What A Week!

Above is a picture of our family on Saturday, April 11. We were invited to a Chinese restaurant by some sweet friends who are also working the Burmese family that Billy has been ministering to. So we all took that family out to eat and celebrated one of their son's birthday. Little did we know what God had in store for the next week of our lives....

The next day was Easter Sunday. We celebrated Resurrection Day with Libby in the morning. Then we cooked and prepared our home for house church. Around 4 PM we drove across town to pick up both the Burmese family and an Iraqi refugee family for house church. When we arrived home with our special guests other house church members began to arrive. We had a big meal and then worshipped. After worship our Iraqi friend said she was moved and she believed Jesus was real but she had more questions. So another friend of mine and I took this woman to Aria-Lu's room  and we shared with her and answered her questions and she became a follower of Christ. For 2 years we have waited to see God move this way among our refugee friends. This beautiful Resurrection Day was another amazing display of God's power to change lives. And our waiting was so worth it!

Monday we were exhausted after such an intense weekend. But I had promised to go across town again to meet an Ethiopian refugee. To make a long story short I ended up meeting 9 other refugees - 3 or 4 Iranians, 3 Bhutanese from Nepal and a couple of others from Iraq, I believe. The woman leading the ESL class, not knowing that I am just a volunteer and that I only came to meet the one Ethiopian lady, introduced me to this table of refugees as someone who could help them. They immediately shared all their distresses, not being able to find jobs, needing help with paperwork, etc. I was completely overwhelmed.  They all kept asking for my telephone number and the whole time they were talking I was trying to 1. understand their broken English 2. figure out another number besides mine to give them 3. make sure Libby was safe as she wandered around in an area that is NOT SAFE! I realized at that moment that my armpits were soaking wet and I was entirely stressed. I got out of there as fast as I could, put Libby in the car and proceeded to cry my eyes out. The stress of trying to care for all their needs was more than I could bear. That ended up being an emotional day all the way around, as I was still waiting for our referral call every second of the day!

The next day was Tuesday, April 14. In the early afternoon a package came in the mail. It was a long awaited contract. Since September Billy and I have been negotiating with a small label for a co-publishing deal. I am not at liberty to share all those details yet, but it was a glorious feeling to have that contract in hand after months of working towards it and really YEARS of Billy waiting for such an opportunity as this.

And as if that contract was not enough......That morning Libby said that Jesus was bringing Lulu's picture "tonight". There was a referral or two that morning for other families, so by the time 3:30 rolled around (which is 4:30 for AWAA and only 30 minutes before they close their offices) I thought I was in the clear and decided to take a bath and relax before I headed out with my friend, Cristie, for girl time. Of course, just after I washed my hair and stepped out of the tub, my cell phone rang and it was the beautiful numbers 703 - AW's area code. I answered excitedly and Terra asked if she should call Billy. Billy was with me, but we had her call his cell anyway so we could both hear the conversation without Terra having to hear Libby (like she would have if we had been on speaker phone). Once all the lines were connected Terra began talking and immediately her voice was hesitant and I realized this wasn't a normal referral call. She shared with us some details about our referral and this little baby's life. She had suffered from SEVERE malnutrition. Basically Terra was letting us know that while they chose this child for our referral we still had the option of saying "no." It was not the moment I had anticipated as I tried to work through the wide range of emotions and difficult information. This baby's story was so sad and I didn't know what questions to ask. 

After getting off the phone we received an email with our daughter's medical files and photo. I thought about sharing the video of us seeing her picture for the first time. But as I watched it I realized how guarded I was as I looked at her for the first time, not knowing if she would truly be ours. We were not sure yet if we were accepting the referral because we didn't have enough information. The medical files had typos and were somewhat confusing. I am very guarded in that captured moment and that just makes it too personal to share. The only way the video could be understood is if you know me personally and very well - then you might be able to read my mind and see all the aches and questions and simultaneous joy that was circling around in my head.

In the video Libby says some VERY FUNNY things. Before the picture pulled up Libby said "I want to see Lulu" in the sweetest, tender way. When the picture pops on the screen she said, "Is that Lulu?" And I said, "Well, we're not sure yet. What do you think?" And she said, "No". I started laughing, but I was thinking, "oh no." Up to this point, Libby had been dead on regarding several details around our referral.  So as she was saying this isn't Lulu I am thinking, "oh no, what if she isn't" and at the same time I'm laughing so hard because Libby went on to say, "She's black, she's really black." At this point I don't know why Libby is surprised by this after all the preparation I have done in talking to her about this.  As I was laughing and saying, "of course she's black. She's from Ethiopia" Libby said confidently, "That's not Lulu because" and she stopped to gather her words and went on to say something that - in the moment I didn't understand because I still thought she was talking about the girl in the picture. As I've reviewed the video I realized that she went on to say something to the effect of "she's white. Let me go get my dolls that are not white like that girl." She was trying to say that Lulu is not black ENOUGH. In the picture of Aria-Lu her skin is very light and Libby was saying that she was not black like her dolls.   So, on video we are like, "of course she is black." But poor Libby is like, "but the girl in the video is NOT black." Poor girl must have been really confused! 

While the video is subdued (and somehow funny at the same time), it is still precious to me because it is the moment I laid eyes on our Aria-Lu. I have NO WORDS to explain all the thoughts and emotions that were swirling around in me in that moment.

That night, as we prayed and wondered if this would be our girl,  I read my daily reading out of my Bible. Here are some of the passages that were on that day's page: 

Joshua 9:14, "The Israelites...did not consult the Lord."  - This was in the first part of my reading and it was a reminder to take this completely to the Lord and consult him.

Luke 16:19-17:10 - I won't type it all out here, but in this passage Jesus is telling a story about a rich man who was splendidly clothed and lived in luxury. And at his gate was a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus laid there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, but the rich man did NOTHING. And the story goes on to when the two have passed on and Lazarus is in heaven, but the rich man is separated from God. The rich man keeps calling out for pity, but Abraham answers him and says, "remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted and you are in anguish."   - And right as I read that I knew I had consulted God in his word and I had an answer. I am the rich man/woman. And though our daughter was malnourished and there could be long-term effects due to that, it didn't matter. She was Lazarus - imperfect in health (but perfect for us!) poor Lazurus whom God LOVES. And I could NOT ignore her or I would be in anguish!

Then my prayer became, "Lord if this is not our daughter then I am NOT making that decision. You will have to do that by closing this door. I am putting this back on you. If this is not your will then make it impossible. We are moving forward with this one baby who, out of millions, was chosen for us. And if you do not close doors then she will be ours!

And then I read the last part of that passage, "In the same way, when you obey me you should say, "we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty." And that sunk deep. This is not about us. We are unworthy of this precious calling. We are simply doing our duty and in that we are humbled and blessed.

The next morning is when Terra shared with me more of our daughter's story. She kept saying, "we understand if you need some more time to think about this." And finally I interrupted her and said, "you don't have to worry about saying that again. We have a clear word from the Lord that this baby is ours." I could hear the happiness in Terra's voice. She went on to share the story about our daughter's formula and after hanging up the phone I remembered Libby's sweet prayers and right then I realized how precious that confirmation was - that Libby was praying so specifically for this girl at just the right time.

It was a crazy Wednesday morning as we announced to everyone that we accepted our referral. We were still emotional from it all, but now I was able to rejoice fully and celebrate. We got dressed and I took Libby to Chick-fil-a for lunch and she celebrated Lulu's referral and our acceptance of the referral with a delicious ice cream cone!

And then we went to UPS to send our ACCEPTANCE LETTER!!!! (and money, of course). I love the picture below because Libby took it! She's good!

I can't remember for sure, but I think we also went to Babies R Us on that day and shopped for a few items for little Lu. We came home and washed the premie pajamas and put a care package together for Lu. You can see the items we put in a zip lock gallon sized bag. Another AW family who is traveling to Ethiopia this week to get their child is taking the package for us.

In the care package we included premie pjs with hat and booties, a photo book, a teething toy/rattle, wrist rattels, a silkie, 2 of our CDs and some letters to the TH staff and a blessing over Lu.

On this same day, Thursday,  I found myself sick and congested - and packing for a trip to Alabama. We were headed there to lead worship for a youth event in Dothan. As we packed I felt worse and worse and realized that I was probably going to have a rough trip vocally. 

Our trip began at 4:30 AM on Friday. Our flight took off at 6:50AM. Once in Dothan we met some sweet people and began ministry. Though I didn't feel very good (especially Saturday) we really had a great time. The people were awesome and they just jumped on every song and sang it out, even when I couldn't. 

On Saturday, in the midst of working and leading, we received a phone call from our real estate agent. There was an offer made on our house and it was decent enough to accept. We have been trying to sell our home since last June - 10 months ago!!! We've had 2 mortgages for 10 months and we had been praying for God's mercy - that He would allow our home to sell before we got Aria-Lu. The closing is now set for late May!

On Sunday we flew home - we walked in our front door at 11:10 PM. We were exhausted to say the least.  

Can you believe the week we had??? A refugee came to know Christ, we got our referral, accepted our referral, received a special contract AND have a buyer for our home!

God is so good!!! Everything we have waited for and longed for  - for weeks, months and even YEARS - was all delivered to us within ONE WEEK!

I have many stories to share about some other confirmations regarding our referral and some precious information that we were given by families who have already gone to ET and remember meeting our daughter.  I will share those in little tidbits as we wait for that much desired court date!

Thanks for reading along. To God be all the glory. Great things He has done!!!