Soooooooooooooo... it just so happens that 2013 forgot to include the month of August. Gasp! Did you notice? Gone! Vanished! We must report this to the Missing Month's Unit! There was July, and then there was September, with a very quick hyphen in between. I'll call it the month of Hyphen, the pseudo-month that replaced the good old 31 day calendar page of August. :)
Let me share a few highlights of this past month of Hyphen:
1) NACAC: Within days of arriving from our road trip throughout Western Canada (see previous post), Harold and I found ourselves boarding a plane for Toronto to attend the NACAC (North American Council on Adoptable Children) conference and meet with more representatives within the adoption and foster care field across North America. All the kids enjoyed holiday time with family in Manitoba, so it made our trip that much more enjoyable knowing they were having a blast.
The conference was a royal feast of information, resources, and ah-hah moments accompanied by hundreds of experienced professionals (gov't and non-profit), parents and teens whose interactions left the fingerprints of Christ on our hearts as we were further guided in our research and development. As mentioned in my previous post, the clarity is coming one step at a time and we know God is up to something big.
I'm not hiding anything from you, honest, when I say we are still in discovery mode and that we value your prayers in this ambiguous, yet ever-so-clarifying journey. It's easier for us to be in a position of the learner now, rather than delve in and concoct a quick fix over-inflated ministry that could soon end up as "they meant well, and now they are burned out trying." No, if anything of God-size magnitude is going to awaken the Canadian Church to live the gospel through significant involvement in adoption and foster care, its going to require more than what is humanly possible on our own timeline. We are along for the ride, learning, asking, probing, yet with all hands on deck, as we experience God's Spirit move even within this month of Hyphen.
2) Celebrations: (we just kept the balloons and streamers up)
- After about 11 months of waiting, Kehlen turned 5! He enjoyed the company of his friends to celebrate this much anticipated day.
- Isinino celebrates her first birthday with us, turning 21! By request, a Korean birthday dinner was prepared for her friends (with chopsticks), followed by a sleepover and henna.
- We celebrated the arrival of a new puppy with our friend Javad, along with many other guests who filled our yard for the surprise puppy shower.
- We celebrated a surprise visit from Harold's mom and sister Shirley, who blessed us with a week of good cooking, spoiling the kids, and memories. So we couldn't resist the opportunity to celebrate Omoni's 70th birthday, coming up now in September.
- And, surprise! It's another girl! (well at least for the short term) We welcomed the arrival of Wadzanayi of Zimbabwe who has just started university and needed a place to call home for this semester.
- Last year we had no kids to send off to school. This year we have 3! Kehlen is thrilled to start Kindergarten at our local French immersion school, and counts it of highest honour to be one of THREE household school kids. This is Isinino's graduating year from high school, and Wadzi is taking her university 1.
3) Homestudy!! Yes, the much anticipated milestone of doing our adoption homestudy with our assigned social worker is in progress! With about one more meeting to go, our report will be ready for her to write. And then we wait... Could be days, months, years - but quite realistically the latter, only God knows. You can never get too good at the waiting game when adopting. It's a virtue that really should've been included in Proverbs 31 - that is, if the woman was an adoptive mom! But God's timing is perfect, and we really are not sitting and twiddling our adoptive thumbs for things to happen. Significant things are happening, and its mostly within us as our hearts and minds are stretched in ways we couldn't have imagined - allowing us to further grasp, even if just a wee bit - "how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18)
4) Epic Yard Sale: Inspired by Kehlen's desire to have "an expensive" garage sale to help raise funds for the adoption of his brother and sister, our month of Hyphen was further hyphenated by the collaborative efforts of family, friends and the neighbourhood. Thanks to all of you who gave so generously! Kehlen was director of operations, and also ran a lemonade and cookie stand. He must be catching the adoption fever, as he came up with the idea to have adoption information sessions at his lemonade stand for customers.
4) Epic Yard Sale: Inspired by Kehlen's desire to have "an expensive" garage sale to help raise funds for the adoption of his brother and sister, our month of Hyphen was further hyphenated by the collaborative efforts of family, friends and the neighbourhood. Thanks to all of you who gave so generously! Kehlen was director of operations, and also ran a lemonade and cookie stand. He must be catching the adoption fever, as he came up with the idea to have adoption information sessions at his lemonade stand for customers.
This past Hyphen, the obscure blur between July and September, reminds us that its not about how much we accomplish or do within our own control or strength. It's about how we embrace the One who gifts us each day in that indefinite hyphen that He gives us, from here until eternity.
