He's Ours Forvever!

We all got up early yesterday, 6:00am during Christmas break, got ready and headed north for our adoption hearing. We chose to use an attorney in TN who also works in GA because he was Kam and Jason's attorney and understands the process really well. We also wanted to finalize in a county other than our own because our county is known for giving adoptive parents a really hard time about finalizing. It seems crazy but it's true nonetheless. In my opinion it's a small example of how judges can grab more power than is actually Constitutional for them to have. As adoptive parents we jump through all the hoops, follow all the rules, pay all the fees to all the various government departments state and federal and then to be cleared by the state, and the federal government along with the Thai government to adopt and have the county say it's not enough is ridiculous! So we bypassed our county and went north.

When Veldon was putting Max's shoes on him, before we left yesterday morning, he looked out the window and said "oh it's still night time!" in his most exasperated voice and his nose all crinkled up. We all laughed and tried to explain it was really early morning. He wasn't interested in the semantics, he saw it was still dark outside and could not begin to understand why he was up.

The hearing was short and sweet, we all piled into a small conference room, the girls, Veldon, Max, me and Kam. Kam went with us because we don't have any family close by to witness it or take pictures. Hayden worked late the night before and opted to stay home. As it turned out Kam couldn't take her camera into the court building so she couldn't take any pictures and it was raining outside so the attorney took a couple with us and the judge and then we ran to the car and off to McDonald's.

Our attorney asked Veldon to give the judge a history our Max's life. Veldon did a great job of giving a skeleton view. I was wishing he would have asked me because I had so many other things I would have added. It hit me later in the day that I bet that attorney was being smart asking the dad. They really aren't looking for a play by play of the child's life, that a mother would give, but just a quick summary of his experience. So I have to commend my man for not being as prone to use and over use details as I am!

Of course, having completed the entire process now I have to look back and reflect on all we have walked through to bring our son home. I started reading Orphanology a week or so ago, I will be leading a study of it in the Spring with Kam, and the very first chapter, it might have been the introduction even, hit me. The author was talking about the cost of adoption, financial, emotional, time etc. the things that stop people from beginning the process or even wanting to bring an orphan home. He said he struggled with all the costs involved, he struggled with the wait, with money, with everything and didn't really want to do it. Then, as he studied the Word, he recognized the cost to Christ and the Father for our salvation, a cost and a loss and a sacrifice that could never even begin to compare with the tiny cost to us in bringing a child home and his perspective changed. Of course, knowing the cost of our salvation was immeasurable wasn't a new truth to him but seeing our own selfish sacrifices in light of that of Christ's changed everything!

I love that! I love that when we compare ourselves to the world, what we have, who we are, sacrifices made...whatever, we will either feel really good about ourselves and what we are doing or we will feel we don't have enough ~ time, money, energy, etc. On the other hand, if we compare ourselves to Christ we can only see ourselves in the light of His holiness and we can only see our need in the light of His abundance! We can't give more than He, we can't do more than He and we can't have more than He.

So as I think about the road we walked. It cost us much, a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of money, a lot of pain, but Christ was sufficient to provide for all of our needs. He understands sacrifice and He understands how to care for us when we struggle and hurt. I am so grateful that He walked the road before I did. That He adopted me before I adopted a child, that He understands loss, and wait and all of it. I am grateful for the opportunity Christ gave to us to become the parents of our son.