Wait

This post has been doing flip-flops in my head for several months, but honestly I haven't wanted to write it all out. My feelings on the topic are rather muddled, and I haven't been sure I want to be that transparent here. But I have decided it is time. It is consuming too much of my thoughts for me to not talk about it.

You see, Tim and I want to adopt again. That sounds straight forward enough, right? Back in November, we were both all gung-ho, and couldn't wait to get the process started. But then we hit a road block or two, and we had to put things on hold for a bit. Now, we are free and clear to start again, but we haven't done it.

And the truth is, I am the one holding us up. I am the one who has always wanted a house full of children and who is always dreaming of one more. I am the one who spends an obscene amount of time on Rumor Queen, stalking adoption blogs, and circling Waiting Child lists and Rainbow Kids.

But now, I seem to be frozen, and I'm not sure why. For one thing, I seem to be full of contradictions. One minute I find my children endearing and sweet, drinking them in and desiring to have more of them, and literally seconds later, I want to be free of them completely. Not that I would ever wish that I didn't have them (OK, well maybe for a second). It's just that sometimes I am ready to be done with this stage of life. Some days, I want to be at a place where they are more self-sufficient and I could do other things than give 100% of my time to them.

Then there are the days where I am just immobilized by grief. Not immobilized in my daily life, but in the adoption process. You would never know it to look at me, but some days I can't get past the fact that there is so much corruption in adoption. It grieves my very soul that there are places in the world where children lose their parents because of poverty. In our day and age, no family should have to be separated by poverty. It is one of the many reasons that I encourage everyone, no matter how much or little your family makes, to sponsor a child. Sponsoring a child through World Vision or Compassion International can keep families together by providing much needed food, shelter, and medical care to families who need them.

But I digress... Oh yes, my grief. And did you know that there are places in the world where corrupt adoption agencies and orphanages can go into villages and neighborhoods and literally coerce families to give up their children? They make promises of education and give false hope that the children will return to the village one day. They talk of the riches of America, as if that is something more important than the love of a mother and a father. And these "Christian" people steal these kids. Oh, how that just kills me. And there are other places where a parent might bring a child to an orphanage because they are having trouble providing for them. They intend for it to be short-term, and they visit regularly. But one day, they show up to see their child, and the child is gone. He has been adopted by an American or European family who has no clue that this child has parents already. Oh, my heart just breaks how these impoverished families are taken advantage of!

Of course, I know that not every adoption is corrupt, but far too many of them are. Far, far, too many. And while I have seen no evidence of corruption of this particular nature in China, there are still other things to grieve over. Loss of country, language, foster families, and everything they know, for starters. And I have first-hand experience with a grieving child. Oh, how it breaks my heart.

But I also have experience with a child who is so resilient and so loving and so amazing, that I wonder... what if? And I also know that even though the 147 million orphans figure is grossly inflated, there are still children out there who legitimately need families. If I could manage to get past my own fears, what then?

And so I pray. I ask God for direction and discernment. Because I don't have the answers to all this. I don't know if I have another son or daughter out there. I don't know if God has other plans for my life. So I am waiting. Because sometimes He says yes, sometimes no, and sometimes wait. And right now, I am hearing wait. But I am still praying that will change soon.