Waitin' & Wonderin'

We've had (and passed) several home inspections this week! We now begin the waiting game...we've filled out countless forms, answered the most personal of questions, invited the government in our business, gone through physicals and TB tests, and now we wait...and wonder!

All of our paperwork should be sent away next week!

Then we'll wait for our license to arrive!

Then we'll wait for the phone call asking us to take a foster child!

In the meantime we'll wonder! What will she be like? How old will she be? How will she fit into our life? How will our girls react to someone new living in our house, eating our food, and taking up our time?

We'll wonder, no matter her age, what she's gone through in her short life. We played the "what if game" last night, asking the question: What if we get a child that's Annabelle's age? She's two-and-a-half. Annabelle has so much personality. We know what will set her off; we know what will make her laugh; we know when she needs tough love; we know when she needs to be tenderly held; we know what she likes to eat and drink; we know the look she gets when she really has to "go!"; we know not to leave her in a room alone with Katie and that she's fine for hours in a room with Ella Grace; we know what toys she'll play with for 5 minutes and what toys she'll play with for hours. It's uncanny to think that we won't know these things about a child living under our roof, but that is the reality.

The truth of the matter is this (and, trust me, we're holding on with every ounce of who we are to what we know to be true right now): God will place each child in our home that needs to be here for the exact amount of time that He wants them to be here--for our good (and their good, and the good of our own children) and ultimately for His glory.

In spite of that truth, we of course, can't help but wonder what our family portrait will look like in the future??