Adoption Update - June 10

For the past couple of weeks, the Van De Stroet home has been a flurry of activity. We received a referral to adopt Tadesse and Biruk a couple of weeks ago, and if that wasn't enough, we found out that we would likely be making our first trip to Ethiopia this summer before the adoption court is scheduled to close (generally August-September). So we painted the bedroom. We talked to our travel agent. We went senior picture clothes shopping and scheduled senior pictures for Kaylee. We made lists upon lists. We underlined and starred items in our travel documents and ordered a map of Ethiopia and Amharic-English dictionaries. We bought travel supplies and Ethiopia-appropriate clothes.


Then on Friday afternoon we got an email from Bethany Christian Services saying that it just received word that the

adoption court is closing a month early, starting on July 6, and will be closed into October and that the adoption process is changing—yes, in mid-process for us. We heard from our social worker that documents from our home study are beginning to expire, requiring us to get re-fingerprinted and that we need to have our physical forms filled out again. In addition, we may have to have the home visit completed again along with all the record gathering.

Since then I've been stressed and wallowing in self-pity. I don't consider myself a control freak because I rarely feel like I have to be in charge. In fact, I'll even acknowledge that I'd rather have someone else in charge most of the time. What I really want is to know the plan, the itinerary, the dates to mark on my calendar so I can figure out short-term and long-term goals for readiness. I want to have my ducks in a row, so to speak, and it's hard to do that when there's no date to circle on the calendar. It's hard to trust that everything will work out.

We will have less than a week's notice before we have to be in Ethiopia the first time. On top of that, we really want to take Caleb, Kaylee, and Elijah on this first trip with us, and this summer, though quick, would be ideal. (Can you hear me complaining?)

So here's what it comes down to. I can get all irritable about all I don't know, or I can have a little faith. God is in the process of blessing us (BLESSING US!!!) with two more kids. While I would like them to come sooner rather than later, who am I to question the big picture? Am I just one of those people who counts my blessings when things are going my way, or can I give God credit all the time?

Life is really a series of choices, isn't it? We can choose to worry about everything and live in a disgruntled bewilderment about why things happen the way they do, or we can live in thankfulness and humility, recognizing that we are blessed to be along for the ride.

For today, I'm choosing to be thankful.

**Update on the update: On June 12 I had a texting discussion with a friend about appreciating God's manna and not demanding meat instead--to accept all-knowing God and His provision. Then I walked upstairs to fold laundry and watched a Joyce Meyer sermon about obedience and self-control and found myself at the end, praying for God's forgiveness and resubmitting myself to his rule and plan. Next, I walked downstairs to the kitchen and checked my email, where I found out that Ethiopia's adoption courts are not closing in July but sometime in August as previously thought. This means we will likely be traveling to meet Biruk and Tadesse this summer. Do you believe in coincidence, that all these things just happened to occur within an hour of each other? I don't think so. I see it as God's grace raining down on me once again.