Last Spring I got a message from our local Bethany office asking if they could connect me with the Bethany missionaries in Albania who happen to be from my town. "They have some questions about the Bamboo Project. Would like to discuss starting something similar in Albania". Yeah, sure! I'm always happy to talk about the Bamboo Project and hosting missionaries is always cool. We exchanged polite emails and our schedules aligned for late July when they would be in town.
It was a delightful afternoon. For several hours we chatted about missions, adoption, Down syndrome, governmental bureaucracy, the entire adoption process in Albania vs. China, focused advocacy efforts, etc. They met & played with Isaac. Perused the gallery of photos I have on the wall. We chatted about our home churches. (If you haven't already figured out the timeline, this lunch was MONTHS before I knew I would be adopting again. It wasn't even on my radar!) As they left, I remember thinking, "boy, I hope I get to meet them again some day. What awesome people" as I put their prayer card on my fridge.
Fast forward three months--God says adopt the girl in the purple shirt in Albania. ALBANIA?! Bob & Cathy's Albania?! What are the chances that I 'just happened' to have had the missionaries who have known my daughter for nearly the length of her life in my home for lunch?? But God.
What I clearly didn't realize then, was the Lord was putting into place a very important relationship.
At the beginning of March, I received a call from the adoption agency: There is a bit of a hiccup on the Albanian side, but our team there is working on it. Ok.
One week later: This is more than a hiccup. We need be thinking strategically and prepare for a different process than is normal. The team in Albania has some suggestions. Okkkkkk.
Three days later: Desiree, Bob & Cathy need you to pray. Yes sir!
What I would find out later (today, actually after a delightful phone call across 9 hours time difference), is that God needed Bob & Cathy to have had a relationship with me and my child, my home, my heart and my character to advocate for our Sweet Girl's new future. A mountain needed to be moved and the Lord had set things in motion months and months before any of us could have foreseen the impossibility that stood in front of us last month. After today's conversation, I would hear that for nearly 6 weeks Bob & Cathy were fighting spiritually and advocating for my little family before I even knew what was happening. "I even told them you make great sandwiches!" "Bob!" I hesitated to say, "I got those from Costco!" "Well", said Cathy, "all good moms have a Costco card, that's even better". (These people get me)
We will meet again this summer, this time in Albania--Bob & Cathy have known my girly since she was just a year old so familiar faces will flank mine as she sees her forever Momma for the first time. And because they come home to the PNW on an annual basis, my Sweet Girl will see her Auntie Cathy & Uncle Bob on a regular basis. I can't imagine what comfort that will bring to her little heart...and to mine.
God has a funny way to putting all the pieces together, even over a lunch of Costco sandwiches.
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