God's Timing

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Like many adopting families, we have questioned God’s timing along the way. “Why is this taking so long? Why are other families passing us in the process?” Though often we don’t get to see God’s purposes for delays, Tim and I received the answers to these questions on our trip- another gift!

Before going to Ethiopia, we heard about Woudeneh’s (our facilitator's) sister who, just a few months ago, collapsed at the transition house while working as a nanny. We prayed with other adopting families from our agency for her healing and protection. Therefore, it shouldn’t have surprised us when God answered. The people He used to answer, however, were what blew us away!

You see, there was a couple staying in the transition house while in Ethiopia for their court visit who just so happened to be in the medical field- he a doctor and she a nurse. Had they not been there to correctly diagnose the problem, Woudneh’s sister very likely would not have made it. Not only did they order the correct medication, they arranged for her to be flown to New York where a specialist could perform an emergency heart surgery that saved her life. By God’s grace she is now recovering here in the states while gaining energy to go home.

As Woudeneh told us the story from his perspective, we were reminded of how personal this was to him. We had no idea how we too had benefited from God’s timing in this couple’s process. Woudeneh went on the explain how this was a couple that frustrated him last spring by turning down a referral for three children – OUR THREE CHILDREN! They had initially accepted the referral for Chernet, Mulu, and Ruby and were preparing come for their court date, but knew immediately they weren’t theirs when they saw an updated picture that showed Chernet was clearly older than 5. Their request had been a sibling group of 3-younger than 6. At the time Woudeneh couldn’t understand how they saw our kids’ picture and knew they weren’t their children. “How could they say no to these precious children who need a family?” Of course now he understands how, and we told him how we can completely relate because we knew from the moment we laid eyes on Chernet, Mulu and Ruby that they were ours!

Had this family not changed their mind just before their court date with our three children, they would not have been there at just the right time to save his sister’s life. And we would not be adopting these three we feel God has handpicked for our family. Praise God!

Ecclesiastes 11:5 “Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.”