Six Months today!

On January 19, 2010 one of our daughters, Grace, turned eight years old. That same day, we received another daughter into our care by way of adoption. In the six months Mihret has been with us, she has gained 10 pounds and grown from a 4T to 6x dress size. Her umbilical hernia has been surgically corrected. She is no longer malnourished...or lonely...or afraid. 

We have learned much on this journey. One thing I'm learning to discipline myself about is wondering about her past. Almost every time she wants to wash her hands at length or have her third helping of food I think about this. Did she walk far to get water? Did she, like so many we saw while we were in Ethiopia, drink water carried from miles away in yellow jeri cans? Did she ever take a bath in clean, clear water? How many times a day or week did she eat? Did she only eat injera? Did she have access to any protein? Was she loved by her family? What did they think of her hernia? Did they not know what it was? Only a few hours south of her region (Wolayta), the tribes believe if the top two teeth come in before the bottom two the child is "mingi" and they kill them, so this quesion is not unreasonable.

These questions, and countless others, have regularly flooded my mind. They are unanswerable in this life. SO, I'm realizing that I must let them go and discipline my mind to not think about them. Even when I do that, questions about the future rapidly replace them. Such as, "Will she want to go back and help her people? Will she long to know her culture? Will she embrace it? Will she take the Gospel to them?" Those, and others, too, are unanswerable.

This is part of that issue of faith to which we have been called in Hebrews, " ...for without faith it is impossible to please God."  We pursued Mihret in faith, we have her now because we trusted in God's Word, and we continue to live by faith. "My righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, My sould shall have no delight in him", says Almighty God.

Daily life with her is good. She's a joyful, sweet, pleasant child and we are very glad to have her.  Not only are we glad to have her, but we're so grateful to the Lord for all we've learned about Him, His kingdom, this world and ourselves along the way. If I were to share all of that, this would be a very lengthy post! Suffice it to say we have become more sanctified because of this choice. We do not regret it. We rejoice in it and in the One who put it in our hearts. The end purpose of all of our choices should be to worship Christ more fully, as He deserves. Our prayer is that this is happening...daily.