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There is a time for everything...

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

The time to update this blog was several months ago!  We apologize for the delay since our last post. Since so much time has passed, we have a few things we need to talk about!

First and foremost, we don’t want our lack of communication to create any doubt that we’re still adopting.  We want to be very clear; we have not wavered in our desire to follow God’s plan and adopt our child(ren) from Ethiopia!  I suppose our lack of communication can be attributed to a selfish desire to not obsess over the adoption.  We knew the process would be a long journey, and there’s not a day that goes by that we both don’t think about our little Ethiopian child(ren).  The struggle we face is that we understand we likely have the majority of the journey ahead of us.  We apologize for the delay, and we promise it won’t happen again!

There have been a handful of changes to the Ethiopian adoption process through All God’s Children, most of which are non-substantive.  The most notable change you’ll experience with us is the fact that we are no longer receiving wait list numbers.  Instead, we’re provided monthly updates of all referrals and corresponding dates that the adoptive families completed their adoption paperwork.  The most recent update indicated paperwork completion dates of December 2010 and October 2011.  We completed our paperwork in October 2012. 

What does this mean?  In short, nothing; however, with no numbers to cling to, the ambiguity surrounding our place in the process multiplies, and we won’t be able to share our progress, however small it may be, with you in an easy-to-understand way each month.

The verses shared at the start of this post, taken from the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3, have adorned our living room wall since the week following our garage sale fundraiser last summer.  I’ve spent several nights meditating on these words over the past year.  While the thoughts on my mind and the triumphs and troubles of each day have changed each time I’ve read this passage, I always find myself in awe of the vast amount of choices and decisions we make each day.  How do we know which behavior is appropriate given our circumstances?  How should we handle fear, uncertainty, disappointment, loss, excitement, anticipation, and ambiguity?  In those quiet moments, I simply ask God!

Today is a gift.  Enjoy it!