Friday, October 31, 2008

A Renewed Spirit and Steadfast Hope....

What a range of emotions we have experienced these last few days! Tuesday was a truly tough day for us, and we thank God for all the support and encouragement we received from our family, friends, and our wonderful Yahoo Group (YG). The Lord used them in our lives in a wonderful way and we are so very grateful. We are also grateful for the renewed spirit and steadfast hope that He has given us during this (hopefully) final journey of our adoption process. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it until mid-December. Thankfully, my sweet, Godly husband helped me to refocus on God's faithfulness, and God was just that....faithful! Even Tuesday night we could sense a renewed presence of the Lord in our lives and we went to sleep in peace....undoubtedly this only came from Him! Sure, we still feel a twinge of disappointment in our hearts every now and then, but we are thankful for how this experience has strengthened our faith and reminded us that our hope should only be in the Lord our God. That's a tough lesson to learn :)

So, the exciting news! We have a HUGE travel group!! Well, I say exciting, but actually it is bittersweet. Unfortunately, our large travel group is due to the fact that other families also did not pass court. Not only this, but families who received their referrals a little later than us and were to travel before Christmas most likely will now not travel until after Christmas, which is very, very tough news to swallow. Our travel group now consists of the following families: Sloninger, Stager, Witter, Joner, Tenant, Savage and Sparr families. We are praying that each and every one of these families will be rejoicing on December 2 when we all pass court!! Please, be praying!

4 comments:

E said...

Wow, you guys have an AMAZING travel group! So many of you I'd love to meet!!! I'll be lifting up prayers for all of the families in the many different phases of the process. My heart hurts for those families who can't bring their children home before Christmas. That was very difficult for us last year. It makes me very sad and I pray the Lord will offer sweet balm to their hearts as they wait for the day when they will bring their kiddos home.

Erica

ethiHOPEia said...

Rebecca,
So sorry that things didn't go well with the court date. I have been reminded lately how much the adoption and all the plans that go with it are SO OUT OF OUR HANDS! God must really be working a beautiful tapistry that we just cannot see yet!
I am glad that you'll be able to go in December though. As I was looking at pictures of our little man in the photo group I saw your CUTIE!!!
Blessings,
Hilary

tisha said...

Thanks for sharing about God's faithfulness in your life through all of this. It's beautiful to see how you guys always turn toward him. He is faithful!

It was hard for me when we didn't pass court our first time, but God used it to help me truly let go and put it all in his hands. The adoption process wasn't easy, but God faithfully walked us through it and I am amazed at what he's done!!

I know he has a great plan for uniting you with your little one and I can't wait to follow your blog when you travel to meet him!

I will be praying for you to pass on the 2nd!

With love,
Tisha

Carpenters said...

I'll admit that I am still disappointed that we did not get to hold our little ones sooner. I may never know this side of heaven why we had so many disappointments, but the sting and pain was gone when I held them in my arms. I pray the same for you.

What a wonderful travel group! We'll be praying for you all.

With Love,
Penelope