The race is on! The Dossier has left the building....

Dossier is pronounced "doss-ee-ay" or "doss-ee-air" in southern dialect.  noun. a collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject.  In adoption this is the mound of paperwork collected in a crazed manner by the paper-pregnant mama or papa.  Sometimes the dossier is hollered at, sung too, prayed over, or protected like an endangered species at an NRA convention.   It took a self-proclaimed "expert" over six months to collect, even though we had done it once before.  We are relieved that it is off to America World Adoption Association, it officially secures our place on the waiting list, and our paperwork will have to meet some final checks and be certified by good ole Hilary before it can be sent off to Ethiopia for translation & court.  We should be matched with a child/children sometime between December and June.  Our official request is one to two girls between 3- 40 months.  So, no matter what...trust me, we'll be surprised!

Prayers of a Teenage Me (& their replies)

As the 5th anniversary of my 29th birthday is right around the corner, I have been walking down memory lane. We continue to wait, oh-so-patiently, for our I171h to come in the mail so that we can ship off our paperwork to adopt princess #2...and I thought you might enjoy where i was 17 years ago in my prayer life...

• Dear God, your will be done. Use me for your glory.  Dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it.” (Psalm 22) I, the LORD, am a shield around you. I will bestow glory on you & lift up your head. (based on Psalm 3)
• Please, never EVER ask me to home school when I get old.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4 (just not from homeschooling)
• Help me get into law school (Duke would be awesome)…just think of the tithe! Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice…(1 Samuel 15:22) 
• Help your gospel to go forth, but please don’t send me anywhere in the world without air conditioning, especially Africa… and Miami (even if it does have air conditioning).  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)   Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth, shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth! Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been granted in what he ordaineth? (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty hymn translated by Catherine Winkworth) 
• Please, if I must marry a preacher, at least let him be rich (or have rich parents).  Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine…for the world is mine, and all that is in it. (Psalm 50)
• Give me a husband just like my friend Dean, just whiter, and taller.  The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) Tan is good & give away your high heels.
• Dear God, I just scored a negative 3 in “mercy” on a Spiritual Gifts Inventory! (I told you I should have been a lawyer!) How is that even possible, anyways? Am I still saved? Please teach me to show mercy, as I have been shown mercy.  A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalm 68:5) Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

Some people just won't "get it"

Adoption is not a one-week mission trip where you come back with a tiny buzz & a cool machete & a few tales of danger or the sadness of poverty. It is the redeeming of a LIFE, forever changed. It costs you more than money: it costs all the days of your lifetime, hard work, tears, sometimes reputation, family, or friends. “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.” It is guts and glory. Wait for the glory.