"....where you do not wish to go..."

During the Orphan Summit last week (has it really been a whole week ago?) the message that Russell Moore preached Thursday morning really spoke to my heart. He talked about Jesus speaking to Peter shortly after the resurrection. The story was familiar, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Christ, and Peter kept saying that, yes, Lord, I love you. We hear that part all the time, and Jesus tells Peter to go out and feed His sheep. We accept that part as Peter being instructed to spread the gospel and minister to the "sheep."

The part of the story that I had never focused on before, was when Jesus tells Peter that now, he can dress himself and go wherever he wants, but there will come a time when others will dress him and take him where he does not wish to go. This is a foretelling of Peter's death by crusfixtion. This was the exact death that Peter had feared the most and this fear was what had prompted him to deny Christ three times previously. Where he did not wish to go. Dr. Moore told us that our calling is sometimes to a place we do not wish to go.

When we began this adoption journey, we had seen lots of beautiful babies and young children dressed in cute outfits, fitting in perfectly with their new American families. It's easy to assume that God could call a family to something like this. But He could also call us to something not so cute. Maybe a child who has a special need. There are so many children out there who need a family, who do not fit so seemlessly and smoothly into the picture. Are they any less deserving of our love?
At this point, after praying about an older child (we are still praying about age) we have also begun praying about a child with special needs. Now, at this point in the process we are limited to conditions we were previously approved for in our home study. I believe it was worded something like "minor, correctable medical conditions." In order to accept a major medical need, we would have to make changes to our home study and re-do some other paper work, and at this point we don't know what that would do to our wait time. We have settled on a condition that we heard, several of the children in our orphanage have, that is club feet.

We have done some research and in many cases, club feet can be corrected either with casting or minor surgery. However, these are still not considered "healthy" children, and up until now, the Ministry has only approved the adoptions of healthy children. This is not to say that it Couldn't happen, just that it Hasn't happened. If this is truly the path that God has led us to, it will happen. If the Ministry tells us no, then, well, I don't know.

Right now we are still waiting on that approval. We may or may not ultimately receive our request for a child with club feet. God knows the child He ordained to be a Vanderpool since before time began. I can't wait to meet him or her myself! We love you little one. We love you exactly the way God made you and we are so anxious to have you home!

God is good-All the time!

All the time- God is good! I have to begin with a huge thank you to Jacob and Susan Allee. I received a message on facebook from Jacob Tuesday evening stating that he had won two tickets to the Summit for Orphan Care here in Louisville Thursday and Friday. He and Susan have just brought home two precious jewels from Ethiopia and couldn't attend, did we want them?! This was so awesome because we had wanted to go, but at this point we are pinching every penny and the tickets were rather pricey. So, I got two personal days and Matt took a couple of vacation days, and off to learn more about how our family is about to change we went.

To say it has been awesome is an understatement. Day #1 we enjoyed wonderful testimony from an adoptive mom with 14 kids, two with HIV and one with Down Syndrome. Amazing family! Then we attended a wonderful session on how to keep our marriage strong throughout this process...invaluable info (who's volunteering to keep the kids for our monthly date night? ) We have learned about attachment and trauma and how to help our bio and adoptive children cope. We have learned how to help our family become multiracial and the impact this will have on our children.
We have decided that this will NOT be our only adoption, but the FIRST...where to next???

After all of this info....we got to meet with some of the wonderful staff from our agency and several other adoptive families for dinner tonight. Then it was off to a concert by Sarah Groves...AMAZING! During the concert she and her husband shared their testimony and that they are currently paper-chasing to adopt from Rwanda when they re-open! How cool is that! To top it all off we got to meet her in person and I got to hug this fellow Rwanda Mama-to-be :)

It has been an amazing couple of days and I am so very thankful for all of the opportunities God has provided for us. I am re-energized for the remainder of our wait and have gained a renewed excitement to see what the Lord has in store for our family, both in the near and far-off future.
God is good-All the time!