IMAGINE

So, I gave a speech at church (all three services) this past weekend. I thought it would be pretty terrifying but it turned out to be a great opportunity to publicly state my views on our financial situation at church. No one threw tomatoes. The campaign theme is Imagine, and I'm stealing my own speech material to share with you for our latest blog update, since it fits this point in time so well.

Unlike my speech in church, I won't urge you here to give money to lower Abiding Hope's suffocating mortgage debt, but if you're feeling inspired, I obviously won't stop you. (Hey, I'm not beyond using our blog as a financial campaign marketing tool.) Anyway...getting back on topic, this waiting stuff is pretty tough!! As I hoped to spread the word to the congregation to imagine greater things for our church, I used this angle:

God is imagining bigger things, more for us than we could ever imagine. To illustrate, when we started this adoption process I imagined -
-the waiting and how hard it may be
-the feelings of anticipation
-and most of all what it would feel like to hold our baby girl in our arms.

Luckily God's imagination has been soooooo much bigger -
-He has opened my eyes to an immense growth in character
-to what patience ACTUALLY looks like
-and to the reality that there is a bigger need than just one child waiting to have a home.

I FINALLY finished "There is no me without you" - this is a must read. I promise you will intermittently cry (I did at least), and you wil have a deep understanding of the country where your future new little "family" member, Koko, was born. It is a moving read. Just do it.

And, to those who heard the speech, sorry to bore you with it again here. This big imagination, this stuff, is what we have to hold on to, along with imagining that this will happen someday, Koko will be in our arms someday...
...someday when it's time.

And so, our most sincere congratulations to the "newly-passed-court" families - we are totally thrilled for you! Awesome!
And to those who continue to faithfully wait (on your adoptions or anything else in life) we are with you - may you find peace in the waiting!

17 more days to court date re-replay.
Love to all,
smj