Around The Table

Last night we were privileged to be included in a wonderful celebration. The McGowans invited us, among many others, to join them at a delightful restaurant in town, to rejoice to God and feast with them as they welcome a new son into their household. Daniel will have to post pictures later, but it was such a special time. As they recounted their own journey toward adoption, far longer and more deeply tested than ours, we marvelled at how God truly set everything into place for them to be here at this time for a specific child He holds in the palm of His hand. With the best of their wisdom and understanding and obvious desire to follow God all the way, they made plans years ago to have another child/children grafted into their family tree.

God has pushed and pulled and molded them for this time; right now.

As we sat around the tables, we listened to staff from the school their son lives at (he is one of only two orphans at what is actually a school for the deaf) share their love for this child and express both sorrow and joy as they seem him join the McGowan clan. We listened to John tell of praying for years for a child and caretakers they did not yet know. God, through His holy spirit, truly leads our prayers in ways we don't always understand at the moment.


I know of families who took the trip down the adoption road because they had an ever-growing sense that someone was missing at their table. I know of others who realized how abundantly they were personally blessed and couldn't imagine not sharing it with others, maybe an orphan. I know of others who leaped onto this path as the only way to have a family at all.

However adoption is approached and endeavored, there are challenges along the way. Financial.
Emotional. Spiritual. Physical. Questions will arise such as how can anyone come up with the kid of funds required? Why is it so expensive sometimes, when the focus needs to be just facilitating smooth adoptions into loving homes instead of on the business of it? How does a couple committed to integrity accomplish the goal of adoption in a world where corruption is evident? Will biological and adopted children mesh with each other like "real" siblings? Etc.

There are not always easy answers. In fact, sometimes the further into the process one is, the more discouraging it may be. Maybe even second guessing one's decision. Like any other giant leap in life, one may be tempted to say, "wait a minute, I thought this was God's will; why is it so hard right now?" Think of it like pregnancy and childbirth. There are more similarities than I would have thought. The actual day of birth may or may not be the anticipated due date. The length of labor varies greatly from child to child. Life issues come up as the child's arrival is anticipated, such as unexpected financial issues, that add stress. Then, as everything comes to a climax, the pushing stage so to speak, we may find ourselves thinking I cannot do this, even though we know rationally that there is no going back and we can't wait to meet the new little one. After the child's arrival, some birth and adoptive parents may say "that was too hard; I'm glad for this one but I'm never doing that again". And I can say from experience, that sometimes what seems to be a perfect pregnancy can still result in a child with unexpected special needs. Life is just unpredictable.

All of this physical focus takes away from what I could see again at the celebration last night. God has prepared a feast for His people. He does not want us to miss it. He is yearning to birth in each of us something beautiful and to which nothing else can compare: an eternal relationship with Him through the King, Christ. When someone new is grafted in, adopted by Him, it delights Him. He is knocking at the door, waiting for us to open it so He can come into our life and dine with us. It will require getting out of our "comfort zone" and going places we never imagined . It will require going where He leads although He may not even reveal the place or the reason until much later. We could say "oh, that can't possibly be what God is asking us to do" or "how am I going to explain this to everyone else" or any number of other things. Yet if we stopped there at that threshold, what would we miss? God knows.

As we pray for wisdom, acknowledge God in all we do and praise Him, and attempt to replace fear and anxiety with gratitude and rejoicing, won't it be amazing to see to who ends up around our table (through adoption, welcoming the widow or solitary, and wherever else a teachable heart surrendered to Him leads) while we wait to dine at His? Won't it be amazing to see how He will cause our lives to blossom, blessed and a blessing to others? That's the heart-pull that put us on our own road to Ukraine; realizing God was opening a door, asking us to not only peek through and consider but to take the leap and trust Him. Knowing that if we believed He is leading and we refused to surrender, we would miss (and our children including Maxim would miss) something the King of the Universe wants to do in our little house, of all places.

Tomorrow is day ten. I can hardly believe it. Once we set ourselves to focus on and enjoy one day at a time, it has not been so hard. Homecoming is almost tangible now.

I don't know how often we will be able to post, after tomorrow especially , but we'll do our best. Tuesday will be full with going to Simferopol and back for the birth certificate. Wednesday, Igor will walk us through getting Maxim's passport started. Thursday is a buffer day (and our daughter Brina's 15th birthday) for if there is anything else needed locally at the passport office. Then we should be on the train to Kiev with Maxim. So close to being finished. Praise God!