Last Thursday afternoon we welcomed little Amanda into our little family.  She is a temporary placement until the courts figure out the next steps but in our eyes she has a place in our family forever.

How did this happen...

A couple of days before receiving an email about Amanda I sent an email to Micah Grace's social worker asking for updates on her mother and what to expect at our next hearing.  To my surprise I read her reply stating that her mother wants to see Micah Grace.  This is were foster care gets difficult.  Nothing is ever certain.  One minute a mom can say she wants her baby adopted and the next visitations.

When I read and re-read the email, tears pouring down my face my heart ached with uncertainty imaging life without Micah Grace.  I told Westin the update and then we prayed.  We have nothing else but certainty in Christ.  He called us into this journey and he promised He would supply all of our needs.

We finished praying and I went into the baby room weeping trying to hear something, anything from the Lord.  I picked up my devotional and read the following:

I, the Creator of the universe, am with you and for with you.  What more could you need?  When you feel some lack, it is because you are not connecting with Me at a deep level.  I offer abundant Life; your part is to trust Me, refusing to worry about anything. 

It is not so much adverse events that make you anxious as it is your thoughts about those events.  Your mind engages in efforts to take control of a situation, to bring about the result you desire.  Your thoughts close in on the problem like ravenous wolves.  Determined to make things go your way, you forget I am in charge of your life.  The only remedy is to switch your focus from the problem to My Presence.  Stop all your striving, and watch to see what I will do.  I am the Lord!

Below are the two verses the book gives as part of the devotion.

"What the shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8: 31-32

"But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."
Micah 7:7 (yes, not by chance the verse was from the book of Micah)

It was very clear what God was calling me to do...what He's called me to thru this whole process; trust in Him.  In the days that followed God continued to speak the same words to me.  "Don't worry Dorina, I am for you, not against you.  I know what I am doing.  Trust in me and when you feel like analyzing the details, look to me even more."

So this brings me back to Amanda.  I truly believe she is directly from the Lord.  There is no time to think about the details regarding Micah Grace.  There are too many things to take care of with a 4 month old and brand new 6 days old baby.  Jesus keeps giving us strength during this uncertain time.  We don't know what will happen but I have to trust that if Micah Grace is returned to her mother, it's what God desires AND that He will get us through it.

For now we are going to love these two little girls.  They are a gift from the Lord.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to trust and follow Jesus.