The Aster-glow!

After basking in the afterglow of She Speaks, I am now living in the "Aster-glow" of our soon-to-be baby girl. The ride of our lives got very exciting, adventurous and a little crazy last week!

Last Thursday we received an email from our adoption agency telling us that the courts in Ethiopia are closing August 21- October 5th. We felt so sad because Aster's paperwork had not even been sent to the courts, much less assigned a court date.

I decided we should cancel our vacation (this week) and go to Ethiopia to see her before schools starts. That way we'd get to hold her before she outgrows her desire to be held. And when it's time to bring her home, after she finally gets through court, one of us would go get her. We already saved up for all of us to go, so it made sense to my aching heart.

On Friday morning, I went running and God talked sense into me. He reminded me that sneaking babies out of orphanages would get me into big trouble, and seeing her would make me want to do just that.

So I started imagining why God would think it best for us to wait until at least December to bring her home. I determined that it must be my speaking schedule, book writing and other big things we have going on that He was carving out time for. Once I'd figured out His plans (ha!) I was able to relinquish my desire to hold Aster. By the time I finished running and praying, I was at peace.

I took the boys to a friends that morning and headed to work. On my way, I called JJ to see if he'd call the agency just to make sure they hadn't forgotten to tell us Aster has a court date. Around lunch time he called me back to say he had great news! Aster had just been assigned a court date and it is THIS WEEK!!

THIS WEEK - as in day after tomorrow - THURSDAY, AUGUST 13th!!!

If everything goes smoothly and her adoption paperwork gets approved before the courts close August 21st, we could travel to get her in Ethiopia as early as mid-to-late September.

I was SOOO EXCITED!!! I practically hung up on JJ and ran to the P31 conference room so I could squeal and tell all my P31 teammates! Then all the sudden that peace in the morning that turned into excitement in the afternoon became an overwhelming nervousness. "THIS MEANS I COULD HAVE A BABY IN JUST OVER A MONTH!!"

Then all those reasons I figured God was delaying her coming home flooded my mind. How was I going to get all that done? And what about the other big news I'd just gotten? An email had come that day announcing that two publishing houses are taking my book proposal to their pub boards (decision makers) TODAY, yes today, and next MONDAY.

Oh, and I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but we've been prayerfully considering making a huge change in our boys' schooling, and school is about to start in 2 weeks.

If I could just focus on getting my schedule, Aster's room and our home/family ready, I'd be good. But who gets to have that kind of perfectly arranged life, right? As much as I wanted to start nesting, I couldn't. We had company in town, parties to go to, interviews at a new school, academic testing yesterday that we find out results for tomorrow, and vacation scheduled out of town.

In the midst of all this BIG NEWS, we prayed (A LOT) and decided to come to the beach. So instead of Ethiopia, that's where we are! And I am so glad to be here. It's a big week and I am thankful for my BIG GOD who is able to take care of all that concerns me. He can handle it all so much better than I can.

Today, I will be sitting with Him watching the endless waves and looking over the countless grains of sand, knowing that His thoughts about me and my family outnumber them all. I think the Aster-glow of this baby girl is about to change a lot about my life - more than anything my perspective and my trust in the One who is about to give her to us!

"Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;they outnumber the grains of sand! Psalm 139:16b-18a (NLT)