We’re bouncing the world around {giveaway winner}

53 waiting mamas commented about the wait on this post.

While some of these mamas are waiting to bring home their first child, others are waiting to bring home another to join a brood (like this mama waiting for her 11th). Adoptions of children from China, Korea, the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Honduras, and our home country–these mamas are bouncing the world around. Regardless of how many children are already home and from what country their new children are coming to them from, all the mamas are in the same season of waiting. After all the ink is dried on the paperwork and your tongue heals from licking envelopes, you reach a point when there is nothing left to do but wait. I remember wishing that I would just have something to do while we waited so that I could feel like I was helping things along somehow, so I could feel like there was progress. But, all I could do was do what God had called me to that day and wait.

I read every single one of those 53 comments as they came in and then read them again just now.

Some made me smile.

I am pregnant with a Chinese 8 year old! My back is killing me!
–Mary

Honestly, what gave me encouragement recently…when I went to the grocery store the other day & I saw some chicken marinated asian style. I was trying the swallow the lump in my throat as I ordered a few.

The Lord will be with you every step of the way. When I am through throwing my little tantrum, He is there with a spiritual Kleenex.
–Pamela

Some made me sigh.

The waiting has been hard and each month encounters new feelings. Lately though, God has really been teaching me about grace. To be graceful as we wait for our little one(s) to come home and to grace to others who have approached us with some tough questions and criticism on why we’re adopting.
–Meredith

This is my first adoption. . . . my wait is going to be over 6 years.
–Fiona

I.Am.Not.In.Control. The first step is admittance, right?
–Amanda

Some made me bang my fist on the table with an “Amen.”

One thing we have learned through this waiting process is that we are capable of whatever God has given us. At the beginning of the process, it was so stressful and time consuming to get the paperwork done while still living life. Yet at every step, God has carried us through and made it totally evident that He will provide exactly what we need, when we need it.
-Jen

We are not waiting on Him or for Him but IN HIM!!
–Gretchen

I have spent 7 years waiting, on and off, to build our family. I’ve learned that I am small, but God is GREAT! And as we present our requests to Him, he fills our hearts and minds with a peace that passes understanding. Good thing.
-Abby

And, one won.

We are enduring the wait to bring our son home from China. I have learned to trust the Lord in a deeper, more sacrificial way as we wander through those 40 years in the wilderness! He is SO faithful!
–Carla

Carla – email me with your mailing address so I can get that new Crocodile Creek ball to you so you can go ahead and start bouncing it. That’s gotta be therapeutic, right?

Go back here and read the comments yourself, click on the the names of the ladies who commented, visit each others’ blogs and encourage each other as you all press on in the season of waiting.