It's a Girl (Adoption Journal #26)

Yes, we have met our daughter. Although she is not yet able to live with us, we have had the opportunity to visit her at her residence and get to know her a little bit. She is more than we could have ever imagined. I never cease to be amazed at the manner in which God chooses to work.
If our adoption process had only taken a couple of months or if our social worker hadn't left us hanging for four months or if. . . or if. . . If things had gone according to our schedule our process would have looked a lot different. Despite the fact that our daughter (it's just really cool saying that) has been in the system for a considerable period of time we wouldn't have been matched with her at any other time in our adoption process. For reasons I can't really go into, she was available at just the right time that we authorized. We couldn't be happier.
When our social worker first called us she let us know that a girl might be available, but she warned us that she was not within the age range we requested. Apparently, God knew what we wanted and needed more than we did. We couldn't be happier.
Our social worker told Mandy some of the developmental issues, background, family, social and legal issues surrounding the case. I'm sure they give the perceived negatives up front in an attempt sift the perspective parents, but it didn't matter to us. Our social worker also told Mandy about her age which would require us to get re-licensed in order to accept her into our home. I'm pretty sure Mandy's response surprised the social worker. Mandy took all the information in and told the social worker "she sounds perfect."
We have had the chance over the past couple of weeks to get to know this beautiful little girl. Yes, there will be struggles. Yes, there will be frustrations. Yes, the difficulties of the process are not over. We will still have to navigate the system until we are given legal authority, at least 6 months from now. Yet, she fits perfectly into our family. God, in His wisdom, prepared our home and our hearts and knew 3 1/2 years ago that this wonderful girl would one day end up with us. In the Spring of 2005 we weren't even sure that we would adopt. Even when we thought about adoption we had no clue how. There were so many unknowns at that time, yet God knew this girl born, not fifteen-minutes from our home, would one day be part of our family.
Yes, we have more thoughts to share. There have been some frustrations in connecting with our daughter. There have been some pleasant surprises, as well. Yet, we wanted to take a moment to thank God that He knows better than us and that what He had in store for us was so far exceedingly better than anything we could have wished for.
In a world of economic, political and social uncertainty it is always good to be reminded that the thing of God are not left to chance.