A gift...

This past weekend, I was blessed to be able to attend the Created for Care retreat where I was joined by other women who either have or are currently in the process of adopting. God gave Andrea the vision for this retreat. I had only met Andrea once in person before the retreat...and fell in love with her. God connected our hearts and I am truly blessed and challenged by her faith and heart for orphan and widow care. She initially thought 25 women would sign up...250 women later (with I'm sure an extremley long waiting list) we all met at Lake Lanier Islands Resort...

I was so thankful to be able to attend the retreat with my sister (who recently adopted the most beautiful little girl from Ethiopia). This may sound suprising...but, this is the first time I can remember going somewhere with JUST my sister (without parents, husbands, or children underfoot)...and what a blessing it was!!

 

I really still have been unable to process everything I gained from the weekend. There were so many amazing speakers...women who have adopted several children (internationally and domestically). I was inspired by their courage and faith. While God challenged me with all of the speakers, but I was able to connect emotionally and spiritually with one in particular, Amy Monroe. She began her session by talking about the "gift" of infertility. Though I have never labled our infertility as a "gift"--looking back over the past six months I can see it is exactly how God has allowed me to view this difficulty in our lives. I truly believe that infertility is a mental and physical state. Someone who has failed to conceive after eight months may never "feel" infertile and others begin to feel the grief of infertility after one month of failed conception.

I am so grateful over these past six months that I have felt "infertile" only a handful of times (compared to the daily emotional battle I struggled with for two years). God has given me an eternal perspective. And I, like Amy, now see that He has a bigger plan. His plan is for our home to be a place of refuge for a child (or many children) that may otherwise not have a loving stable environment in which to grow.

I was filled with so much hope this weekend...listening to story after story of God's hand in bringing families together. I could go on and on about what I learned regarding how to talk to your child about adoption, or the importance of attachment, and how my heart was stirred to pray about things for our family that had never before entered my mine. I was filled with peace as I spoke with women who had adopted from Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine, South America, and the US. Isn't it awesome how God calls each one of us to different things?! Warren and I may never feel called to adopt internationally and others may never feel called to adopt domestically...and that is ok!! What matters most is following God's leading and being open to what He wants for our family.

I feel like God is preparing Warren and I for something. I'm not sure what it is...but I know that He is wanting our hearts to be open...So, we continue to wait...and will listen for Him to lead.