He acts

Isaiah 64:4

From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides you,

who acts for those who wait for him.

Yes, I've started a post with these words before. But after yesterday's grand finale to last week, they were the words ringing in my ears.

We wait.

He acts.

It's important to be clear that waiting does not mean putting my feet up and eating bon-bons (a running joke I have with my neighbor. "What have you been up to lately, Andrea?" "Oh, you know - putting my feet up and eating bon-bons!") In fact, I regularly lament to myself the lack of posting I've had on the blog for this adoption, and largely lately it's because our days have been so full of phone calling, paper chasing, basement building, appointment taking (as we try to get anything that needs to happen this spring DONE before the girls come home!), and just general preparation for getting our girls home.

It's also important to note, though, that all of the work we've been doing has been mindful, ultimately, that God is the one acting on our behalf. We told him at the beginning that, yes, we'd go, but that we would be relying on him to provide what we needed to get it done.

And, oh! what a jubilant week of provision this has been! Back in October when I first began a post with those words from Isaiah, I listed a number of things that we were still waiting on God to provide for us.

At that time in October, it looked as though he'd given us an answer right away on one of the more significant pieces - another family who'd adopted from Krassi and Tsvetomira's orphanage before was ALSO in the process of adopting again. She's a nurse! And at that time, they were only a week or two ahead of us in the process, and she was willing to push off their pick up trip to match up with ours so the whole week that we were in Sofia I'd have the luxury of an English-speaking-adoptive-mom-nurse in my hotel! Yes, she'd be busy with her own children, but neither of them have significant needs the same way Tsvetomira does.

Like every plan we make, I held that one loosely, knowing that the plans of mankind are subject to change, but it did NOT escape my notice that her offer came right as we concretely expressed our need. That's one way we hear God speak to us - it was his way of saying, "Don't fret - I've got you covered on the medical side of things!"

So we didn't fret. 

Weeks after that, we suddenly got catapulted up almost a month ahead of what we'd been anticipating, and on December 15th became the parents of our two oldest daughters! Suddenly everything we'd been working on, and pacing ourselves on, got fast-forwarded. It was also at this time that we learned that our nurse-mom's adoption process had been slowed down so much that they are now a month or more behind us. If it had been a week or two on the other side, it would have been an easy decision to wait. But an undefinite month or more was too much. We were going for our girls.

Last week Tuesday I talked for nearly three hours on the phone with my friend Susanna. It is through her blog that we saw our first photo of Krassimir. [Side note: I still marvel at the juxtapositions of that week when I first stumbled upon her blog. I just randomly (except I don't believe that anything is random) happened upon her blog (on this post, I believe, which as I re-read it tonight makes me laugh because there's a name in there that I now know!) within a week of just "happening" to see the documentary on a particular Bulgarian institution that was a transitional point in Matt's thinking about international adoption. The two weren't even connected - I saw Susanna's blog linked from another blog that a friend had recommended I check out because it shared a useful perspective on home schooling versus public schooling for children with special needs, a topic I was navigating that spring when Reuben was not quite three and we had just learned that he had an ultra-rare chromosomal abnormality. (We'd known he had epilepsy and delays for a while at this point, but NOT the root cause until his neurologist ordered genetic testing.)] Over the years, we've connected on a semi-regular basis via email, but early last week she emailed saying she thought we should have a "real" conversation on the phone. So we did.

It was good and challenging and encouraging and unsettling all at the same time. ;) We have much in common, and will have more in common, because of both being mothers to children who have suffered together. There are challenges with being Krassimir's mother that, although not unique to me by any means, are unique enough that there are not many venues in which I can talk about them bluntly with someone who really understands what it's like from the inside. She does.

She also, from the inside, and as someone who's stayed in touch with many of the families who have adopted from that orphanage, knows more intimately some of the challenges these kids have had on the way home. We have an entire medical team set up to care for Tsvetomira upon her arrival here in the States, but through my conversation with Susanna, I realized that they have not been able to prepare me as fully as we would like me to be for the "getting her here" part of things. Anyhow, through our conversation, she said she would get in touch with Adam, the nurse who helped her and her husband bring their daughter home. (The story about how they connected is an interesting read, too!)

Wednesday, she emails Adam.

We continue to wait for replies on questions we've been asking our Bulgarian agency - important details for planning for bringing Tsvetomira home, on phone calls we've made to our medical team at Gillette, and a reply to a long email I sent to the nurse-mom who, although she won't be traveling at the same time, has offered to help me plan details. 

Wednesday was a long day - it seemed like so many things that were rather critical were out there but I really wanted them to be here. The days are melting away until we leave!

Then came Thursday. 

This past Thursday was the beginning of an absolute deluge of the action that we'd been waiting on. On Thursday Adam called, and he and I talked for an hour and a half, talking about details of Tsvetomira's condition, some of the things HE thought we should be aware of, some ideas I hadn't thought of, and ultimately, an offer on his part to look into the possibility of his joining us for the flight home.

You see, he'd already taken a week of work at the end of January. Not for anything special - just a random (ha ha! "Random." Ha!) week off work. His plan, while I discussed the option of his coming with Matt and my Dad (my parents just "happened" to be in town, arriving while I was on the phone, for the weekend), was that he would get in touch with some of his co-workers and see if he could nudge his vacation a few days later by swapping shifts. According to him, he didn't really care which days he had off if he didn't end up coming, and having to ask co-workers meant opening up opportunities to talk with people about what he was potentially doing, and thus what God is doing. I like this guy already!

I don't even know if I can get all of this straight - so much was happening! Also that day we got a detailed email reply back from Toni, fleshing out many of my questions (and generating new ones). After I got off the call with Adam, I emailed our travel agent. What are the chances of getting another seat on the same flights we'd already booked? Later that evening we got a short, sweet email from a local family (also adoptive parents), just checking in on how the process was going, and reminding us that they were praying.

Friday.

Friday we got a quote back from our travel agent, and Adam's entire flights would be less than $900!!! My Dad followed that up with confirming which email my paypal account is associated with, and, as they had planned, paying for the cost of his ticket. Then I get an email from Adam with this as part of the short body:
"On an exciting note, my scheduling hurdle was immediately solved by the first person I asked."

Not only CAN he go, but he's excited to go! This is the kind of guy you want on a trip like this. Yes, he's got the expertise of a pediatric ICU nurse, but more importantly, he's the kind of person who wants to spend his time off work being a part of what God is doing!!! The plan stands that he will contact our travel agency and confirm the flights Saturday morning so we can secure the tickets.

Also on Friday I got a call from our family doctor saying he'd finished up a general letter of "medical necessity" we'd asked him to write for Tsvetomira to hopefully make airport travel with lots of equipment, formula, and medications easier. Check. One more little piece done.

Saturday. I can hardly believe the abundance that this week has been for us! What an outpouring of God's provision! We waited, and he acted.

Saturday I got the email confirming the new tickets. Here's a lovely detail: Adam's daughter goes to college near the Twin Cities. He's going to have a long enough layover here after getting us home that he'll be able to spend the afternoon with his daughter before flying back to Philadephia!

That afternoon Adam and I talk again, and make a few more plans, including preliminaries on a seat that Tsvetomira may be able to use. (He knows a family who just brought a child with similar needs to Tsvetomira's home from Ukraine. He thinks they would be willing to let us use their seat.)

A method of transporting Tsvetomira has been one of the biggest things on our list of things that NEED to be done, but we really don't know how. We've asked people, we've searched on the internet, we've devised something we could build/sew that could be custom sized to her, but have never really been sure just what is going to be best for her. This, you'll remember (or not, but I do!!) is one of the particulars we'd mentioned specifically in that post from October. What we wanted doesn't appear to exist, nor were we sure it would be approved for use on the plane if it did. Having Adam with potential access to something that would work for her is tremendous!!!

He asked, as well, if we'd be open to consulting with CHOP Adopt - the medical team his hospital is associated with that has some experience with medically fragile international adoptions. They helped Adam to bring Katie (Susanna's daughter) home, and he would love to have their expertise to help with Tsvetomira - their main doctor would be on call even during our flight should anything arise. 

This, of course, costs money. But God, for some reason, has chosen to provide so very amply for us throughout this entire adoption. I'm so used to having to wait on the financial part of things - to not have what we need until we need it, and this time around he's been filling our bank account ahead of time every step of the way! As December was ending, Matt and I were looking at the dollar value on the savings account we have designated for the girls (well, we call it our "whatever" savings account, as in, "whatever" we're saving for, and right now, it's all about the girls), and we were marveling at how much we had in there. It's an interesting thing, looking at that dollar amount and wondering what it's sitting there waiting for. We know that we will have plenty of needs once the girls are here. Yes, insurance will cover a lot, and Minnesota has fantastic services for people with special needs to assist with all sorts of things related to their care, but we also know there are things on the horizon that are going to be expensive. But that also meant that this week, it was simply not an issue to add another plane ticket, or another hospital consultation, to the agenda. God has graciously made sure that we've already been given everything we need. 

Adam asked about our current health insurance, and if I'd looked into adding the girls to our plan yet (yes, I'd sent the form in a week or so ago), and if we'd used Dec 15th (adoption day) or January 28th (arrival day) as the start date; I'd used December 15th. He was glad, because that will allow us to very easily have the CHOP adopt team prescribe medications for Tsvetomira right away, before she even comes home if necessary.

I hung up, and went to open the mail. In the mail that very afternoon were our new insurance cards!!! Okay, maybe it's silly to see new insurance cards as evidence of the abundant provision of God, but I'm not going to choose to see it as silly. We'd talked about it. THERE THEY WERE. Really, truly, in my hands. With an effective date of January 1, 2017. 

Check, check, check.

So, SO many little and big details that we'd been working on and waiting for were pouring in from every side.

Oh, yes, and on that topic. There was also, in that same pile of mail, a beautiful note (and photos) from a family we've only met a few times, who were joyfully sharing $1000. With us. The absolute bounty of God's overwhelming provision for us is breath-taking!!!

Once again, God's message to us is clear: I've got you covered. There is nothing, NOthing that is going to come your way that I'm not prepared to handle. That means that everything that comes is deliberately for us, no matter how hard it will be. 

Matt and I are both sobered regularly by the gravity of the task that's been given to us in the gift of these daughters of ours. There are changes on our very near horizon that are going to be a sea-change in the way our family works, plays, lives, laughs.

It's no accident that our pastor this morning was careful to point out that "... to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake..." It's even better in the King James: "...it has been given to you...to suffer..." Matt and I have talked about this before: to suffer, for Christ, is a gift from him. A good gift. A hard gift, yet, but something that he has given to us, and for our good. I don't wonder that one reason he's been so free in providing for our monetary needs, and way in advance, is that he knows that we've got a hard road ahead of us, and wants to remind us that he really, really does have all of this in his hand. 

So on we march!

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under his wings, oh so gently sustaineth
    Hast thou not seen 

How thy desires all have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper
  thy work and defend thee,
Surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend thee.
    Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with His love doth befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that
  is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
    Let the Amen
Sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

That's how we began the service at church this morning, and these were the last words out of our pastor's mouth before ending this morning. "He can and will meet your needs when you trust in him."

Amen!!!