Yesterday Stacie came in to work on typing up her autobiography and our notes and questions were nowhere to be found. She looked everywhere and called me at work to see if I might know where they were (I was the last one with them). When I came home we turned the house upside down looking for them. We prayed to God we would find them and God answered our prayer…with a “no”.

Aaaaargh! I admit that we were quite disappointed at first. We put a lot of time and thought into writing out notes on our answers to all these deep questions and all that work is gone. Even the list of questions is missing, undoubtedly snuggled inside the notebook alongside our answers and snickering at our inability to win this little game of hide and seek. Forever gone apparently, they elude us.

We believe in God’s sovereignty (that He’s in control of everything). There are no mistakes, no coincidences, no randomness. If God wanted us to find them, we would find them. Certainly if He can create all the intricacies of the universe He could find a little piece of paper. Yet, He chose not too.

What are we supposed to do with that? Well, God has a plan and He doesn’t always give us the reasons why He does what He does. We have to accept it. It’s His world after all, we’re just livin’ in it.

So we’ve taken the “opportunity” to sit back and evaluate our situation. Reflection is a revealing moment of turning around to see where we’ve come from in order to see more clearly where we’re going. We grabbed a cup of coffee this morning and we had a chat the three of us (Stacie, me, and God). [I imagine God sits next to us almost smirking with the wisdom of complete knowledge while the two of us chatter on and on trying to grasp at what He has clearly told us, much like telling your children something and watching them struggle until the light bulb finally flashes above their heads in a little cartoon bubble.]

God has led us to a decision through this experience. We are going to adopt from the United States. Domestic adoption has been growing on our hearts for months now and we’re ready to finally concede to the will of God that He has placed us on that path.

Next steps:

• We’ve requested a new set of autobiography instructions from Oasis Adoption Services.
• We’re going to contact at an adoption agency here in Arizona that specifically works with the state for foster care and adoption.
• We’re also going to contact “With Child” here in Arizona, an awesome ministry that works with birth mothers in crisis pregnancies and matches them with adoptive families when they choose that option.

As always we appreciate your prayers, encouragement and your many offers of advice and assistance.

Blessings,

JPM