Nothing Philosophical - Part 2

Okay, I simply cannot leave that last blog in the title spot for very long so I thought I would jump in real quick with the next installment of the how-we-got-here story.  I'm not going to delete or remove the previous post because it too is part of this journey, but I am also not going to dwell on it anymore than I have so let's get back to the fun stuff...

When we first started planning my new journey to China, the task was a bit daunting.  The trip was expensive and we had very little cash to throw toward it.  Also, this adventure was going to take me away from home for at least 10 days.  That may not seem like a big deal to you, but with four children, ages 7 and under, and a full-time working spouse, 10 days is a long time for Mom to be away.  But we put out our feelers, sent out support letters, agreed to use a bit of the money we had left from selling our house and pushed forward.  Long story short, on August 12th I was heading to China - trip paid for and family and friends set to babysit.  Ready, set, jump!

I have said this many times since I first registered to go on the "first ever Show Hope Sponsor Trip", and I know there are those who still don't believe me, but when I signed up for this trip I had absolutely no intention of coming back with adoption plans.  Really.  It's true!  From the very beginning people made fun of me - Dan told people I was carving a child-sized hole in foam for my suitcase, church friends asked how many children I was going to sneak back with me, the jabs came from many different directions.  But I truly, honestly had no adoption intentions.  This trip was 100% about finally getting to do something for Show Hope, and finally feeling like I could offer something back.  And then God spoke to me by way of the Show Hope China Missions Handbook.

You see, the night before our group was to meet at the Chicago airport and head overseas I flew to Chicago and met up with three of my soon-to-be new mission trip family members - mainly to avoid possible delays and missed flights on trip day.  After arriving in Chicago, meeting up with my roommate for the evening, having a yummy spaghetti dinner and meeting the other two members of our group, I went back to our hotel room and started reading through my handbook.  Yep, I admit, I was already in Chicago by the time I gave the handbook a really good look-see, but remember I am the mother of four children, ages 7 and under, so cut me a little slack, okay?  Not a whole lot of peace and quiet going on around here and I had perused enough to make sure I knew what I was doing.  Anyway, it was here that God first started talking to me about adopting again, and for the record the words He whispered to me were not "go for it!"

Instead, the paperwork I was reading very clearly said, "You do not qualify."  And there it was. You see, it works like this..  When we moved to Maryland, we sold our house in Tennessee and became renters on base at Fort Meade.  Then, we took a huge portion of our house proceeds and used it to pay off my car and pay down one remaining debt in our journey to debt-free land.  Why does this matter, you ask?  Because by being renters and by not banking our house profits, we drastically altered our overall net worth - one big piece of the puzzle for adoption eligibility.  I looked at that net worth requirement number and knew right then and there that this trip was not about adopting again.  And I must admit I probably looked a heck of a lot like the Cheshire Cat as a very smug "I told you so" look came across my face.  No one wanted to believe me, but this trip was not about finding a child to adopt and now I could prove it.  (Or so I thought.)

The next morning I woke up with a renewed spirit.  This may have just been residual effects of sleeping without small children around for the first time in four years, but I'd like to think of it in more spiritual terms.  In many ways my heart was at peace.  I saw this trip as a huge learning experience, and with the whole adoption thing off the table I was free to explore and learn and soak up whatever I could.  So off I went, headed for China, ready for an adventure but never expecting what I got - and I'm not just talking about Jack.