I was on a mission. A mission to adopt my new children. 

Mission- an important task or duty that is assigned, allotted or self-imposed: Our mission is to find the child a safe home.  www.dictionary.com

I married that mission. I had to. I couldn’t abandon it because of fear. I couldn’t give up on it because it was hard.  When I first met my mission, it looked so good, it made me giddy. I was in love. I was going to adopt. It sounded so wonderful. I daydreamed of children wearing matching outfits, singing on the mountain top and gazing adoringly at me. So, maybe I daydreamed a movie. Then came the engagement. You know what’s next, planning the wedding.  If I was going to commit to marrying adoption, I had to do the planning. This took time. Lots of time and energy. It came in the form of paperwork, classes, a trip to INS, home studies….Then came the big day. The day that everything was completed. I was committed.  I didn’t wear a white dress. It was probably a jeans and t-shirt day I received the call the finished paperwork had gone to Poland.  
You’d think the hard work was over. Nope. Then I had to get on that plane. At that moment, I thought it was the hardest thing I would ever do, battle claustrophobia for ten hours. It wasn’t and Jesus knew it wouldn’t be. My overcoming, through His grace and empowering, was a pebble in the foundation of my faith for the things to come.
Maybe you are in the middle of your mission.  If you are tempted to give up, don’t. If you think the paperwork is too much, or the waiting too long. Don’t divorce the idea of adoption if God has called you to it. He asks us to do hard things because you have a God-sized dream and He will give you the grace and Strength to follow through. Say yes!

Tune in tomorrow for “Four Things that Lead to Divorcing the Mission”. I’ll share some of the obstacles I encountered and my temptation to give up!

*Excerpt from my upcoming book- Positive Adoption