Encouraging Call

We received a call yesterday morning from the India program head at the new agency. She had called the orphanage on Friday, and found out that an Indian couple HAD expressed interest in adopting "I" and had visited him in India while they were there for a month. However, their paperwork has not started, and she said that the orphanage does not have the final word on it---whatever that means. She is going out of town--I believe to India (she is Indian herself) and said that she would leave our homestudy and a letter about our situation on the desk of the agency head so that if "I" did not have a home by the end of the holiday season, we could begin to get pre-approval for him.

She also said that if he was in the process of being adopted by the other couple, she would show our homestudy to the orphanage to get pre-approval for the baby girl. So, it seems like it is very highly possible that we will get to bring one of these children to our home in 2008. This case worker seems very adament about finding homes for these children and asked the proper questions re: insurance and understanding of this special need. I sense progress.

As we celebrate this Christmas, we pray for a joyous 2008, and the addition of a little Benji or Miriam to fill our home with more love. Yes, we have names picked out: Benjamin Thomas and Miriam Grace--with the addition of their Indian name if it does not conflict with our religious views. Benjamin's birth story in the Bible--and his transformation from Rachel's "son of trouble" to his father's "son of my right hand" seems fitting for a child welcomed into a new life full of opportunity where there was none before. Thomas brought Christianity to the people of India, and Shawn's family tree has the patriarch, Thomas Stafford. Miriam was a loving sister and looked out for her adopted brother, Moses. And Grace--by grace we are saved from our sins- could there be a more Lutheran name for our girl?

As doors have closed, others have opened. Great is Thy faithfulness!