God's Will And The Rocky Road

Getting to this point of preparing to travel has been an adventure in and of itself. In the last post, I mentioned just the amount of paperwork it takes to conduct an adoption. You really do sign your lives away.

But the journey to adoption also usually carries with it bumps and obstacles along the way. This is a long process, so to expect such a process to be flawless and seamless is to expect the impossible.

Nevertheless, by mid July, the process had run as smoothly as it could possibly run. In late-June, we received our last form before travel permission, a consent-to-adopt form from the Chinese government. We filled it out and sent it back overnight mail.

The form got lost.

Jennifer started to wonder what was up about mid July when I was in Houston for the Synodical Convention. A couple of well placed phone calls and...the bad news hit. Sneaking away from the Concordia Mequon reception on Monday the 16th, I called home to say good night to the kids ...and got the bad news.

The trip was looking like it would happen in August. Now we didn't know when, or even if, it would still happen. Would the Chinese government send another form? We really didn't know.

I offered to come home immediately but Jennifer urged me to stay. Needless to say, it made for a very long remainder of the convention. Coming home Thursday evening, we went out for Jennifer's birthday, but we were all struggling with what this meant.

I had the comfort of my brothers in the ministry who were down there in Houston with me. Of course, even they resorted to the age-old explanation that "God has a reason." At the time, I remember not being too comforted by that.

In the rear-view mirror, I see now that they were right.

Our gracious God moves in mysterious ways. All through the month of July, I had been trying to recover from a cough I inherited from one of our children who coughed her way through the month of June. By the end of July, the cough had gotten out of control. I clearly wasn't recovering from it. Moreover, my sinuses were now infected and I had lost hearing in one ear.

Then the second form came from China. We sent it in the overnight mail again and it arrived. Now we were 2-5 weeks from travel permission and, stubborn though I am, I broke down and went to the doctor. Walking pneumonia with an advanced sinus infection...at precisely the time we were originally supposed to travel. Two weeks of antibiotics later I was no longer coughing.

What's more, Matthew and Rebekah had worked hard on their 4-H projects for the Dodge County Fair and we got to see how they did at the fair. Matthew had 5 blues (1st), 2 reds (2nd), and 1 white (3rd). One of his blues, his photography project, got a purple and is going to next year's Wisconsin State Fair.

Of course, we could have missed this really great day for him.

Rebekah got 2 blues, 2 reds, and 1 white. Her sewing project also got purple and is going to the State Fair.

Of course, we could have missed this really great day for her.

All because of a lost form, I got to heal and both of us got to see our children succeed at the Dodge County Fair.

Strange, yet wonderful, isn't it?

The Lord has his reasons. We often don't realize it until we see it in the rear-view mirror.

Getting Ready

It's Saturday, August 25th and we are 2 1/2 weeks from traveling to China to adopt Nathanael. We have our plane tickets, our itinerary, passports, visas, health documents, etc etc etc.

I don't know how many of the readers of this blog appreciate just how much paperwork goes into an adoption. We have literally signed our lives away. Financially, as most people know, it's a major investment of funds to adopt a child. Add to it our first travel overseas, halfway across the world, major plane flight. It's exciting and scary at the same time.

But that's what love does. It sacrifices for the other person, whether that person be in our family or on the other side of the world...or both. That's why we are adopting. That's why we are going ahead. Christ did no less for us when He descended from His heavenly throne and sacrificed to death before rising again and returning to the Father.

The minute we saw Nathanael's picture, we knew we were right to do this. We were also blessed along the way with video of him playing on a playground in Nanchang. The last video has him singing what sounds like a Chinese children's song. He'll fit in great in our family.

Now it's getting all the paperwork and packing done. It's a strange arrangement as we are limited in poundage for our in China flights. We have to pack light going there, but can pack heavy coming back. Plus we will have him for the flight back. 17 hours of undivided attention with a 2 1/2 year old in rather cramped quarters. Well, at least there's lots of elbow room when we get home.

We're going to be using this blog for family members and friends to keep posted on our progress before we travel, during our travel, and after we get back.

Above all we ask your prayers for us, for safe travel, smooth operations while in China, and a smooth transition for Nathanael. He will definitely be challenged by this, but we pray that he will grow to love his new family and new country. We thank all who read this blog in advance for their prayers.

Blessings,
Dan