Pain-Free Baby Dedications!

As the NxtGn Pastor at Newsong, one of my pastoral responsibilities is quarterly baby dedications. In theory, this should be a great experience for me as I celebrate new and growing families. In reality, the past 4 I've done have all been marked with varying levels of sadness and grief. In fact, after the first dedication I lead I felt pretty sick. It was awful.

This past Sunday was another baby dedication but it was a VICTORY! While there were tears, they were because I had the privilege of being of part of a couple dear friends' baby dedications [yeah Ta's & Roach's!!!!]. It was a pain-free baby dedication. Sigh.

Afterward, I received this from a friend who was leading worship:

Your ability to show strength with tenderness is inspiring. And it's not anything specific that you do, it's just who you are.

Some day soon it will be you up there dedicating your own babies to a life with our loving God. Looking forward to celebrating that day with you.

Wow. Tears. I could read those words and feel nothing but excitement and anticipation for OUR day. Indeed, something good is growing inside of me. More healing. Thanks, Jesus, for an incredible day.

Purposeful Waiting - Timeline Update!

I talked with our case manager today, and she gave me an update on our waiting...it's only kinda good news so Brian and I wanted you to know so you can keep on praying!!!

BTW: Time in Ethiopia is whack!!

The News:

• Hard News: They had a RECORD amount of dossiers submitted in May & June. They are still receiving referrals for their June submissions. Hard for those families to wait!!
• Good News: They expect to give referrals for July-August dossier submissions quickly. They didn't have many of those.
  
• Kinda Good News: 5-7 more months before referral [which is 1-2 months longer]...BECAUSE they are doing some paperwork previously done AFTER the referral BEFORE the referral now.
  
• Maybe Good News: Therefore, they are projecting 3-6 months from referral until we travel to pick up the Little Ethiopian Diaz's. Previously, they projected a solid 6 months.
  

We'll see what happens but let's keep praying for an expedited referral!

Our case manager is so great. She took the opportunity on the phone today to remind us of some truth in the waiting...

• God has a purpose in our waiting [if we haven't learned this already than we have a problem]. It's not delayed waiting. He never wastes our waiting. This is NOT lost time. God's finding a way to use our waiting and/or redeem it.
  
• If we would get the referral when we want, then God wouldn't accomplish what he wants for us. That's so true even if we would've gotten pregnant when we wanted to. He's so intentional it makes me nauseous.
• He wants the best for us and the best for our child. So the waiting is about transforming us and our home to be the best scenario for us AND them.
• When we get our little ones, we won't even remember the wait. This one brings me to tears every time!
  

Brian has had a sense for a while that this waiting is important for us and we need more time before they come home. [I hate it when he's right.] So I pray that we will be diligent in our waiting and looking for ways that God is making it purposeful in our lives and the Little Diaz's.

Not-So-Instant Family

One of the more annoying comments people make to me is "how fast your adoption is!" OR "your family will double overnight!" I know it's very well intended, but it still annoys me. Why? Because it's been a VERY long journey for us to become a family. It's been far from instant. It's far from overnight. And it hasn't been quick at all.

So, if you've said something like that to me - don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you. If you haven't said something like that to me yet, please don't. And don't say it to another family dealing with infertility or going through adoption. While it's well intentioned, it's not helpful. Hope that's a helpful tip as you interact with others.

While that may sound bitter or edgy, I'm not that bent out of shape with those types of comments. Often, people don't really know what to say about our journey and are doing their best to engage with us. Yet, I'm primarily okay with it because not much of what's really good in life is instant: food, relationships, transformation, character building, etc...The really good things in life take time to work into something great, substantive, and life-changing.

Instant and gratification don't go well together - that's a stupid American idea. Our family isn't so instant, but it will be oh-so gratifying.