Date Night

True story:

One night, Trav and I went on a date. It was the first time we had done so in perhaps a year. I had been thinking for weeks about adopting another child, but I wasn't sure whether it was a passing thought, or if my heart was actually opened to adopting again. After awhile, it became clear that it wasn't a passing thought, but a seed planted. So, I decided I would bring it up in the restaurant. We were seated, ordered some drinks and queso, and as we were looking over the menu, we ran into some friends who we hadn't seen in several months. They shared that they were on their way to China to pick up their daughter, their second adopted child, in two weeks. So, coincidence of coincidences, we were very happy for them. As they left to be seated, I leaned over to Trav and said to him, "I've been thinking a lot lately about adopting another child. How about you"? He was thrilled.

The strange part was, we couldn't afford it. God was going to have to provide what we could not. Knowing this, we still felt a sense of calm and peace about the whole thing.

Trav mentioned to me that he had received a call that afternoon from our adoption agency, who we hadn't spoken to in over a year. They wanted to know if they could use part of my blog and a picture of our daughter, who was adopted from Russia, in their upcoming quarterly newsletter. Coincidence #2.

We returned home and continued our discussion over dessert and then made our decision final. We were going to sign the paperwork and send in our check to start the process. Before going to bed, I wanted to e-mail our adoption agency a picture of our daughter. As I brought up my e-mail, there was a message from our friends in Kentucky, who we had met while in Russia. They were announcing their decision to return to Russia to adopt their second child. I said, "Trav, you've got to come see this"! Coincidence #3.

All this in one day. Just a bunch of coincidences, right?

Here comes the really scary part:

About a week goes by, and the washing machine is gushing out water onto the floor. The service repair man says it's going to cost several hundred dollars to fix, but it was cheaper than buying a new machine. I thought, "we are crazy to think we can adopt right now". Mission aborted. A few days later, we received 2 checks in the mail. The total covered the exact cost of the washing machine repair, the application fee, and the home study fee, plus a few extra dollars. Houston, we have lift off.

It's funny how we can let ourselves get in the way of God's plan. He has a funny way of running right over us.