Praying for Rain

On Friday, there was no new news out of China. It seems May 1 is a holiday everywhere in the world, but here. Families waiting for children from China are waiting to see what will happen this week and hoping to see some new travel approvals issued. We are all praying that approvals will continue to come and that we can bring our children home soon.

I started feeling like it is time to get ready to go. Through these many, many months - over a year now since we found our son listed with an agency - actually getting to China has felt so far off. We have done things along the way to prepare for his arrival and prepare for our trip, but they have been small little things here and there. I has just never felt like it was time to make all out preparations. It was too hard to do when our timeline was so uncertain and kept getting pushed out farther and farther. After we sent our dossier for Anna, we started serious preparations for bringing her home. 13 weeks after submitting our dossier, we were on a plane to China. If this process had been similar, we would have had Joshua home a couple months ago. So, we've waited for signs that our travel is imminent. We thought that would come after receiving our RA/LOA only to learn there were several new hoops. We started navigating those new steps and then last week started hearing rumors travel may be delayed because of flu concerns. Despite all of this, I started thinking on Friday that perhaps it is time to seriously start preparing to bring our son home.

I was pondering the wisdom of preparing to go and how to get started as I went about my evening chores. After I tucked Anna into bed, I decided to join my husband who had popped in a movie. I had noticed him watching this movie as I was doing chores and hadn't been too interested since we had seen it many times before. Our kids love Facing the Giants. As I sat down, partway through the movie, I realized how much the theme of the movie spoke to my current situation. It may seem like a trivial theme centering around football, but it is really about trusting God, doing what you are called to do, doing your best and trusting God with the outcome.

There is a scene in the movie that has always impacted me. There is a gentleman who comes to the school and prays for the students. One day he comes with a message for the floundering football coach from Revelation Chapter Three. "These things says He who is holy, He who is true, 'He who has the key of david, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and on one opens.' I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied my name. " He goes on to tell him a story about prayer. He tells of two farmers who prayed for rain. One prepared his fields for rain and the other did not. He asks the coach - "Which one trusted God?"

So, we don't know what will happen with travel approvals this week, but we are praying for rain and preparing for it to happen.