Changing gears again??

Life can be really quite interesting...

My sister & bil are foster parents, and one of their first placements included a little 2yr. old girl. We had her over one or two times, and she really took well to us. At one point, I was sitting on the floor playing with her. She wandered off to the piano, and I just sat and watched her. I got thinking about our plans to adopt, and wondered how the bonding and adjustments would go with adopting an older child (older as in not a baby) ~ just trying to think realistically about it, and wondering if the child(ren) would connect with us easily... stuff like that. I was quietly thinking this all to myself, and just like that, this little girl turned around, ran toward me, and threw her arms around me. That moment felt like a "God moment" ~ confirmation that it would all work out just fine, and that adoption was/is the right direction for us.

This little girl really took to Jonathan too ~ frequently running up to him to be held, and to hug him. She really liked my dad too. At a family gathering, she ran back and forth between several of us, just coming for love, and when she started to get grumpy, Jonathan just held her and she went to sleep in his arms. My dad suggested, "why don't you just adopt her?" (rather than international adoption). Well, we didn't think it'd be an option. The waiting list for adoption is usually pretty long, although most people are probably waiting to adopt infants.

We were saddened when we found out that she'd been moved to a different foster home, but this is life, right?

Well, this afternoon, my sister called to tell me she'd talked with a social worker. Apparently this little girl will be eligible for adoption later on this summer... and my sister told the social worker about a comment Jonathan had made at one point ~ he said, "I'd adopt her in a heart beat." The social worker told her to put a bug in our ears... that we should apply. She herself would do our home study. My sister didn't mention that we already have four children, so I'm curious to find out if that would be an issue. We called and left a message for the social worker, and we're waiting to hear back from her. It sounded like she'd be out most of the day, and by now I don't expect to hear from her until for sure tomorrow.

Our children are all excited about the possibility (well, Brenden's excitement is his usual "fine if we do, fine if we don't" with a smile on his face)... so that's a plus. I'm a bit mixed with my emotions... but certainly open to the possibility of God's leading here. Might sound strange, but in thinking international adoption, we were pretty much set on adopting 2 children. If we adopt one now (locally), would we still go for two from Ethiopia later? But I don't need to be living too far into the future, right? Just allow God to lead one step at a time... and keep praying!

Oh, when I mentioned this all to Jonathan, he told me that he's still been praying for this little girl. I'm encouraged!

Again... it's all part of the process one way or another. If it doesn't work out for us to adopt her, we will have learned something and/or be more prepared for whatever or wherever God is leading.