It's On!

The Meadors family proudly presents our new son, Xiu Ming!  He will soon become known as Samuel (middle name to be determined) Meadors.  We are so excited that putting it into words is impossible.  After committing to adopt him back in May, we began filling out and collecting paperwork.  About 1 ½ weeks ago, that paperwork was sent to China.  Today, we received our pre-approval from the Chinese adoption authorities.

Samuel is currently 4 years old and living in an orphanage in China. He does have special needs, but we’ll get into that later with very specific prayer requests.  Right now, we are just overjoyed that he is ours!

Letter of Intent

In the international adoption community, there are abbreviations for everything.  You can say LOI and they all jump up and down.  That stands for Letter of Intent.  It tells the Chinese adoption officials that we want to adopt a little one and ask, "Can we?"  We have all of our paperwork done to send our LOI to China.  We thought it went last week, only to get a Friday call from our agency saying the doctor failed to fill in a couple of blanks on our medicals.  Argh!  I've got a call in to the doctor's office, as does our social worker, so I am praying that this will be fixed today and that LOI will be on it's way to China. 

Just for fun and to give a little perspective, the notebook at the top of the picture is paperwork from Cassidy's adoption.  The one at the bottom is our current adoption notebook.  We have a "few" papers to go, but it's coming together!

Interestingly enough, God provided a Sunday sermon yesterday on developing patience.  Sigh.  I'm kind of wishing in just this one area, God will give up trying to teach me and just give me things on my time table.  Alas, I know He loves me too much to leave me with glaring faults.

Here's a few scriptures from the sermon that I need to memorize.

"You have heard of Job's perseverance, and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."  James 5:11

"I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for He has promised."  Psalm 130:5

"But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me."  Micah 7:7

"The Lord says...No one who waits for My help will be disappointed."  Isaiah 49:23

And lastly, for my friend Connie, who is feeling a pressure that people think she's krazy for adopting again..."Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Matthew 5:11-12

So we wait expectantly for paperwork to be sent.  Then we will wait expectantly for the pre-approval to come back from China.  I cannot bring myself to say we will wait patiently.  God does know that I'm trying. 

~Martha

If This Were Easy... We Wouldn't Need Sedatives

I will never write an autobiography.  Ever.  Even if I were to become a world famous author rolling in dough with multiple movies made from my books, it 'aint gonna happen.

Why?  Well, besides the fact that I'm not that intriguing, it's just too difficult.

For those who know me, they know the significance of those last four words.  I've never been one to back down, but I admit it, that challenge can whip me any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

As an aspiring novelist, I thoroughly enjoy getting to know my characters.  Learning what makes them tick, their aspirations, their hidden scars and how they need redemption is probably my favorite thing about writing.  Peeking in on myself, however, not so much.  It's more akin to rolling across a bed of nails.  Thus it’s been for me as I attempt to answer the seemingly endless list of questions required to complete my “autobiography” for our home study.  And if that’s not bad enough, as of this writing I’m still not done.

Looking back on life at the same time as I deal with other non-adoption related issues has spawned the perfect storm, opening up a lot of old scabs, some of which I didn’t even know were there.  Painful memories and feelings have surfaced like giant air bubbles.  No, I’m not sitting around bawling, or lying in the fetal position sucking my thumb, but I’m dealing with some serious stuff I didn’t anticipate.  Yet, I know it’s a necessary evil, as all of the governments and agencies involved in our adoption need to be assured they’re not placing some poor child with a freak.  So with that in mind I bite down on the proverbial leather strap and drudge forward.

With the pain, however, some good has surfaced as well.  I can look back and plainly see the Lord’s hand in my life at every turn.  Since I accepted him as an eight year old boy in Phoenix Avenue Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma He has never failed me – even when I failed Him.  He’s been present in every success and failure.  He gave me three heroes – my wife, my mother and my grandmother whom I adore and have learned so much from.  He’s even seen fit to use me for His glory in ways I never dreamed of, including adoption.  He’s given Martha and I a love for the ages, and blessed us with two beautiful daughters.

So I guess the point is this: the prize is worth the pain of the race.  The adoption process isn’t a sprint, but a long, arduous marathon.  Maybe even a biathalon.  We swim through a sea of paper and run intrusive gauntlet and hurdle miles of red tape.  But we run with a prize in mind - the peace in knowing we’re answering the Lord’s call and the incredible, anticipated joy of wrapping our son up in our arms.  It’s a process I wouldn’t wish on my enemies with a prize that I wish everyone could experience – especially all of those precious children who need a home.  So it’s back to the pain, with a grateful heart to the Lord for His unfailing love, knowing that the best is yet to come.

Hey Lord, can you hold the prize a little higher?


~ Matthew