Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Rejoicing in hope is hard. Really hard. And as far as the patience part… The girl writing this is the one who reads the last pages when starting a book to know the ending and who reads the spoilers of all of her TV shows as to not be in suspense through the Whole series. So I guess that's where the last part comes in… Being constant in prayer. And like my favorite books and TV shows, I may not know how this story will end but Unlike my favorite books and TV shows, this is a story I cannot sneak a peek of the end and I need to trust in the Author.
On Wednesday I was given the opportunity to talk with Julia online, only to find out afterwards that it could only be a one time thing. She was so incredibly happy to "meet" me and is beyond ecstatic to be coming here. There may be a language barrier, that is mostly overcome by Google translate thankfully, but the 25 emoticons she sent me really cleared up any confusion as to how happy she is :-) Here is a screen shot of what she sent:
My heart was so filled up by this time speaking with her. She is so so excited to be coming here and is such a sweetheart. There is SO MUCH about our conversation I want to share. One of the main things that sticks out to me from our conversation is the hope that she has and how freely she expressed it. Maybe that was one of the reasons I felt so connected to her from the beginning- I love when others are able to show their hopefulness so transparently! Just like we have the choice each day to rejoice and be glad in it, she has made the choice to be hopeful no matter the circumstances. I admire that so much!
After we had talked for a while, she told me that she had to go because it was their curfew. Our conversation ended very sweetly and I told her that each day at 3PM here, which is their curfew there, I would look up at the sky and tell her good night. She REALLY liked that. I hope it made the world and distance between us seem a little less big to her, as it does to me. It is reassuring to me to be reminded that we are both under the same sky. As I said in one of the last blogs, I just want her to know that even if she is not here with us physically yet, she is certainly in our hearts and she is loved. And it makes my heart so happy to know that she knows someone is thinking of her as she is going to bed each night. I hope that makes her heart happy too.
As you can imagine, it was quite difficult for both of us finding out that we were not allowed to talk anymore per the program rules. This policy is in place to protect the children as best as possible from possible heartbreak in case anything falls through considering U is in a place of such unrest. Even if I don't fully understand this, it is my responsibility to follow it and trust in the wisdom of the organization we are going through.
So Friday got off to a little bit of a rough start. Then I realized that just because Julia is not here with us yet, that is not a reason to not rejoice in hope for the day. i realize that we could CHOOSE to make it a great day, regardless of all the negativity surrounding us. So I spent the day focusing on God and C- We blasted the Christian music on Pandora and had a little dance party. We could feel God's presence throughout the day, while we were making countless scarves. That's presence was only confirmed as several people came to pick up and pay for their scarves, only to see more that they loved and make additional orders and bigger donations. When 3 o'clock came, I kept my promise and looked up at the sky and said good night and sent her our love. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day!
The biggest lesson I learned was that even though we would all rather have her here NOW, that doesn't mean we should not live each day to the fullest and rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and be in constant prayer in the meantime. <3
(Here is a photo of Julia taken this week by another family we are connected with who were at her orphanage adopting their son!)