The first picture we saw of Godfrey.
(also know as the moment kate claimed him.)
The amount of paperwork required to adopt deserves its own post. And if you are going through the adoption process now, and you've just submitted your first round of paperwork, and you're thinking to yourself, "that was kind of a pain, but I really don't get what the big deal is." Heh. You will. And if you haven't developed a personal relationship with a notary yet, you may want to start working on that now.
Waiting. (also deserving of it's own post.) LOTS and lots of waiting.
While we were still waiting for approval from Good Shepherd's Fold to adopt, Gene and Loren (remember them?!) made a trip there to see how our church might be able to partner with them in the future. Obviously they were given orders to take as many pictures of the 1-3 year old boys as possible (because clearly this was all about us, right?!), and of course we stalked each and every picture wondering if "our" boy was in there somewhere.
Kate poured over the pictures and immediately announced that one particular boy was going to be her baby brother. We tried to tell her, "um, Kate, we don't get to pick. and he actually looks a little too old - so let's not get our hopes up." Have you ever tried to tell Kate anything? Forget it. She was sold. So for the next 5 months we tried to figure out how it was all going to go down once she realized that Godfrey was not, in fact, going to be her baby brother.
I think you see where this is going.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Godfrey, Godfrey, Godfrey. We don't get to pick. We don't get to pick. We don't get to pick.
We get the referral. aaaaaand, it's Godfrey. Kate's response? "I told you." I guess you did. And God's grace in showing us His hand in this adoption just slaps us in the face again. So I email our contact at Good Shepherd's Fold and share this story with them and this is what I get back:
Hi Blake and Angela, it has blessed our hearts to get your email and just see God's hand on our decision concerning your referral. I must share with you that we had actually picked initially another child for your family but the Lord very clearly moved our team from that child to Godfrey. He is so good and true to the fact that we make plans but He directs our steps.
Well Amen.
2 comments:
We have never met (so this may seem nuts, but such is the interwebz), but my husband and I were on the team that was there with your husband his last week in Uganda. We got to meet Godfrey and Blake was an amazing help to our team. We know things are crazy for you all right now, but we would love to have your family over for dinner one night and get to know you all better. I am pretty sure we share a very similar heart :)
Warm Regards,
Jenn
jenn.craver@yahoo.com
not sure you know this but the other little guy in the picture is also in your area! Small world. Email me a picture when he and Godfrey get to see each other again! And yes, you and Jenn would get along beautifully.
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