Our social worker headed back to Tokyo with our life story in her hands. She would be sharing it with our adoption agency's staff and they would be voting on whether or not to approve us. Thankfully, they only took a week to decide that we were indeed worthy to pursue the adoption. What a relief and work of God!
We then had to compile our dossier. The dossier is an enormous package of information covering everything from one's income and assets, to employment history, to fingerprints, to blood type, to GPA in college, to residential history, to health history, and much, much more. It's a big package with all, and I mean all, of one's skeletons in the closet making a star appearance. It took us a couple months to compile it and our agency finally sent the whole package to the Thai Adoption Board after the new year in 2009.
At this point, we had been pursuing Deer for over two years. It felt like a lifetime. My friend Jen's son Jack once said to her, "Mom, why is it taking so long for them to adopt Deer? That should take like a day." Amen, Jack!
Our family was growing in love for Rebekah even over the miles and months. She was prayed for about five or six times everyday by us. The kids drew her cards, learned to write her name, made her gifts to give her when she came home. At times, the pain of the wait was really heavy. Some days I struggled to breathe when I woke up because I would instantly think of her, waiting for us, without a mommy and a daddy and at the mercy of a slow and often corrupt government. I would beg God to hurry the process along--why make an orphan wait, Lord?--I would ask Him.
"Everlasting God" by Chris Tomlin became our family song. We would blast it at home and in the car to chase the tears away. It speaks of Isaiah 40 and reminded us of God's goodness, sovereignty, and heart for the weary and weak. The chorus echoes the promise of scripture that as you WAIT on God He makes you stronger. It's still a favorite song of ours, but now we sing it with Rebekah and with big smiles on all of our faces.
"Everlasting God" (by Chris Tomlin)
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
Funny, I have always understood the "wait upon the Lord" in the Bible verses to mean Wait on the Lord, like a waitor or waitress waits your table. You wait on the Lord.... serving Him.... and in doing so He renews your strength - so you can serve Him more. I had never thought of it as wait... like wait at a bus stop. I've never looked it up in Stong's to see what the original meaning was, but I guess it could be taken either way. Maybe it's good for whatever type of waiting you are doing at the moment. I just thought it was kind of funny how different people interpret things differently. In this case, I think we can go either way and still be okay.
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