Warning...

I can not believe I have not blogged yet since being here.  Today is Thursday- we have been here for 4 days now.  We have accomplished nothing.  This blog is going to be about what adoption is- as well as what it isn't.  I feel like I need to address this topic, because unless you've adopted- you could never possibly know what adoption is and isn't.  But first let me give you a run down of the last 3 days-

we arrived Monday night and went with our driver to get his car washed and then he dropped us off at the apartment.  That concludes Monday.  LOL.

Tuesday was to be the first day of our paper chase- quick rundown- sat outside the court house for 8.5 hours in an unheated van with one other adoptive mom and the driver.  We did get a 1 hour respite in a restaurant for lunch and then another 1 hour with our kids at the orphanage- so I guess all in all we sat in the van for 6.5 hours- with no heat in negative degrees.  During this sitting we learned that every time Niko (our driver) says it's going to be 19 today! We know he always means BELOW b/c he's talking Celsius.  We learned it doesn't go to the above 0 temps until April or May.  Nice.  We also were told by Niko that chicken wings and chicken legs here are called "bush wings" and "bush legs" b/c U didn't start buying frozen chicken from the US until Bush was president.  Isn't that a funny little fact?  I thought so.  Anyways- we never got the documents we needed from the court building.  We pretty much wasted an entire day in van.  We had Niko drop us and the other family off at TGIF and we had a nice dinner and conversation with this wonderful couple.  It's nice to have people who can speak English and really know what you're going through since they are walking through it right along side of you.  Just one of Gods many blessings.

Now we are onto Wed- yesterday.  We were told (again) that we would be picked up in the morning- just wait for the call.  So we waited... and waited.... and waited... and then finally called our facilitator at noon to see what was going on.  Our driver was waiting for the doc's- again.  I'm still not sure why we had to be there yesterday for this step if he could do it without us today, but whatever.  We were in our somewhat warm apartment so we were fine.  We wait a few more hours and call our facilitator again- still no idea of what is going on... 3PM- she says Niko has our documents and is going to the first tax place then a taxi will pick us up and take us to the 2nd one where we'll meet up with Niko.  She says- don't leave the apartment- stay there.  So we stay- till 5:30- call again- "It's not going to get done today"- Now we will be picked up tomorrow.  *sigh*.  

So here we are at "tomorrow" Pray something gets accomplished today.  It's very frustrating, but I really don't feel as frustrated as I thought I would.  I'm just resting in the fact that God's timing is perfect and able to look back and see yet another reason why God sent us home for those 7 days- He knew these delays were going to happen.  He knew we were going to be here much longer than even the longest delay they told us.

Now... onto the topic at hand!  What adoption is and isn't.  When you haven't adopted you think- wow, adoption is such a wonderful thing.  I could totally go over to another country and bring a child into the house.  From the outside looking in (trust me I was one of them before!) it seems so matter of fact, cut and dry, you do this, this and this and then you have your child!  Easy enough right??  WRONG!  Every adoption is different from every country- including the US.  Adoption is a beautiful thing... in the end.  The process doesn't have that much beauty in it.  It's a lot more stress, aggravation, frustration, hurt feelings caused by others, judgement placed on you, fundraising, possibly debt, jet lag, sacrifice, I could go on and on...

But lets think on what OUR adoption was like shall we?  If you have accepted Christ as your savior then you have been adopted into the Kingdom of God.  You are now a Prince or Princess of the Most High King.  But what did it take for that to happen?  You saying a prayer?  No, my friend- if you REALLY get the gospel message then you know it goes much farther back then you saying a prayer.  Here is what your adoption looked like.  (WARNING: This is a graphic scene from "The Passion" that represents as best it can what happened for you to be adopted. 

If you chose to watch the clip- you know what your adoption into the kingdom cost Jesus.  It cost Him his life.  In the end is it a beautiful picture of love for us? Yes.  But the process for God to adopted us isn't that pretty and was paid for by the ULTIMATE sacrifice.

Am I at all comparing our adoption sacrifices and pain to that of what the Savior went through?  Most definitely not.  Not even close.  But adoption does come with some real sacrifice, real pain, real emotions.  It is not an easy journey.  I chose to be honest about this topic- about how hard adoption really is, because people should not enter it lightly.  It is not a "Hey- I have nothing  better to do- let's adopt!" type decision.  It costs EVERYTHING- your time, money, patience, every emotion you could possibly feel, sacrifice from family (who's watching our kids), sacrifice from our kids (having us away from them)... you sacrifice stuff left and right to make this happen.  And in the end- it's worth it all.  In the end- the end product of it all- is a beautiful picture.  But it's a masterpiece in the making.

So to conclude- adoption isn't easy. It isn't all butterflies and rainbows.  It isn't cut and dry.  It isn't the same every time.  It isn't the same for every person.  It isn't something to enter into lightly.

Adoption is: beautiful, painful, emotional, the most faith stretching event ever! It's loving an unloved child.  It's bringing into your family someone who's never had one.  It's becoming a mom and dad to a child who is without one.  It is one of the best things you can possibly ever do for another person.  It is self-less.  It causes you to put another persons comfort above your own.  It is the greatest and most rewarding experience.  That is what adoption is.

But adoption started when Christ gave His life for yours.  Will you follow suit and give your life to Him?  Or if you're already a follower of Christ- will you follow His example and sacrifice to save a child? Thoughts to ponder on today.