Don't Waste Your Wait

Sometimes I want to be done with waiting. All this week I have been waiting, fairly sure we would hear some news. Instead, I am still basically waiting. Then I wondered if I would ever actually miss this time and I wondered if I am wasting this time. A few years ago, our pastor wrote an extraordinary little piece called, "Don't Waste Your Cancer." I totally copied him but mine is called, "Don't Waste Your Wait."

You will waste your wait if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.


You will waste your wait if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.


You will waste your wait if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.


You will waste your wait if you think that adopting is just about your family and your child.


You will waste your wait if you spend too much time reading about adoption (and blogs and emails and youtubes and....) and not enough time reading about God.


You will waste your wait if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.


You will waste your wait if you grieve as those who have no hope.


You will waste your wait if you treat sin as casually as before.


You will waste your wait if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

Meatless

Joel is reading a book called Born to Run. It is full of extraordinary feats of a tribe of Indians who run hundreds of miles on vegetables and barbequed mice.

We decided to imitate them in one area for now: more vegetables.

That led Grace to ask if she could be a vegetarian for a week. I said yes.

This morning I heard this exchange:

Grace: Hey Levi, I'm going to be a vegetarian.

Levi: What? For Halloween?

There are Days...

Most days of waiting for an adoption are completely uneventful. They look maddeningly like every other day because they are. Today was not one of those days. And what I think will happen if more of these days come along is that:

1. I will completely relate to anyone who is ADHD.

2. Eli will never know what least common multiples and greatest common factors are because I taught them incorrectly today.

3. I will have 15 projects in varying degrees of doneness but nothing that is even remotely close to 100%.

4. Advil will be a food group.

Home Again

We went "up north to a cabin" this week. We don't own a cabin nor do we have an uncle, a parent or a brother who do. We have to do the next best thing called VRBO: Vacation Rental By Owner, an online site that has more rental places than one might think existed. And somehow, in the midst of all the choices, we happened upon a cabin 7 miles north of Lutsen owned by a wonderful family whose spokesperson is Joyce. Joyce sends us a key in the mail, asks us to clean up the cabin when we're done and off we go.

We went up for 3 nights. Had a fire in the fire place, had lots of soup and hot chocolate, watched the waves of Lake Superior crash onto the rocks, ventured to Grand Marais twice, had no cell phone nor internet service and loved it.

We got home last night, unpacked, did a Target run, got a movie for Joel and me, tucked everyone in and collapsed into bed. I topped off the whole experience by using Zeke's toothbrush. Yes, it was gross and it was unintentional. The last time I cross contaminated was when I put Joel's contacts in my eyes.

I would recommend cabins for family bonding. I would also recommend boundaries when it comes to personal items.

Waiting

My friend and I are really good at waiting. Until we talk to each other. Which is every day and sometimes twice a day. Plus emailing.

Here is a statement from today's conversation, courtesy of my Really Bad At Waiting Friend who is a terrible influence on me:

"I just want to go to an Ethiopian restaurant. And sit there. And smell bad."

Me too.

A verse

Everything is making me think about Ethiopia: Eli's geography lessons, Levi's social studies lessons on Africa, and now a song called "Glory Revealed." It's Isaiah 40 sung:

3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

I love to think that God will make a way, possibly through a desert, for our little girl to come home. And may all see the glory of the Lord.

Christmas Card Pictures?

We usually take our Christmas card pictures in October. This year, I have at least 3 major reasons to hesitate:

1. If we get a baby, I'll want to send out another card.

2. Levi just lost his fourth tooth. From the top front. He smiles and there are not any teeth to be seen.

3. The boys have not grown out of their home haircuts yet.

Maybe it's time for a new family picture called, "Everyone Sketch Themselves." Sounds like it has potential. Then I'll just crop in a beautiful, hot, dusty infant and we're good to go.