Little Faith

Today was chilly and beautiful, I am so thankful to get a little bit of cold weather before traveling again! I may have gone over board and dressed my family for the tundra and brought a thermos of coffee on our trip to Chic Fil A because...it's plaid and cute and when else am I going to use it? Everyone should have a thermos of coffee on 20 minute long drives.

I have so much that I want to share about how this entire process has happened, I have written this post about a million times because I just didn't know where to begin. My biggest desire for sharing is so that the Lord is glorified for every single detail because he is the one who did all of this. I don't feel that me typing is going to do his miracles justice, but it's a tool I have and a tool I will use!

This time last year I was starting to think of what my new years resolutions would be for 2015. I had the typical things I have pretty much every year. Run more, run marathons, get to this weight, meet this goal in the childrens schooling, go here, do this, adopt. My husband saw this list and laughed, and told me that I can cross off the last thing because it is not happening, the end. (I have asked him if he is ok with me sharing about his hesitations, he is!)

While my list moved on, my heart didn't. Come spring of this year I felt it heavy on my heart and started looking at waiting children, chatting about the changes in the process. My husband was still saying no way, and he was totally serious. As laid back as my husband is...I can't remember another time that he has ever said no to something I wanted or wanted to do, this was maybe one of the only things I have ever seen him so serious on- it was not happening. We had a baby and many more children than hands, we often felt in over our heads more days than not, I understood his no. I moved on.

Come fall. I couldn't shake it, it had been on my heart so strongly! Why?! Why is this so heavy on my heart? I started praying about it for a few weeks, and then decided to just ask him again one night. His reply:

"Yeah, I've actually been thinking about it for a few weeks now"

What?! Only GOD. And so it began. We knew it was going to be fast, we knew we would need a lot of money very quickly and committing to it made me a little ill. You would assume my faith would be huge and I would be confident and unwavering in the Lord's provision from the way he worked financial miracles to get the boys home.  But, turns out I was just as nervous and a wreck about it as I was the first time! I had to constantly look back at each thing he did in our last process to remind me of his goodness and his will in this.

We had our home study in September and in November we were in the airport. We knew it would be fast but had no idea it was going to be this fast! $38,000 was our estimated total adoption expenses, and the Lord provided every single penny through his people and his church from day 1 up until 1 hour before we boarded the plane! That itself is a huge miracle and pouring out of the Lord's love and provision!

A few weeks prior to travel a friend of mine messaged me asking if she could host a Noonday trunk show for our adoption. Yes! She had an ambassador travel to come host it, baked some cookies and friends shopped! Our portion of the proceeds went to our adoption agency and every amount adds up!

Fast forward to the week we had to leave. We were not funded. We had enough to book our flights but we would be walking from the airport because we didn't even have enough to pay a driver to pick us up! I was freaking out a little- a lot. That weekend I paced and I will admit that we began looking into loans and credit cards, because we needed too much right away- no way the Lord is going to pull this off! Come Sunday evening a friend sent me a text asking what we had the most peace about.

Waiting.

I had the absolute most peace about waiting, not applying, just waiting. It didn't make ANY sense at all. Nobody waits until 5 days before they have to board a plane to figure out how they will pay for it. Even some of our friends were freaking out a bit wondering what we were going to do. I feel like there should have been constant dramatic music playing during this time. But his peace passes ALL understanding, right?

Monday morning I woke to an email saying that our first trip was covered. We had enough to travel this first trip! Praise the Lord!! We packed and headed to the airport!! We would still need $8,000 in fees and $6,000 in travel money for the 2nd trip, but we were not worrying about it yet and just focused on getting this first one down.

At the airport I was a nervous wreck. I'm not a huge fan of flying and there was so much unrest in the world at the time. The city we were flying into was on lock down and on level 4 terror alert. The US issued a travel ban and high level travel warnings that weekend specifically warning of airports, train stations etc. I was a mess and a bit scared, but doing it afraid.

We had a few hours before boarding so we had lunch and began watching movies when I heard my name paged to come to the boarding desk. I figured they needed more documents so I grabbed them and went up. A lady then says "I hear you are going on a very special trip for adoption! We'd love to have you enjoy the lounge while you wait for your flight!"

.."how did you know we are adopting?.."

"Oh we have information on all of our passengers."

Ok. So I must have put somewhere that my reason for travel is adoption. No big deal, that or our travel agent called and asked them to do this? We get into the lounge and sit down, the lady takes my phone from me and tells me she needs to connect me to wi-fi.

What?! I know how to connect...wait, why do I need to be on wi-fi? What is going on?! Meanwhile Adam thinks nothing unusual and is already enjoying sushi. I'm definitely the discerning one in this relationship! It was all so weird! The women leave and I begin texting my friends to tell them what just happened and how weird it all is, one replies and says "it's good!! trust me, answer your FaceTime call!"

Seriously people,  what in the world is going on in the stinking airport?! We wait for a FaceTime call and answer- the owner and founder of Noonday collection was there to tell us they are giving us $15,000 from the sales of their world adoption day bracelet for our adoption!! WHAT?! I just can't even. Meanwhile the airport ladies are bringing us champagne- is this even real?? It was, because only God could orchestrate something so perfect, only he would provide for our entire adoption, fees and travel DONE, while we are in the airport waiting to board our plane.  He said wait and provided in the most perfect way, and right on time.  Our friend hosting the Noonday trunk show for us entered us to be eligible for the giveaway, we never dreamed we would win it- only God!

He is a GOOD father, he does GREAT things for those who love him. We are now parents to 8 amazing children and there is no doubt that he didn't place each and every one of them in our family! It only takes a little faith, wait on the Lord. Wait on him. Do you see what huge blessings we would have missed out on had we maxed out cards and taken out loans because we were too afraid and too impatient to wait for him to provide? (Note: i was definitely still afraid and impatient even while waiting. keeping it real.) Wait on the Lord- let him do what only HE does! My favorite verse for this season is Psalm 66:5 "COME! See what the LORD has done! What miracles he performs for his people!"  I pray when people see our girl they see what HE has done!