On May 28, 2009...

(I realize I should have posted this on May 28, 2010, but I didn't.  So there.)

This is what I underlined in my Bible:

"My eyes are straining to see your promises come true.  When will you comfort me?  I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, exhausted with the waiting.  But I cling to your principles and obey them.  How long must I wait?"  Psalm 119:82-84

The next day I wrote in my Bible "Esther called, 2009"  I received a phone call that day that would not only keep me on my toes for the summer of 2009, but it would lead our Emma Claire to our home for good.  The fruit of a promise God had given to me so many years before. 

Me and Esther June 2009

In 7 days, Emma Claire will officially be ours forever.  No more DHS.  No more waiting.  No more wondering.  June 10, 2010, will be a very exciting day for our family.  It will forever be a reminder of what a faithful and loving God we serve.  A God who hears our deepest desires...the very same God who placed those desires in us in the first place.  A God who cares so much about the details of our waiting.  A God who envelopes the prayers and praises of the people He has brought into our lives to pray right alongside us in this journey.  What a might God we serve!!!

I want to share something with you.  As you know (or maybe you don't), Emma was in a regular foster care from the beginning of October 2009 until she came to our home on March 18, 2010.  I can recall being in my bathtub so many times, praying for Emma's safety.  Praying that she was being loved and taken care of.  Praying that somehow, that first few days I spent with her would matter. 

We belong to a group called ChildSHARE.  It is a support group/recruitement for foster care.  I have learned SO much from this group.  They are a Christian group and are considered to be held to a higher standard of foster care than a regular foster home.  (This isn't being ugly...it doesn't mean that if you are not a member, you are not a good home...not at all.  It just means the support they offer allows you to be better and they don't just accept anybody.)  Anyway, a couple of weeks after we got Emma, a friend of mine called and to make a very long, complicated story shorter, Emma was in another ChildSHARE foster home!  You cannot even imagine how that soothed my soul, knowing without a doubt that she had been loved and taken care of.  She had even been in the home of a friend of mine...we just didn't know!  This all came out when my friend was showing her daughter pictures of Emma from my facebook.  Her daughter started saying, "That's OUR Emma...mom...that's OUR Emma."  Come to find out...it was!!!  She sent me a wonderful gift last week...pictures of Emma when she was at their home, at about 6 months old.  There are no words.

See, God loves Emma even more than I do.  And while I may never know all the reasons Emma didn't come home from the hospital with us when I thought she should, God still loved Emma.  He prepared this foster home to be available to take her in for the time when she was away from us.  He put MY friends in her path, to love on her and take care of her.  He protected the mother/child relationship that began when Esther called me to take her baby.  He caused things to happen within DHS that can be explained in no words other than "miracle".  God did this.  God promised He would do this.  And He did it.  God's plans cannot be thwarted.  God cannot break a promise.  It's not in His nature.  He can't do it. 

"Thank you, Lord, for being exactly who You say You are...every single time."  AMEN!