5 Million Minus 1

Grumbling

I am being convicted....deeply.  I debated on whether this was the correct forum to share my personal convictions, especially during my Adoption Awareness focus. Then I realized that this is truly the perfect topic to tie in life and adoption.  At church, the sermon, which I missed but was filled in on, was about grumbing....complaining about life, jobs, circumstance, this or that or him or her.... The discussion also focused on how grumbling directly stems from a lack of faith.  (If you would like to see the message, check out www.crossinglouisville.com).  There were many more points but this is what hit home the most for me.  I catch myself grumbling more than I care to admit, but the most common place for me to grumble is at work...and there are people there to entertain such complaints....and there is always something to complain about.  If I am completely honest with myself, I realize this lack of faith that perpetuates my grumbling is two fold....It is a lack of faith in myself, my abilities, my knowledge, my self image....and in the same breath, the lack of faith in all the aforementioned things are just symptoms of the lack of faith I have in Christ to work out the details in my life and transform my attitude, my perspective about myself and my job and interactions with others....I am challenging myself, trying to move forward and start anew with better inward and outward perceptions...thus hoping to decrease my grumbling....


How does this relate to adoption?  Before, during and even after adoption, grumbling can easily creep into our minds and mouths...
Before....we grumble about our finances, our families repsonses, our inadequacies, the challenges in our way, our finances, what is holding us back, our jobs....
During.... again, our finances, our agency, the flaws of the country we are adopting from, our support, the process...
After.... lack of support once the dust settles, the challenges of attachment, adjustment, readoption costs, taxes...
There are sources for grumbling all along the way....and all are legitimate reasons for frustrations... But are the orphans around the world complaining.  Are they grumbling in their circumstance? I dare to say they are not.  Most of the videos of Tedi's orphanage show kids singing Christian songs together, praising the Lord despite their circumstance.  They would long to have my job with my co-workers; they would love to have family to be frustrated with or finances that need tweaked.  So when, in life or adoption, we are tempted to grumble, complain, get frustrated, argue....maybe we should spend a small moment thinking about these children who are waiting for their forever families..(and I am included in the WE.)



Below are some fundraisers that have been added:

These are ornaments made by the pastor's family at our new church....they are just starting the process.  Please go to their blog to help support them!

http://a4us.org/

Another Family asked me to post their fundraiser.... Debi Jenkins and her family supported our adoption and here are the ornaments they are selling...I love them. How am I going to talk JT into buying something from all of these fundraisers..?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/EthiopiaAdoption