It turns out, that our leap of faith became several leaps wrapped into one gigantic experience. But I learned that when you leap because God told you to, you're never really off of the Solid Rock! Even though we felt as if we were dangling in the air, we just had to look down to see that we were standing on a firm foundation.
Oh, the journey of faith has not been without its trials, to be sure! We ran into frustrations getting our fingerprints and background check completed, and an inadvertent complication with our home safety visit (an unknown deadline) almost cost us the entire hosting! Unexpected expenses and a few surprise requirements inserted themselves into our lives, and the thought of the three non-English speaking guests (surprise!) in my house for a couple of weeks had me stressing more than a little.
But God. Two little words that change everything. But God allowed us to get our fingerprints done the second time. But God allowed the visit report to be emailed and arrive on time. But God provided the extra help He knew I would need when the boys arrived. But God had a plan for the boys: they trusted Him while they were here, learning about Jesus in their own language via the internet!
While they were here, we gave the boys love, discipline, and a great vacation! We took them to the zoo and the children's museum (3 times!). We made gingerbread houses, crafty Christmas ornaments, and went shopping together. We played in the snow, went to the library, played in the arcade, and went bowling. We took them to church and introduced them to new friends. We had their eyes checked (glasses for one) and got their teeth cleaned and fixed (rotten teeth gone or filled). We did "normal" things, too, like playing at home all day and making a mad dash to the grocery store (me alone with five small children!).
Caring for our two orphan boys as well as our own three small boys challenged me, to say the least! Only with much prayer and God's grace did we all make it through! The prayers and support of family and friends held me up when I thought I couldn't make it anymore. Knowing that we were doing exactly what God had asked us to do sustained me. Truly, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," (Philippians 4:13).
We sent the each of the boys back to their country with a Children's Bible in Latvian and a full copy of John and Romans in Latvian. We packed their suitcases with clothes and Christmas presents and tons of socks! We put them on the plane with numerous hugs and kisses and, I hope, a lot of love in their hearts.
Taking this leap of faith was definitely easier said than done. It was easy to say, "Yes, we can host these boys," but difficult and challenging to actually do it--to send in all the money, to get fingerprinted and background checked (5 times!), to rearrange the house to accommodate the extra people, to bring them in and treat them as our own, to love them when they fought us, to push past the exhaustion and continue to care, to take them on outings in spite of the meltdowns, to open our hearts and our home and our family for a full month and then trust God to care for them as we sent them back. It was physically tough and emotionally hard. But it was spiritually rewarding. What a blessing to see them trust Jesus for salvation! What a privilege to help them with vision and dental health--and such a blessing to be assisted by the dentists who donated their time and services!! How affirming to have the continued love, support, prayers, and approval of our family throughout the entire process! What an honor to have the prayers and support on so many levels of our church family and our friends! Blessing after blessing in spite of trial after trial. But then, isn't that how it works? Aren't the trials what gives our faith the opportunity to grow? Aren't the blessings sometimes rewards from God for doing as He asked?
Leaps of faith aren't supposed to be easy, but they are supposed to be worth taking. This one definitely was, and I am forever grateful that God chose us to take it.
I'm not sure where this journey of faith will take us next. We did pray about whether or not we should pursue adoption of these precious boys, but God very clearly closed the door for us. As far as we know, they are available for adoption; thus, we are praying fervently for a loving Christian family to adopt them. I know God has a plan for these boys just as much as I know He has a plan for us. Whatever leap He asks us to take next, we will be able to take in faith, knowing that He will be with us, He will provide for us, and He will still be supporting us as our firm foundation, the Solid Rock.
