Together

It’s 5:00 AM in Addis Ababa and I just woke up and find it hard to believe what has happened to me and my family over the past few months.  Seriously.  Yesterday was an unforgettable day but there were times when I wondered if Staci and I have lost our minds.  Are we really 7000 miles away from home?  Are we really prepared for a 4^th child… this week?  How in the world did we get here?  Yes, we may appear to have lost our minds, but I like to think of it as relying more on our hearts.

Yesterday was awesome.  Jackson and Avery were overjoyed to meet Sofani and the feeling was clearly reciprocated.  Kids, now brothers and sisters, that only knew of each other hugged, laughed and played together for the first time.  I was very proud as a father.  I was proud of well prepared Jackson and Avery’s hearts were for Sofani.  I was so pleased to see that in spite of a common language or a common background, there was love.  Jackson has always wanted a brother and the joy he experienced yesterday was so much fun to watch.  I am so happy to be able to watch him and Sofani bond.  I was proud that the courage Sofani showed to leave everything with the hope of becoming a part of our family was rewarded yesterday.  I was proud of Avery whose heart for the poor and marginalized has been exposed to so much this week.  Who knows what the plans are for each of them that met for the first time yesterday?  I’m just happy to have a good seat.

Emotionally yesterday was very different for Staci and me.  We haven’t had time to sit down and discuss it but I know we both feel that we’ve finished the first phase of a triathlon.  We know we’re about to get out of the water and there’s a lot of relief in knowing that this phase is behind us.   We know that this part of the adoption journey finishes this week and we can see the shore. 

We both know that the next phase will be present challenges, too.  How will the 4 kids get along?  How quickly will Sofani pick up English?  What about school?  What will happen to the dynamics of our family since we’ve adopted an older child?  How will Sofani adjust to life in the US?  Lots of questions are ahead of us in this process.  I think Staci and I are going to take some deep breaths over the next few days, pray a lot and trust that the doors will continue to be opened and the resources and answers will continue to come to us as easily as they have thus far. 

While there are some nervous and anxious feelings about the next phase of our lives together as a family I have faith that things will go continue to follow God’s plan.  When we first began the adoption process people told us that we would be frustrated because there were so many things that we wouldn’t be able to control.  Admittedly, Staci and I both had our concerns with this.  We knew that we would have to rely on our faith along with prayer and support from our family and friends.  Let me tell you… it has worked.  Giving God the control in life makes all of the difference.  We still have our struggles but we’re getting better all of the time.  This process has stretched us is a good way.  We have become much more trusting and reliant on God than in our own abilities.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of Sofani’s story and the changes that adopting him have already had and will always have in our family.  Everywhere I go people ask me bout it.  When will you get your son?  What are your kids saying?  Can he speak English?  How old is he?  Why were you in Ethiopia?  Staci’s facebook page has become more popular with every post about our journey.  A blog that I created to keep people close to us informed on the developments through the adoption process now has thousands of hits.  It’s crazy. 

But I know why it’s interesting.  God has used us to share a love story.  We have followed God through every door that He has opened in this process by relinquishing control and allowing Him to take the lead.  With every door that He has opened more and more people have cheered us on and encouraged us through the next one.  People have enjoyed watching God at work and Staci and I have enjoyed being a part of it.