Praying for Friday

We're praying for Friday. That's the date I have in my head that we might hear something. You see, Ianna was available for adoption a couple of months ago, but that expired on her birthday in March: when she turned 10 years old. That's when she was supposed to be transferred to the mental institution to meet a fate worse than hell.

But God saw fit to make sure the other facility was full, and the place she currently resides was not, and her caregivers wanted her to stay as long as they are able to keep her in hopes that a family would come forward.

And along came little me, the gal from Minnesota, speaking midwestern English and carrying a camera. I wasn't intending to fall for any kids there. I was there to take updated pictures for Reece's Rainbow, hoping their bright smiles and updated observations would help find them families. No, really...I was prepared to NOT FALL IN LOVE while I was there. Really. No...really.

I held lots of kids that day, and there were a couple who I can still feel in my arms and I pray for them daily. They are the most "at risk" kids there. But I knew when I held Ianna that day, as the facility doctor explained her upcoming fate, that I would get her out of there. The doctor told me, "If a family comes forward for her QUICKLY, she can be re-registered and I can then keep her here until the adoption goes through. But they have to show themselves fast, before that bed opens up."

My first thought was "I will get her out of here!" Adoption is a part of me, and my family, but then I remembered Dean, and the words he said at the airport when he dropped me off. "Don't even think about falling for some kid there. I'm not adopting. I'm this close ----------- to an empty nest and I don't want to go backward."

I've spent the last 18 months praying for this man's heart. Asking God, "What gives? Please Lord, either change his heart, or stop throwing adoption in my face every time I turn around!" And so I left Ianna that day, vowing to get her out SOMEHOW, either myself or by finding her a family. Still I couldn't shake the feeling that she should be a part of me. Each night that I went to bed in that Bulgarian hotel, I cried tears for Ianna, and prayed God would do something. I didn't even know what to ask him to do! I just pictured her face, and her smile, and prayed for God to do...something!

There is no arguing that Dean and I are enjoying our nearly empty nest. Our time on our motorcycles, with Angela alongside mine in her sidecar. What I didn't know was the work God was doing HERE, in my house, while I was away. I will probably never understand it all, and I guess I don't really need to. It was work only God could do, and nobody else. But one day while talking on Skype, me in a hotel room in Bulgaria, and Dean in our Minnesota kitchen, he started asking me specific questions about Apert syndrome. They were questions he would not know to ask unless he'd been doing a little digging around himself. He asked me questions about specific cranial surgeries, and hand surgeries, and he asked about her hearing. Eventually after several such conversations, we agreed to discuss adopting Ianna when I got home. I couldn't believe this was happening, and was pretty sure some cruel trick was being played on me.

And then the Volcano erupted, and I was stuck on the other side of the world. I wanted to talk with Dean about Ianna, but I didn't want to push him. Besides, we had agreed to wait until I got home to discuss her further.  I vowed that until I got home I would only answer questions from him, not volunteer anything. And ask questions he did!

Then came the news interview with the news crew in our living room with Dean, me on Skype from the middle of the Bulgarian night. It was during that interview, on prime-time news, that Dean said to the reporter, "We're adopting."

That very night I sent an email to the woman in charge of Ianna's care, letting her know we were ready! Dean was ready! We are a go! And she told me she'd get going with the re-registration process. (which I'm told is VERY easy there.)

And so we wait to hear that Ianna has been re-registered for adoption, and that is why I have this Friday, May 7th in my head. That we'll hear by then that the re-registration process is complete and we can move forward. Will you join me in this prayer? Ianna needs an army praying for her, and there is an army of 22 people reading this blog. I think 22 people can move a mountain, don't you?