more news and more waiting

(E)

We had good news on Friday from our agency. It seems the piece of paper in question was allowed to be submitted by someone other than ourselves. Everything is back on track, and we continue to wait for the call that we are allowed to travel.

I have just recently read, Carried Safely Home, by Kristin Swick Wong (Faith Walk Publishing, 2005). In it, she describes the adoptions of her two sons from Vietnam. I most appreciated her thoughts about the wait to bring each of them home. This excerpt describes her feelings when the wait was over and they were preparing to leave:

But just before that joy, the initial flush of emotion as I emerge from dazed fogginess is, surprisingly, regret at leaving this phase of life. I know that this difficult time has given me opportunity to grow near to the Lord in new ways. I wonder if I learned everything I could. Did I cherish this discipline and not despise it? Will there be lasting effects from this chapter of my life as I move to the next? I do hope I have grown in faith. ... I am startled and a bit amused -- I was not expecting any feelings of regret at leaving behind this painful time. I wonder if that will be our feeling at the end of life, if we will look back, recognizing the challenging opportunities the Lord provided for us to learn to trust him, and hoping that we did not squander or complain them away. (p. 64)

I know I have learned to trust God more during this time. Never before have I been in a situation in which I have so little control over either the process or the outcome. It very much reminds me of something my mother-in-law said to me during a round of chemotherapy which made her exceedingly sick. She said that even though she felt wretched, and that the prognosis was unclear and not looking overly rosy, that she couldn't say it was all terrible. The incredible deepening of her faith and the overwhelming love shown to her by family and friends had been very positive outcomes of a terrible ordeal.

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