Three Years and Counting

On this day, three years ago, we launched this blog with this post. This blog started as a way to keep family and friends updated about baby Grace, a journey we thought would take about 10 months total. Now, three years later, we recognize that God had a different plan for us, and everytime I even think about Grant (much less look at him or hear his little voice), I'm so thankful that my plans were not realized. I'm thankful, to quote a Garth Brooks' song (yes, I did just go there), for "unanswered prayers."

But, while I'm thankful that the wait for Grace helped us find Grant, I still yearn for Grace. She has been on my heart, in my prayers, and part of my life for three years, and that's a long time to wait.

Each month we inch closer. There are 27 numbers in front of us (imagine the line at the DMV [or BMV for you Hoosiers]). Once a month, someone calls a bunch of numbers. Sometimes, they call two numbers. Sometimes, they call seven. So, give it a few months, and we should be sitting with a referral in hand, a packet of translated papers that tell us the age, weight, and height of our little girl. The paper will tell us what she likes to do and what she can do.

I want to send a paper back: a paper to her birth-family, a paper to the Chinese government, a paper to her orphanage. It would say: Mommy and Daddy and one adorable older brother, all in good health, have been patiently (for the most part) waiting for this child, for this moment for a very long time. And they couldn't be happier. They are more than ready to love this little gift of a girl.

This morning, I was reading from the book of Ezekiel (34:26), and I came across this verse: “I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.”

Bret and I are living in a shower of blessings currently, and we know that baby Grace, and her immenent coming, is just one of the many things for which we are grateful.