Psalm 126:5-6

And now, God, do it again—
bring rains to our drought-stricken lives
So those who planted their crops in despair
will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

Seven months ago, our family embarked on a journey to bring a little girl home from Serbia.  We knew little about her, we had not been seeking to adopt, and although we are financially blessed, we did not have fifteen to twenty thousand dollars sitting in an adoption fund.  What we did know, is that God intended for her to be a part of our family.  So, with a leap of faith, we committed to bringing her home.

To save you the trouble of going back and reading about the beginning of our journey,  I’ll paint a picture of what our life looked like at the time.  My husband was in Iraq from January until June of last year.  While he was deployed, I dealt with a health scare.  As we prepared for our children to return to school in the fall and we were trying to adjust to having two parents in the house again, we discovered that we would have to move.  Oh, and I had just gotten my real estate license and I was finishing up degrees in business and psychology.   We had also just begun hosting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at our home and we had made a commitment to live a debt-free life.  So, in the middle of trying to find a house that would allow our children to remain in all three of the local schools, starting a new career, finishing an education,  and attempting to eliminate all of our debt, Ana Sofija Calvaresi came into our lives.  We were unexpectedly paper pregnant.

This  has not been an easy pregnancy, but it has been one full of spiritual growth and character building and purpose.  When a child is growing in your womb, you anticipate the end of the pregnancy, not only because you want to meet your child, but because you are sick and tired of being pregnant.  When a child is growing in your heart, it is different.  The last trimester is the waiting period.  You do not feel your baby moving inside of you.  Your feet do not swell.  You do not pee your pants when you sneeze or cough or laugh out loud.  And unless you are up at night obsessing over paint colors and names and travel dates, you sleep pretty well.

Galatians 6:7-8

You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life.

It does not matter where God allows your children to grow.  There is one thing about parenting that is an absolute truth.  If you are seeking and following God’s will, you will harvest blessings.  My three oldest children are not perfect and neither is their mom or dad.  My children are blessings.  They watch their parent’s always attempt to put God first and in return, we get to watch them always have faith that God is on their side.

Throughout this long journey, God has constantly reminded us that He is our provider and that as long as we have faith, all of our needs will be met.  Sometimes those needs have been met at the very last minute (literally), but every single dime, piece of paper, signature, or appointment that we have needed, has been there.

After all that has been sown in these past seven months, tomorrow…is the harvest.

At 12 noon Serbia time, on April 27th, 2010, we will become the proud parents of a five year old little girl, whose name (at least for now) will be Sofija Calvaresi.

If all goes as planned and our visa mess gets worked out between the Washington DC USCIS office and the US embassy in Belgrade, we will arrive at Dulles airport, on Friday evening, laughing (we hope), and with armloads of blessings.