Tambourine Dancing

This is such a fun story.
We received our referral 4 months ago. We've been waiting for a BP court appointment since our BP (birth parent) had his embassy interview on Dec. 30th.  Once we have our BP court appointment, then we finally get to come to Ethiopia and hold our son.

Yesterday I cried, and then I cried some more. I am aching to hold our son and for him to be home with us. I cried until I finally had to take a nap to recover. It was good. I needed to just let it all out. This morning I was so frustrated. I finally broke down and wrote an email to our case worker. That was about as "pushy" as I've been since we started this process. Just expressing my concerns and asking them to start asking questions in Ethiopia and pushing our case forward.

Now, let me back up for one second....
A couple of weekends ago I attended Created For Care, an adoptive mama retreat. The speaker, Beth Guckenberger, shared how she has started carrying a tambourine in her suitcase when she travels. She wants to have her tambourine ready to praise God. Even in the hard, she was encouraging us to get ready to praise. Hopefully expectant.

Back to this morning...
I wrote this to my adoptive mom soul sisters after ranting about my frustrations and worries, "It's so funny, cuz I know that even if I got the date today, I'm just going to want more. I've got to go and readjust my heart and get out my tambourine and start dancing around in praise asking the Lord to surprise me with His goodness today!"

So, in our little office landing, I stood up and danced and said, "I am praising you God for what you are going to do. I know you have a date for us, you are good, and I trust you." Then I looked around to see if anyone had seen me (awkward) and sat down. Within ONE MINUTE my phone rang. It was our caseworker with our BP court date. Did you hear me? WE HAVE A BP COURT DATE!!!! I was hopefully expectant when my heart was aching, and God surprised me with His goodness by answering me right then and there. That's not always how it works, but it was this morning, and I am still dancing!

After this BP court date, the next step will be for US to travel and see our son! I can't wait! I'll be packing our tambourine and getting ready for the dance party when Matthew comes home!