to me.

For lunch my husband and I went to my parents'.  I gave my mom a big orange KitKat bar and a homemade card (side note:  I am a huge SU! fan).  My mom is obsessed with orange-flavoured chocolate, lol, and it is not always easy to find!  My oldest sister was there as well so I told her Happy Mother's Day, too, and then she gave me a card.  Immediately I was cautious, like, oh no, I am going to cry again, lol.  Before opening it, I said "What's this?  I've already cried once today."  She told me to read it, so I opened it.  On the front it had a greeting that read "A Blessing for You - This day, may you be surrounded by God's love, comforted by His grace, blessed by His peace, aware of His presence, and filled with His abundant joy."  On the inside she had made up and written a poem just for me.  It reads "Miriam waited with abated breath beside her brother's basket boat...God is faithful.  The Israelites cried out to be rescued from slavery...God is faithful.  The father's heart ached.  Would his son come home...today?  God is faithful.  The people watched and waited for the coming Messiah.  God is faithful.  Rhonda's heart longs to hold her own little one...God is faithful.  "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  Psalm 27:14 [NIV]  God is faithful."  She signed it "I love you!  Happy Mother's Day!"  Yes, of course I cried again.

How could I not when God is blessing me left, right, and center with such sweet people??  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV

1 Year Update

We had our one-year update on April 29, Tuesday. 

Basically we went in to our agency and met with an adoption counselor.  It was very relaxed and the three of us talked about where we were at in our lives now (no huge changes).  We gave her our criminal record checks (she already had our medical reports).  I had updated our Dear Birthparent letters so I gave her those, as well as new photos of us (just the main, nice photo that goes together with our letter).  This year our agency had changed one of their forms, which we had completed earlier, so we gave her that as well.  There was a little bit of other paperwork that we did there; nothing major.

We had not been shown in the last year.  I think that is fairly common for the first year, so we were not surprised.  We did end up making one change to our requirements that will open us up a lot more to being shown.  That is exciting!  Also, a year has passed, so we are now half way through the "average" waiting time, making things feel more hopeful.

We just continue to wait, seeing what God has in store for us.  This is an area where I am just starting to learn to be content with His will.  Ultimately, I want what He wants, and He knows best!

We found out we had a credit on our account which was awesome - we walked out of there without paying a dime of the $300 required for annual updates!

So now we are good to go for another year.