Since we started this whole process we have experienced many astonishing things that seem like miracles to us. Remember the "loaves and fishes" that we kept finding? They just keep coming. And because of this, our faith has increased exponentially. Here's my latest story...
On Saturday I got an email from another adoptive family traveling to ET in June that they had contacted their travel agent about flights and it was going to be way more expensive that they (and we) had estimated. We were thinking around $6-$7,000. They were quoted $2500 per round trip ticket and $1800 one-way. For us that would mean $8600 just to fly! Plus two $400 visas for the kids, plus food, lodging, taxis, etc... we were suddenly looking at nearly $11,000. Now up to this point, we have managed to pay for everything from our savings, but I checked and nope, we didn't have $11,000 left. At this point, Miracle #1 occurred:
Miracle #1: Joan Did Not Freak Out
Not only did I not freak out, my first thought actually was "I can't wait to see how God pulls this one off!". In all honesty, I just knew that somehow it would work out. My biggest concern was telling Brian. So I bit the bullet and went down to the basement where Brian was working out on the NordicTrack to give him the bad news. I laid it all out and stepped back, expecting him to completely lose it. This was when Miracle #2 occurred:
Miracle #2: Brian Did Not Freak Out
Brian kept right on exercising, was silent for about 5 seconds, and finally said, "Okay. God didn't get us this far to leave us now, so I guess we'll just wait to see what happens." Seriously. This from the man who used to manically check his 401K statements and mortgage amortization schedule. I wanted to hug him, but he was disgustingly sweaty, so I just told him I loved him. So about four hours later, Brian had taken Thomas to his baseball game and Meredith and I were getting ready to go to the ball fields to watch. Mere was in the bathroom and my neighbor Kristof came by with our mail that he had collected for us while we were in Indiana that past two days. I started looking through it and came across an envelope from our good friends at the IRS. It was our federal income tax refund that I had completely forgotten about and didn't actually know how much we were getting in a refund. I opened the envelope and this was when Miracle #3 occurred:
Miracle #3: God (and Uncle Sam) Sent Us $3000
I looked at the check and started laughing and crying simultaneously. Remember how Meredith was in the bathroom? She yells out, "Mom! Mom! What's going on? Are you okay??" I managed to stop blubbering long enough to reassure her. She chalked it up to another one of mom's crazy adoption episodes. She's getting very used to them.
Isn't this just the coolest story? If it didn't happen to me, I wouldn't believe it. I truly think God keeps doing stuff like this for us because we get to tell people the story. We told our pastor and he said, "Really, the first two miracles were tougher for God to pull off that the last one." That is the TRUTH! Overcoming our fears and relying on God has been what this whole journey has been about for us. If there's anything I've learned it is that I can worry all I want and it does nothing but waste time and energy. God has it all worked out and the more I rely on Him the more peace I find and the more blessings I see.
So we're feeling pretty good about the money now. We're at least a lot closer than we were before. And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's all taken care of by the Big CPA in the sky!
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