"You're doing it AGAIN?!"

We've had reactions ranging from enthusiastic to incredulous at our news that we're adopting again... "You've only been home seven months!! You're going back again?!" 

Honestly, I do get it.

What we do is hard. It's exhausting to the bone.

We toil for months to raise the funds. Then when we're home, we spend as many months with sleepless nights with a child who's terrified of the night. I can't blame them. Nighttime in an orphanage is terror. 

No mama or daddy to come when you cry.

Big kids or adults who don't care about your heart and your spirit and take advantage of little ones.

Bedtimes with empty bellies.

We have a child at home who rages. We have a child at home who fears the night. We have a child at home who is still terrified his need for food won't be met, even after almost three years.

It's hard, y'all.

But I think about my Heavenly Father, his relentless pursuit of me.

Y'all, I have done some horrible things. No, I've never done drugs. I've never been arrested. I've never physically hurt anyone. But, I am terrible. I am selfish. I'm impatient. I've done many things that I won't dare to recount here.

Yet, he pursued me. He pulled out of the muck and mire. And even still, when I fail He reminds me...

I AM REDEEMED.

The reminder that hangs in my kitchen

I have seen how a shell of an orphan, described as lifeless, can become a joyful, giggly daughter in just seven months.

I have seen how a sick, scared orphan from Uganda who barely had a chance at a future became a thriving, joyful, loving son.

I have seen how a little boy, adopted at birth, who struggles with anger and hurt can say "Mama, I want Jesus to come live in my heart forever."

I will do it again because He did it for me.

He chased me. He poured out his life for me.

I will do it again because I have seen redemption. I have seen the transformation from orphan to beloved sons and daughters.

In the words of my favorite musician and poet, Michael Franti, from the song My Lord:

We all get the time we're given
Mine ain't over so I'll keep on livin' 

We all get the life we're livin' 

Mine ain't over so I'll keep on givin' 

Till the day I die

Until the day I die, friends. Until the day I die.