Our Future. Adoption & Otherwise....

It's that time of year again.
The flowers are blooming
The AC is running.
The electric bill is rising.
And the kids are spending more time in swim trunks than out.

All of that can only mean one thing.
Moving trucks. 
Moving trucks by the......well.....by the truckload are going to begin to appear around the 'hood soon.
And this year
one will be showing up in our driveway.....again.

Time to find the houseplants a new home.
Time to pawn the fish off on the neighbors.
Time to get your head and your heart ready to say goodbye.

We found out our next assignment last week.
It's sunny,
it has a beach
white sand
and a palm tree or 12.
Excited?
Yep.
Bummed to be leaving behind some amazing friends and an incredible church?
Oh yeah.

By last count, our impending move in a matter of weeks will be our 9th state in 13 years.

It is such a fine line to walk in this life.
Trying so very hard not to prematurely disconnect from the life we have here.
The life we will still have for a few more weeks....
yet all the while preparing for what's next.
Housing.
Schools.
Church.
Where is the nearest Target at our new locale.
You know,
the important things.

Saying goodbye ~ not my favorite.
Saying hello to a totally new group of people when you don't know a single soul in the entire state ~ also not my favorite.

Jacob and Joey don't know about the move yet.
We are having some new friends over for dinner on Saturday who are fluent in Mandarin so we will begin to discuss it then.
I'm pretty sure the adoption books don't recommend uprooting your newly adopted children into a new home and new environment a few short months after coming home.
but on the flip side.....what a great lesson in cementing the fact that
they
go
where
we
go.

7 more weeks of home school.
6 more weeks of school for the little kids.
1 more baseball season to wrap up
and then before I know it
a group of men I have never met before will knock on my door at 7am and begin packing up our worldly possessions.
Ever had a stranger pack up your underwear drawer?
You should try it.
Good times.
Good times.

As for our adoption future
well,
I think it can best be described by this

Pre-Adoption I would have thought that we absolutely would be going back.
Post-Adoption I have to say that our family feels very, very complete to the both of us.
However and I do say a big
HOWEVER
our prayer is that He will lead us to what we can be doing to still care for the orphan.
Because though we feel at complete peace with where we are at in our family now doesn't mean our hearts aren't still crying out for those left behind and our hands are eager to serve in some way.
What that way looks like exactly is up to Him.
Ever just opened up your arms and your heart to God and said,
Your will be done.
Whatever you would have of me.
Here.
I.
Am.
Total & Complete Surrender. 


Scary.
Exciting.
Smack dab in the center of His will.
Just where I want to be
no matter where in the world the AF sends us.  

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and the vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

James 4:13-15