VENTING, WAITING, AND REJOICING!

Venting: Soon it will be 23 months since our paperwork was logged in to China and our official wait for Baby Maggie began. It is hard to believe that what started out as a 1 year wait has turned into a probably 4 year wait by the time it is all over. Normally, I do fine, continue to have faith in the Almighty's plan, and live my already blessed life, but I am a little riled up right now. We got a newsletter from our China Agency Friday that included a letter from the president of the agency. She visits China regularly with the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). She stated in her letter that the wait which is currently 2.5 years will continue to grow. She asked the CCAA what she should tell waiting families. Their reply: "As long as Americans are willing to wait, they will eventually get a baby." I know that China doesn't owe us a baby, but what is so incredibly sad to me is the fact that thousands of babies are languishing in these orphanages while thousands of families wait to love them. It is heartbreaking and it makes no sense. The only good that has come out of our wait is that God has led us to adopt another child in the mean time. That will be 2 of God's children that we will bring Home. One more thing, while I vent............we have had plenty of people point out to us that America has plenty of orphans to adopt so why are we adopting from other countries. Let me address this: 1) America doesn't make it easy to adopt either. We want a baby and there are huge waiting lists for babies, but mostly we worry about an interrupted adoption. We have known too many couples that have went through the pain of an interrupted adoption. After 7 years of wanting another child and 2 miscarriages, we didn't think we wanted to risk that, not to mention putting our sweet, sensitive daughter through that pain.
2) Domestic adoptions through private agencies are on the average 10,000 more dollars than an international adoption.
3) An orphan is an orphan no matter where in the world they are. We are all God's children and He wants us to take care of the orphans.

Waiting: So here we are, we continue to wait for the blessings that we know God has planned for us. We are totally out of our comfort zone on many levels, but at the same time we know that we are following God's will for our life and it is absolutely amazing and exhilirating to imagine what He has in store. The longer we wait, the more we question and worry.........Dialogue between God and I - Gina: Is this your plan God? God: Yes, Gina. Gina: This is scary. God: I know, being out of control and out of your comfort zone is scary. Gina: We can't afford this. God: I will provide. Gina: I am going to be a mother of 2 toddlers in my 40's. God: You can do it. I will help and so will many others. Gina: What if it never happens? God: It will. Have faith in Me.

Rejoicing: I rejoice in the knowledge that it all comes down to faith and how much I have grown in the last 2 years. God is so stretching our family. I am so thankful for Brian and Baylee and our extended family, friends, and our church family whom we have so grown to love and cherish. Wow! What a blessed life we have!