Adoption

      The summer I was eleven, I attended a Christian camp in California's high desert.  It was my first of several summers attending this camp, and it was the best.  That year, in God's divine plan, He place a girl in my cabin who really needed a friend.  I'll refer to her as Lisa* here.  Lisa was bright and beautiful, but she had been through more pain than I ever knew about.  She was in foster care, and had gone to camp with her foster family's church group.  Some of the other girls in our cabin were also from their church, and treated her badly.  

     I felt in my heart that God was calling me to befriend Lisa.  I couldn't solve all the hurt in her life, but I could be a friend and help her have a good week at camp.  It was the first time in my life I ever felt called to do something.  That week, as I got to know Lisa, I saw God work.  She gave her life to Christ in chapel one day.  And as Lisa shared her heart and life with me as her new friend, I lost a little innocence.  I saw that people could be cruel and hurt defenseless children.  I cried and cried about what Lisa had been through.  And yet she was now in a safe, Christian home, being taken to a Bible-believing church and sent to a godly camp.  God loved her and was using people to show her that love.  And I was honored to be just a small part of that story.  I saw Lisa at camp following years as well, and we kept in touch for a while.  I have long since lost contact, and have tried to find her info, but have thus far been unsuccessful.  Looking back on that first week of camp so long ago, something was planted in my heart back then.  

     Ever since I went to camp at age 11, I have had the idea of adopting children somewhere in my heart.  God continued to lay that on my heart over the years.  Now, thirty years after my summer with Lisa, I have seen that come to fruition.  My husband Walter and I are adopting a baby boy.  We had wanted to do this for a while, but first needed to get in a position of being able to do so.  Then, once we were, there was a lot of work and waiting.  After a very long time of considering which route to go through (private adoption, state, etc.), changing our route early on (we had planned to go private, but ended up being led by the Lord to go through the Cherokee Nation), training, interviews, paperwork, and background checks, we became certified in April of 2022.  But then, it was more waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  But patience paid off!  

     Just a few weeks ago, we found out we were getting a precious toddler.  We are going to legally name him Walter Thomas Stoermer and call him Tommy (my husband's middle name is Harrison, so Tommy won't be a junior).  For the moment, it is a foster-to-adopt situation, and he is technically our foster son right now, but the adoption is forthcoming.  Please be praying for all the details to fall into place.  Sadly, I'm not allowed to post his picture online right now, but once the adoption is final, be ready for tons of Tommy pictures!

Janelle and Walter, January 2022, in the midst of becoming certified

     So what have I learned from this process?  First of all, I can see how God planted this desire deep in my heart thirty years ago, and He fulfilled that desire.  God really does fulfill the desires that He put there in the first place (Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4).  Second, I think of how, once we found out about Tommy becoming part of our family, we excitedly got things ready for his arrival, and visited him in the county he is from (which is over two hours from us).   The time and distance were worth it, because we love this little boy with all our hearts already!  That shows what God was willing to do for me to be part of His family.  Jesus traveled a much greater distance to be close to us, and to redeem us.  He is preparing a place for us now, just as we got Tommy's room ready, and bought all the toys and groceries for him.  We imagined him playing with this or that, or doing this activity or that.  I can't even imagine how much God can't wait for us to be with Him as He prepares our place, and how it will be so much better for us to be with Him (I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:2-3; Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.  Psalm 116:15;  For me to live is Christ and to die is gain Philippians 1:21).  

     Not terribly profound lessons, I suppose, but it's what I've got for you today.  I did learn one more thing...I'm not very patient!  Waiting for this has been a trial.  Just a few days before we got the news of Tommy, I was really at a low point in my waiting.  The enemy was really throwing those fiery darts (Ephesians 6:16).  Has that ever happened to you?  Something was very heavy on your heart, perhaps something others had an easier time getting than you did, and it just broke your heart that it hadn't come true for you yet.  Walter and I are first-time parents at 41.  That was a hard wait.  A few people are grandparents at our age.  But we feel very blessed.  I know I appreciate Tommy more than I would have been capable of twenty years ago.  The waiting and hoping and weeping and hungering and thirsting made the fulfillment sweeter.  Proverbs 3:19 says The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul... That is definitely true for us.  If you're like I was recently, waiting for your breakthrough, know God hasn't forgotten you.  He sees you, and is working on your behalf.  His plans are the best.  We see the moment.  He sees the whole picture.  

    What life lessons has God been teaching you lately?