So.......
These last few weeks have been a ride. One that we never anticipated, and really could not have prepared for. But the Lord was preparing us.
It began at the end of April. My very healthy pregnancy thus far was halted with a trip to the hospital. They discovered I had placenta previa. I had an ultrasound 2 weeks before and everything had been normal, so it was definitely a shock. My hubby and I took it hard, because we were supposed to travel together, as a family for this trip. We also knew our home study approved us to travel as a married couple, and not as individuals, and so we were not sure how to proceed.
We prayed and really felt like we needed to just continue taking a day at a time. We still had several weeks before we thought we may travel, so we figured we would see how far my placenta could move as we waited:) Finally, 3 week later, we went in for another ultrasound and it was on the move. Praise God! I was feeling better, and it seemed we would be able to travel together as planned, no problem.
However, just a week later we would find out that our dossier was rejected based on the misplacement of one number. We were devastated. We grieved. We knew having to redo our dossier meant I could not travel. I am due in August, and traveling in July to start the process would put us too close. So here we are again, redoing the one document, plus our approval so that my hubby can travel alone.
When will he travel?Will it be close to the baby? How will it all play out? Will we get the kids home beforehand, or have to start and finish afterwards? There are so many questions rolling around in our heads. We don't have answers. But we do have peace. And we are walking in that peace with God's help.
No doubt He knew what would happen, when we committed to our 3 children, and we found out we were pregnant:) No doubt he knew the previa would come, and the paperwork mistake would happen. He is writing this story. He gave me a verse a few weeks back that I have been thinking about. A verse regarding NEW things.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
A Road in the wilderness! A road through the haze, and mess, and things we cannot see. We have no idea yet how this journey will end. We know that there may be more trials ahead even. But God has been going before us. And we are following Him one step at a time!
With love,
Monica:)
Praying for you all, Monica. Thank you so much for keeping us updated. The perfect refining of our characters as God writes our stories His way can be so hard. It's an honor to be a part of your lives and to have you by our sides as we also try to learn these things about our Father and let Him create beautiful things through us. Lewis says it much better: :)
ReplyDelete"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. The command 'Be ye perfect' is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said." ~ C. S. Lewis - "Mere Christianity"
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4