Adoption is Redemption

This is the first photo we ever saw of our Caylie

JiuChang.  This is her referral pictures, taken about 14

 months ago.  It broke my heart then, and it breaks my

 heart now.  Doesn't she look so sad and scared?  I

told Jim on the day that we prayed about this little girl

 that I wanted to see her smile and I wanted to buy her

 some new shoes.  The shoes she has on in this photo

are old and scuffed, and apparently have been worn

by many children in the orphanage.  And now . . . we

 get to do all of that!  God is good and He is faithful.

  He will accomplish all that He has started and all

that He has called us to do.  He is redeeming Caylie's

 life.

Adoption is borne out of loss and grief.  Some people don't realize this.  I've heard people

pray for a healthy baby to adopt, thinking it's just that simple.  But for that to happen,

parents have to first suffer the grief of losing their child, and the child must first go through

 the trauma of losing his/her birth parents.  Caylie has not only gone through that loss, but

 she has spent 4 years without a real family.  She will now lose the only "parent" she has

 known - her foster mother - and will be leaving all the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds

that she is familiar with.  Adoption is redemption and it is good and it totally of God, but it

cannot exist without being borne of loss and grief.  We pray for our daughter's heart as she

will soon go through this trauma and loss.  And we know that while we can love her with

every fiber of our beings, we cannot heal her heart or spirit.  Only our Jesus can do that,

and we are trusting Him to do so.  He is redeeming Caylie's life and making all things new. 

 .Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.  ~ Ephesians 3:20