He's got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands!

So many things drew us to Haiti: the orphan crisis, the beautiful children, the rich culture, and the vibrant people.  We have been forever blessed by The Apparent Project, and have really fallen in love with God's Littlest Angels, the orphanage in which we've been accepted.  Our stepping stones to bringing home our child has been wonderful.  We have been so happy with God's Children Adoption Agency, too. Our minds and hearts have really invested in Haiti, and I can't wait for the day to set foot on its soil and experience God's love there!

When Haiti ratified the Hague Convention it sent us into a tailspin of many thoughts and emotions.  No clue when we'd know anything...  would this mean that we'd be grandfathered in? Would adoptions close down in Haiti? (as has been the pattern with many countries that sign the Hague) How long would the wait be? Would we travel down the road in faith and hope only to have doors completely closed?

Ryan and I have prayed and prayed and tried to discern God's plans for us. I have struggled with some feelings of guilt (Am I not being faith-FULL enough?), and I almost feel as though I'm grieving a loss -- kind of feels similar to when I experienced the loss of my first pregnancy -- the dreams and hopes of what I thought about every second of every day -- swept out from under me all too unexpectedly.  Is that dramatic? I don't know. I don't mean it to be... but to me, this is my CHILD I'm thinking about constantly... not just paperwork and governmental processes.

But my "Ryno" (Uff... he really deserves a much more "Rico Suave" nickname from me; it's cute when his nephew says it though!) -- oh, he's SO GOOD for me! -- always seems to know just what I need to hear.  "Hon, I don't care where our child is from.  A child, is a child, is a child."  And Mom -- who also knows me far better than I know myself sometimes, reminds me "You're not adopting a COUNTRY, you're adopting a CHILD."

Some adoptive families just KNOW that they're supposed to adopt from a certain country and they stick it out to eternity.  And some families just KNOW that they're supposed to adopt... and that's really where we are at.  We KNOW that we have been called to adopt, and we KNOW that we want to bring our child home! 

I learned as a little tot, "He's got the whole world in His hands..." and let me not forget that today.  He DOES have the whole world in His hands; and every child, and our family too. 

Ryan and I have now applied to adopt from Ethiopia through Christian World Adoptions.  We are very hopeful and excited for this new journey!  Haiti was no accident. God brought us there for a season, for a reason. Perhaps to really step out in faith, perhaps to help with The Apparent Project (which I will definitely continue to do), perhaps to wrap that country in our prayers, perhaps to prepare us for a venture that way in the future.  We don't know for sure, and I guess it doesn't really matter to me why things have happened in this way. 

The main thing is God Has the WHOLE WORLD in His hands... and there are over 4 million precious little ones in Ethiopia waiting to become a part of someone else's world.  One of them will become a part of ours.