Adoption: Game ON!

Well, friends...It is Monday.  A fresh start to a new week.  Now that we are settling back into our home and the surgery is behind me, it feels like the right time to start dreaming of the future.  We've been hanging out for so long in survival mode that it feels strange to get back out of the boat and start swimming again.  But, that is what I'm committed to do.  Hubby and I had a great conversation the other day about living full out for Christ.  What does that mean?  Lately, that has meant holding on to God with our fingertips and praying that He will sustain us through the valleys.  But, it feels like now is the time to peek out from the safety of His arms and see what He sees.  And He sees a hurting world...so we see that too.
We found ourselves at a crossroad.  Circumstances had led us to a place where we had to make a choice.  Do we abandon the pursuit of adoption?  Or do we continue to chase it?  We prayed!  Hard!  Because we all know that it would be easier not to pursue something that would require sacrifice.  I asked Hubby if he felt like all of the awful things we've dealt with lately are closing doors?  I even said, I wonder if these are stumbling blocks...here to keep us from making a huge mistake.  But, that very day, a friend sent me a beautiful card.  I read through it...but then I felt the Holy Spirit pushing me to read it again...slowly.  At the end of the card it referenced "the rocks that have seemed like stumbling blocks."  And encouraged me to see them as "stepping stones" instead.  Yeah, ok.  I get it.
So, we made a bold move.  We switched local agencies.  We were sad to do it...and we left with friendships intact.  But our agency couldn't assist us with China anymore because they lacked a specific accreditation.  So...we are signing up under another agency.  We received our original paperwork back and I'm hoping we only have to re-do reference letters and finish out the homestudy.  I went through all of our dossier paperwork last night and should only have to reorder two documents because of expiration dates.  So, the adoption is back on...
It is still too soon to start dreaming of pink.  I won't let myself do that yet. This is still God's story...His timing.  I've learned that!  But, out of nowhere, my children have started praying hard for their baby sister from China.  We haven't talked with them about it since the night before the tornado.  But it seems like God is preparing their hearts.  Oh how I love these boys.