Pressing Forward

Tomorrow I am teaching a part of the Young Women's Christmas lesson. I've taken a lot of time to think about this, and I keep coming to "Pressing Forward." This isn't quite the typical Christmas message, but I do think it applies quite well.

There was a time when people were anxiously awaiting the birth of their Savior. Now, we anxiously await the Second Coming -- and we need to be prepared. We have amazing young women who are faithful and strong. So, what more can I tell them but to press forward in faith? My hope is to encourage them to continue on the path they are taking, to be faithful -- even when there are those around them saying that these girls are crazy or stupid for believing what they do.

As I was lying in bed the other night, I was going over some of my thoughts for the lesson...and that led to other thoughts. I started thinking about my life with Marcus and our girls. I started to think about how we are living with my in-laws, have no income (though the next day that was solved -- more to come), and we are adopting? Are we crazy?! Then I thought, "People probably think we are the stupidest people they have ever met." Because really, it seems like the craziest time to even consider adoption...and not just because we are living with our in-laws and have no job. (I already told you we were crazy.) We already have Sammy who takes a lot of time, and Callie is still young on top of that. So, why would we adopt!?

Because it's what we know we need to do.
Not for us, necessarily, but we need to do it because we have felt prompted to do so.

For some reason, at this time, Heavenly Father wants us to prepare ourselves for another child. I've had several little experiences that remind me that Marcus and I must press forward with this adoption. We need to finish all the paperwork. We need to be prepared. I'm not sure when we'll actually hold our next baby in our arms. But I do know that if He were to come tomorrow and look me in the eyes, and we had shied away from this adoption because of how "crazy" it seems right now, I would be ashamed. I would be ashamed because I KNOW it's what He has planned for us to be doing right now. Perhaps the plan isn't to have a baby today, maybe it's still a year from now, but either way, we press forward because it's what we've been told we, personally, must do right now. To me, pressing forward implies action -- force -- work -- acting on what we know, not passively watching or waiting. So, we try to do that. And I'm better in some areas than I am in others. But that's ok. We keep pressing forward.

I'm really not trying to toot my own horn here, because I recognize that there are so many areas where I lack. But I have found so much peace in doing what I feel like we've been told to do. I imagine it's how Callie feels when she takes her shoes off and puts them in the box in the hallway and we jump up and down. She gets really happy knowing she's done what is expected of her. I guess, I'm feeling that way right now. Happy. And, one day in the relatively near future, we'll have our reward snuggled up in our arms. That's pretty amazing.

A note on the Adoption Process:

Here in California background checks get done very quickly because it's all online. We only have a couple more things to do and then we're ready. We started the process in October, and we're already close to approval. With that said, our caseworker told us that if a baby were to appear for us tomorrow, they would do what they needed to to make it work because we're that close to being there.

I remember last year when we got the phone call about Callie. There was no emotional prep time. We didn't know about her until she was already born and ready to come home with us. It was so fast. But it was such a blessing. She is such a blessing. Will that happen again? Who knows. But we'll be prepared.