One Year Ago Today ...

Wow. It has been one heck of a year.

One year ago today, Shelley and I faxed in our official acceptance of our referral ... the referral that came to us with these pictures:

And what a year it has been.

The acceptance of that referral set in motion a multitude of events that would change the face of our family forever.

Our fundraising hit full swing, and God showed His greatness and His provision in miraculous ways. We assumed NOT 1 PENNY OF DEBT in bringing our girls home. (For those of you reading this who are in the adoption process: if He has called you to it, HE WILL DO IT.)

God moved mountains and expedited our girls' case through the Ethiopian Court System. Despite all of the talk/rumors in recent weeks about the corruption involved in Ethiopian adoptions, the judge assigned to our case was meticulous in investigating every last detail regarding our girls' adoption. It took 3 court appearances. At the time, we considered it a hassle and an aggravating delay. Now, in light of all that has happened since, we consider it a blessing, because we know that our girls are justly and legitimately ours. Thanks to that Ethiopian judge, we have the paperwork to prove it.

We safely traveled to and from a land as far away and as different from ours as we could possibly imagine. Yet somehow, though frightfully unfamiliar, it was a land which we feel we have always known and will always be connected to. We entered our girls' world and began the long, arduous journey toward their Redemption. A journey that didn't end in fairy-tale fashion when we brought them into our home, but a journey that continues now and will continue indefinitely until the Lord calls us all Home. A journey of joy and of sorrow. A journey of laughter and of tears. A journey of healing and of pain. A journey of faith and of fear. A journey of successes and of failures. A journey of comfort and of risk. A journey that has both energized and exhausted.

We have all grown. We are all learning.

We are learning English. We are learning Math. We are learning to share. We are learning to forgive. We are learning to trust. We are learning to attach. We are learning what it means to love unconditionally. We are learning new definitions of Family, Race, Wealth, Acceptance, Fairness, Pain, and Justice. We are learning what it means to leave behind shame and guilt and run wholeheartedly into a life of Freedom in Christ. And those are just the things that Shelley and I are learning!!

But also, we are learning that there are no quick fixes. And most profoundly, we are learning that the process of redemption may be just as important as the redemption itself.

We have changed. We do not look at things the same anymore. We don't see our lives as something to be managed to the ends of our comfort and control, but as something to be risked and sacrificed for a greater purpose. We don't see our resources as something to be spent for our own advantage or pleasure, but as a responsibility to be poured out on those who are hurting. We don't see the Church primarily as a place to gather and congregate, but first and foremost as a place from which we train to send and be sent, scattered and dispersed so that the Name of Christ would be magnified. And we don't see our relationship with Christ or our standing as children adopted into His Kingdom as something to sit on and to savor, but as something to share and to spread.

There is nothing about this year that has been easy. But we would never ever EVER go back to the place we were One Year Ago Today.

Thank you Lord, for using our girls to redeem us.

Then ...

And now ...