Spring has sprung

“He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”  Psalm 112:7

If you want all pride completely stripped from you & instead a life of humility, pursuing adoption is a start.  No, I am definitely not telling you this is a reason to adopt, don’t do that, but am just speaking from the heart of someone fiercely desiring to care for the orphan. God is in the process of sanctifying His kiddos our entire lives and we are clearly seeing that through our difficulties and struggles of our adoption journey. In the ups and the downs of it all, we are able to see Him more clearly and place our trust and our plans in His hands.

I’m going to be real for a second.  Sometimes it is hard to be a woman in the world we live in, specifically at the season of life we are in, going through this journey that is our plan A, but looks far different than the norm.  I have come to notice that I am surrounded by mamas and their precious baby bumps as of late.  Just a few weeks back I was at a dinner where four of the eight of the women at the table were pregnant.  Naturally a majority of the conversations are all things pregnancy and baby.  Sometimes it is hard y’all.   People just don’t know what to ask of my beautiful mess, but when you do I am ecstatic.  I have a close friend due in August and have told her I want her to share with me as much as possible the details of her pregnancy.  Baby Schwoch could very well be in utero and although I won’t get to see 3D sonograms or hear baby’s heartbeat, pregnancy is absolutely fascinating and beautiful and I can only imagine.  I walk away from these types of gatherings hurting and yearning for my little half way across the world and pray for that sweet biological mama who has chosen life and has some weighty decisions ahead.  I love adoption, but must constantly remember at the root of it is complete loss and brokenness. 

Adoption journey as of late

I promised an update a few weeks back, but wanted to gather some more definitive answers before sharing.  Psalm 112:7 (see intro) is a verse among others that I have clung to in our utter despair and weakness.  We saw some great strides over these past few months on our wait list.  Then we started hearing some difficult news to process regarding Ethiopia in general.  One thing I have come to recognize is that in the highs and lows of this journey if you lean on your emotions and not the constants of faith you will surely lose it, trust me from experience.  A respected and well-known agency that we looked into that works in Ethiopia chose to close their Ethiopian program based on a regional government in Ethiopia not allowing referrals to be processed.  Several other agencies have highly encouraged families to switch programs (countries).  I would be lying if I said it didn’t worry me.  Our hearts and resources are beyond invested in this place and not to mention our agency primarily works in Ethiopia, which is one thing that drew us to them.  During this week or so of unknowns we were on our knees praying for answers, but also hopeful and trusting in a God that is for us.  Our agency has since let us know that they will most definitely be continuing adoptions in Ethiopia and have been working in several regions with a number of orphanages building promising relationships.  We are in it for the long haul and can assume it will be a wild ride. 

Can we ask you to pray for these families who were with that agency that decided to close their Ethiopian program as they process through this uncertain time?

Will you also pray for continued positive relationships on our agency’s end and for all those regional government officials making big decisions and that they specifically not be prideful but that their hearts be softened and that they see the apparent need?

Martha & Mary

“Now as they went on their way Jesus entered a village.  And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.  But Martha was distracted with much serving.  And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Tell her then to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.”  Luke 10:38-42

If you know me at all you know I lean towards being a bit of a Martha by temperament. I busy myself. My phone has lists and lists of lists. I am type A personality and in some ways this does me well in life, it's engrained in me. I keep a clean house, a full planner and clean gunk off of people's teeth for goodness sake.

All this to say, there's a lesson to be learned in this scripture and it is one that I'm learning in our waiting. When you are waiting for a child, or for anything for that matter, there are only so many things you can do to prepare and only so many lists to check off. I joke around that by the time baby Schwoch is in our arms we will have a house full of stuff {cue nesting}. But I delight in Mary for her enthrallment and adoration of whom is in her presence. She is not too preoccupied or too busy perfecting the atmosphere, but is giving complete glory and attention to the only perfect thing in her life. I think that is what it means to wait well. To recognize the Lord's presence & spirit in the here and now as He continues to lead us on our journey.

We will be updating our home study this week. It is crazy to think it's been 1.5 years since the original. The sweet girl that was our original case worker is no longer with the agency so in a way it is like starting from scratch. Pray everything goes smoothly with what seems like more hoops as we also re-fingerprint and begin lots more paperwork.

As of March 1st it has been exactly one year since we received our original waitlist number.  We were in New York visiting my dear sister & her husband and opened the email as quickly as we could and then headed to FAO Schwarz to purchase a memento for the occasion.  Although we are unable to share such details on here, we can say these past few months we have been overjoyed to see children referred (placed) into forever families.  At the beginning of each month we anxiously wait until the end of the workday to read the monthly email update together and take a picture on our dry erase board of our new place in line.  Each number that we move is huge in the eyes of our creator who cares for and adores each and every orphan and makes it all possible.  We love you guys.

-Jen & Luke