Familia

God promises to complete every work he starts--and our family is living proof.

Let me take you back a few weeks to January 27, 2012--the day we "met" Ruth and Emmanuel. That is the day we began a new normal, the day we received a phone call that there were two beautiful children on the Waiting International Children list that matched our description. I raced home, and my husband and I quietly and breathlessly read through every page of their referral. It wasn't until the very end that we finally spoke. And we knew...simply knew that God was giving us these children.

Since then we have moved forward by faith. That Sunday we had a huge celebration at church, complete with a beautiful video a friend made for us to help introduce our church family to our children. Everyone exploded in applause, and we shared many tears and hugs.

The next day we found out that there were actually multiple families interested in adopting Ruth and Emmanuel. Yet we believed by faith that God had spoken to our hearts about bringing us together as a family. So we drove three hours to IKEA and bought a new bedroom set with each piece chosen specifically for our children. We wrote in their journal, our friends' nine-year-old daughter decorated a box and filled it with her Barbies to give to Ruth, another friend began a quilt to give them, we made Ruth a card on her birthday knowing we could deliver it one day, we showed their pictures to all of our friends and spoke about them regularly...we plowed in home.

Then came the call. Even though we were expecting it to come at some point, nothing could have prepared us for that exact moment when God intervenes, when he completes the good work he began. Twenty-four hours later, we are completely amazed at his perfect timing. Ruth and Emmanuel already know about us (which seems to break every adoption rule we've heard), and they even read the letter we wrote the Costa Rican government in January expressing our intent to adopt. Ruth said she can tell we love them, and Emmanuel asked if he could call us so we could come the next day to meet them.

This morning we mailed our acceptance letter. Yet we OFFICIALLY accepted over a month ago. It is hard to explain how we feel about these children--how much we love them. We want to provide them with a stable, loving, nurturing home where they will know they are free to be themselves and to discover their strengths, passions, and abilities. They will be an instant part of our family, including our extended church family who are all so ready to support them however they can.

It is a time to celebrate.  God is completing his good work--but in some ways his good work is just beginning.