Suddenly, they're everywhere

Greg typing:
Maren and I are getting close to making a decision on where we will be adopting. Trying to discern the Lord's will at times can be tricky...at least for me. I sometimes have trouble figuring out if what I am "seeing, hearing, and feeling" is from the Lord (something like, "He who has ears let him hear.") or if it is more like I have a thought, desire, whatever, and then see/hear/feel stuff to back up my own created idea. That is sort of where we are right now.

Several days ago, while praying in the car going to work, I was struck by the thought of adopting from India. I don't think I have any preconceived wishes/desires about adopting from India, so the thought was a bit unusual. When I came home and talked to Maren about it, she was definitely open to the idea. As we have begun to explore it more, the idea seems to be gaining ground. One of the ways I have begun to try and test this thought (is it from God or from me) is to try to seriously consider adopting from other places...especially the United States (probably more about this in a future post). Honestly, those other ideas do not seem to be right within my spirit. I don't mean that I am considering other places to be defiant to God, but rather to try and sense with the Spirit what I should know. It is not right to say that I am repelled by the other thoughts, but there is a curious (or not so curious) feeling of emptiness with those thoughts. The only way I can think to describe it is in a word picture. When I try to think about adopting from places other than India, I have this mental picture of standing all alone in a room with one window but the door open behind me. When I think of adopting from India, my mind is filled with architecture, people, sounds, sights, and images of connecting with believers in that far away land. I must confess that at this time I am reading a book called God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew so it is entirely possible I am being swayed by that (or is that why Brian Mease handed me the book when I asked him for some light, free-reading material????!!)

So, what is the point. The point is this...You know how after you get pregnant for the first time (Ok, yeah well not speaking from personal experience in the truest sense of the word) you look around and suddenly people are pregnant everywhere and everyone seems to be talking about being pregnant? That is a little like what is going on now. I am now seeing Indian people all over the place. The news suddenly seems filled with stories from India. I don't think I am allowing this to affect my thinking on the whole thing, but it has been an interesting observation. Even tonight as I was reading the Sunday paper, several pages in was a story with the byline of New Delhi which is where we would fly into most likely.

Once we make an official decision (and in my mind, making an official decision includes my signature to some sort of contract of sorts), we will post the details. That being said, we are eager to go where we are sent whether even more half-way around the world than China or 20 minutes away to our county Children's Services.