Monday, March 7, 2011

Julissa Gabriella and Johanna Grettel

Tomorrow my sister Tracy and brother in law Ben will meet their daughters, my nieces Julissa (12) and Johanna (8). This won’t happen the usual way parents 'meet' their children, such as on an ultrasound machine at 20 weeks gestation or in a hospital room with doctors and nurses after being pregnant for nine months. Tracy and Ben will travel to an orphanage in Chincha, Peru where the sisters have lived for nearly 6 years. This isn't a story of the American dream family where the 2.5 children come as babies and live happily ever after with a white picket fence. This is a story of God’s love. This is a story of His idea of a perfectly planned family and His plans for us to be His hands and feet here on earth. This is the story of adoption. And let me tell you, IT.WASN’T. EASY! Being ‘paper pregnant’ for longer than an elephant is pregnant (22 months) wasn’t comfortable, waiting months and months for an unspecified date wasn’t exciting, and relying on humans in 2 countries to process paperwork wasn’t reassuring in the least. But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable, excited and reassured all the time. He calls us to seek Him in everything and know that He is God. I have watched as Ben and Tracy did this, and I am so amazed that tomorrow they will see and touch His work! When I think of their 800+ days of waiting, planning, waiting, paying (in time and money) for agency mistakes, waiting, praying and OH, MORE waiting, I am in disbelief that it will all come to fruition tomorrow! I know the many tears shed, anxiety and fear filled days and feelings of a huge weight on their shoulders will all be worth it when they get to put their arms around their daughters and hold them! I long to be a fly on the wall and for there to be a video camera to capture it all, but mostly I just want there to be a peace for all four of them that surpasses all understanding and a bond created immediately. I want the girls to feel elated and safe and for their parents to become free of all the adversities they have faced in the past 2+ years. God can do this! I will travel to Lima, Peru on March 19 with my Dad to meet Julissa and Johanna. I can't even imagine what this will be like. I have met a niece and 3 nephews as newborns and fallen in love immediately. And while I have fallen in love with Julissa and Johanna through pictures and stories of phone conversations with their parents, what will it be like to meet them in their country at 12 and 8 years of age? How will they know I love them? Will they love me? These girls were orphans for years, but all along God knew they would be my nieces, and Tracy and Ben's daughters. I can't fathom the depth of His plans for the future, but I know God has orchestrated the events of tomorrow and the rest of our tomorrows, and I know it will be more than I could ever ask for or imagine. Dear God, Thank you for being infallible and overwhelmingly generous. Today I Thank you specifically for our Peruvian Princesses. Thank you that the uncomfortable wait is finally over and we get to be with them. Please prepare them like only You can for tomorrow and the next few months as they adjust to family life in America. Be with their parents as they enter uncharted territory. Be with them as they travel and communicate in these early days. Let the journey be smooth and memorable for all of them and reveal Yourself so all the glory will be Yours! Lord I pray for more uncomfortable times like these have been so we can be drawn closer to You. I know tomorrow will be just as You see fit and we will be completely amazed! ~Your Favorite Daughter~

1 comment:

Tyler & Brenda said...

Words fail to describe how wonderfully you have shared your heart in this post.

Brenda