When God's Plans are not MY Plans

A little over a year ago, we felt God's call to adopt.  Since then we have faced 3 major road blocks. 

1. Ethiopia shut down the adoption process for 7 long months for investigations.  This made us anxious but we faithfully waited,

2. Ethiopia wait time is up to 5 years, verses the previous 18-24 month wait.  Just before sending out our dossier, we were informed that the wait time changed.  With the adoption process being on such rocky ground, and knowing that Ethiopia is a non-hague country, we decided we can not proceed with International adoption at this time.  We started Foster Care training in hopes to foster-to-adopt.

3. Our sweet daughter has been sick.  Just before our last day of Foster training, Abby was given a possible diagnosis of Celiac disease.  Further testing and diet changes have confirmed that she does indeed have celiac.  We are thankful to the Lord that this is a very manageable condition, and we are already seeing improvement with her new diet changes.  We also know that these changes are very stressful for our family, especially the kids who can no longer eat some of their favorite foods, and coping with the fact that this is a lifelong condition.  With all of this stress in our home, it's not the right time for us to pursue foster care.

So now what?  Honestly, we don't know.  From all of the training, and home visits, and background checks, we are certified to provide respite care for other foster families.  So while we are not able to pursue our original plans, we are able to bless several foster families in our church.  

Today I leave you with this beautiful verse: