Not Disappointed

It was only five months ago that I was in Uganda teaching Sunday School to a few hundred orphans (you can read more about that in my September posts).  I can't believe it has been five months - it feels like yesterday.  I had so many emotions that day.  Inadequacy. Brokenness over what those sweet kids have to face daily.  Angst over my inability to meet all their needs.  Amazement at the smiles on their faces and the joy in their heart.  And most of all...LOVE.  I felt so filled by the love God has for each of those children.  They weren't my children, but they were HIS and the small glimpse He gave me into His heart for them is hard to explain.  I was compelled to share with them how valuable each of them was to God - that they were created by Him for a purpose.  I read the following scripture to them from Jeremiah 29:11-14:

I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me you'll find Me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. 

And as much as those words were meant for every one of those orphans I was face to face with that day, they were also meant for me and for you and for this little boy in Hadero, Ethiopia...

This little boy is officially MY SON.  I am in tears as I type those words.  MY SON!!  This day is finally here! It is with immense joy that I introduce to you Isaiah Tariku.  He is four years old and came into care at the orphanage in Ethiopia right around the time I was in Uganda.  While we were on the path to adopt an infant over the past two years, God had other plans.  He used our experiences with some of the orphans we met in Uganda to change our hearts and prompt us to extend our age range from an infant to a boy up to 5 years of age.  Three days after we made the age change official with our agency we were given Tariku's referral.  :) His case passed successfully through Ethiopian court last week and he is officially ours.  I still can't believe it. We are hoping to travel to Ethiopia in April to get him and it cannot come soon enough! 

His Ethiopian name is Tariku which means "His story"...what a story he has already and what a story God is going to continue to weave with his life!  It didn't take long for us to land on Isaiah as his first name.  God has spoken deeply to us this past year through studying, memorizing and fasting over Isaiah 58, so Isaiah was an obvious choice.  His first and middle name literally mean "God's Salvation, his story".  Is that beautiful or what??  How we look forward to seeing Tariku's life be a reflection of the meaning of his name! 

I love Jeremiah 29:11.  I love the promise in it for my son.  God has had plans for Tariku from the very beginning...plans to take care of him and not abandon him...plans to give him a hope and a future.  Only God could have orchestrated placing Tariku in our family.  Only God could have tuned us in to His heart for orphans.  Only God could have provided the insane amount of money it costs to adopt.  Only God could have put us in Africa in September to motivate us to change our age range.  Only God could have helped his case pass through a court system on the first try when it's practically unheard of.  Only God.

The end of that passage about sums it up for me:  "Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."

This past year I have gotten serious about finding Jesus...especially among the least of these.  Daily I am learning to want Him more than anything else.  Each day has it's own challenges and my weaknesses rear their ugly heads but despite that, God says that when I seek Him I'll find Him. 

Oh...and the part about Him making sure we're not disappointed when we seek Him?  SO TRUE.  Just take a look at Tariku's precious face.  God has NOT disappointed.  He has amazed me.