Waiting is Overrated

90% of the time when friends look at Mercy's precious face they mention that she is her daddy's twin. While I for sure know she got her endless eyelashes and the precious dimples that kiss her cheeks from her daddy, Chris and I usually look at her and don't really see either of us in that blue eyed blondie... What we do see is an outgoing, talkative little extrovert growing up before our eyes.

...and if you know us, you know how very little of that she got from us.

But! I just realized something!

If Mercy had waited it out and come on her due date, today would be her birthday. As I've thought about that over the past few days, I've realized that she and I have something in common after all...

It's our feelings about waiting:

It's. Over. Rated.

Ten weeks before her anticipated birthday, this one decided waiting was overrated:

See...? She was ready for mommy and daddy hugs, and she wasn't all about waiting for them.

...and she didn't have to, because waiting is overrated.

So Chris and I have been talking about growing our family... and seeing that waiting is so overrated, I've been bringing kids home in my head for months now.

What does that mean, you ask?

Let me explain... Cholestasis of Pregnancy has a 70% recurrence rate and for me, preeclampsia has about a 40% chance of recurring. I've written before about the "pre-guilt" I feel about pregnancy and the possible births of future children so bringing kids home may not look for us like you might think.

We had a meeting last week with a social worker to talk about bringing home foster kids and possible adoption. That's our desire and that's where we believe the Lord is guiding our hearts and our family.

And get this... it looks like He's not only guiding us there, but He's guiding us there not on my timeline (how dare He!), and He's asking us to WAIT.

Come on, God?! Don't you know that waiting is overrated??

GOSH! 

So, Lord willing, it looks like we'll be foster certified somewhere around the beginning of fall... and after that, well, it's just a waiting game for a phone call for a child that falls within the boundaries we have set.

And well... that just sounds like a lot of waiting to me.

Have I not learned to trust my mighty God's perfect timing yet?? After this amazing year and after He has proved Himself and His timing over and over, I still want to make it happen my way and in my time... Crazy.

However, even with my ridiculous control issues and lack of trust, I just know there has to be some purpose in the waiting. 

Thinking about all of this in the days leading up to this first anniversary of Mercy's due date, I remembered this one most important detail:

Despite Mercy's best efforts, we did have to wait. 

After waiting several years to make a pregnancy announcement, Mercy finally came and we had to wait some more... and what a blessing those seven long weeks of waiting to bring her home from the NICU turned out to be as we were able to use that time period as an opportunity to pray for her, to grow and to prepare our hearts and our home for her arrival.

As I have pondered those seven weeks of waiting I've realized something completely new and foreign to me...

Waiting is so not overrated!

Waiting, while hard and often painful, is a gift... a gift of time, growth, and prayer, a gift of heart preparation... a gift this mama needs, whether she likes to admit it or not!

So... wait we will... and we will turn this waiting period into an opportunity to pray for the child that may be being born right this minute, or may be being neglected and so desperately in need of prayer. We will wait and we will pray earnestly for our possible future children, foster or adopted, who are so in need of prayer from a mama and daddy who don't yet know them but love them so dearly.

Pray with us?