IAC 249 Results

My dear friend who posts these IAC results on her blog allowed me to steal this particular post for good reason!!  The IAC meeting is the meeting where referrals are issued. The results are usually posted to a public site a month or so after the meeting is held.  This post is special because #14 is our referral.  I mean we already knew we had it, but to see it publicly listed is exciting.  In case you missed it it's the one with large font in black...hehe!!! Praise the Lord!!

IAC 249 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 249 which was held on March 21, 2013:

1) Spanish dossier from January 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 1 month

2) Spanish dossier from January 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 4 months

3) Dutch dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 5 years and 6 months

4) Italian dossier from April 2010 referred a female child aged 6 years and 7 months

5) German dossier from May 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from August 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 2 months with features in health status and a family history

7) Dutch dossier from December 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 3 months with features in health status

8) French dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 4 years and 2 months with a family history

9) US dossier from January 2011 referred two female children aged 5 years and 7 months & 7 years and 9 months with features in health status

10) French dossier from July 2011 referred two male children aged 8 years & 6 years and 3 months

11) US dossier from March 2012 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status

12) Portuguese dossier from April 2012 referred a male child aged 2 years and 2 months with features in health status

13) Canadian dossier from June 2012 referred a male child aged 2 years with features in health status and a family history

14) US dossier from July 2012 referred a waiting child (#983) with a profile on the MOJ site

15) US dossier from October 2012 referred a waiting child (#1988) with a profile on the MOJ site

16) French dossier from October 2012 referred a male child aged 6 years and 6 months with features in health status

17) US dossier from March 2013 referred a female child aged 10 years

18) US dossier from March 2013 referred two waiting children (#1449 & #1578) with profiles on the MOJ site

19) Italian dossier from March 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 10 years and 4 months & 6 years and 2 months

20) US dossier from March 2013 referred two waiting children (#1933 & #976) with profiles on the MOJ site

I'm Going To Prepare a Place for You

As the day inches closer that we will take off on a plane to meet our son for the first time, Dustin and I both grow more and more excited to hold him in our arms.

Our travel dates have been moved forward a week so we are 16 days from leaving as of today. That seems unreal to me in this moment.  We have been staring at this picture since October and it almost feels as though that's all he is..a picture.  I have no idea what emotions I will feel the first time we see him. What scares me is the emotions he might have. Dustin and I have said over and over "what if he doesn't bond to us?".  I know it's not a thought that people like to think about, but it is a reality.  It was pretty quickly that we had to stand on the promises that God has given us.  God has picked this child out and said "This is your son".  With that we have to know that God is preparing his heart for our meeting, just as He has been preparing ours. 

During a bible study at church a few weeks ago we began to talk about what the disciples must have felt when Jesus was telling them He would be leaving.  They clearly did not understand. They did not know what they would do without Jesus by their side. In fact they were pretty terrified.  He continued to explain that He was going to prepare a place for them where they would live forever with Jesus once their separation was over.  Jesus had poured so much time into building relationships with these disciples who followed Him so closely and now they felt He was leaving them to fend for themselves in this world that already had nothing promising for them.  If these men could not understand this time of separation then how can a small child?

I think about what it will feel like when we spend a week with our son just to leave him.  We can tell him over and over that we have to go back to where we came from to prepare a place for him. A place that will offer love and shelter and a family, but essentially a place that he can't imagine because he's never seen it, or heard of it.  It's heartwrenching to know we will bond with this child who has longed for a family for so long then we will leave him just like we never met him (at least he'll think so).  We'll be home working so hard to bring him home, but he won't know that.  We very likely will become a distant memory in his tiny world. 
Sure we will leave pictures, and a teddy bear, and a blanket, but in no way will that replace physical touch and time spent together.

Often I imagine these older children with their picture books of the families that have come to adopt them.  How after this family leaves they show all of their friends these pictures and explain how these people have come to save them from this place, to show them unconditional love, and to adopt them.  How proud they are to "show off" their new mommies and daddies.  Isn't this a great picture of what God has done.  God sent His son so that we could be adopted into His family.  We are co-heirs to the throne along with Jesus.  And even though physically He is not with us right now, He has left us all of these things to remind us that He is coming back for us.  His scripture, much like those picture of families, we should look at daily and is a reminder of His love.  The Holy Spirit, just like those blankets that wrap us with comfort and security, we turn to in moments of uncertainty for guidance.  Shouldn't we be just as excited to share with everyone we meet our Father who has paid our ransom and come to rescue us.  It is a love unlike we've ever known and we should want all of our orphaned friends to understand all we have to do is say yes to receive this love.  Don't you think every child in an orphanage would say "yes I want that love" if they knew that's all they had to do.  We don't have to wait for a family to choose us because we've arleady been chosen!

It is my deepest prayer that our son knows we are coming back for him. That he doesn't feel abandoned at the end of our week.  That he can look at our pictures and understand that Mommy and Daddy are working so hard to bring him home.  It is my prayer that we can show him a love that he's never known before.  I've been reminded by so many wonderful adoptive parents that have gone ahead of us to take things slow.  To make sure we go at his pace, which will certainly be slower than ours.  It will take so much time for him to learn he can trust us.  I'm even certain there will be times he will test our love and commitment to him, much like we do with God.  I'm reminded of a beautiful scripture in Malachi 3 when I think of this happening.  God was dealing with a rebelious people who had done so many displeasing things.  But God said "I the Lord do not change".  Essentially saying no matter what you do, I'm not going anywhere. No matter how bad you are, I still love you. There's nothing you can do to make me love you any more or any less.  What a wonderful picture of God's love.  I hope our son understands this.  Nothing he can do can make us leave.  Our love for him will not change. Sure their may be moments of frustration but we will be his family. FOREVER. 

It is because of this love God has shown us, that we in return are able to show this love to a child who so desparately needs it.  Because God adopted us we are able to adopt these beautiful children.  I have seen a quote going around on social media a lot lately and it speaks so loudly.  "We adopt not because we are rescuers but because we have been rescued."