Yeager!

Yesterday was a good day. Mid afternoon I got the news that the little boy Yeager I've been praying so hard to have a family step in for him....got one. He was the first child registered in Beijing from Peng's orphanage and now his future family has submitted paperwork to adopt him. I know nothing about them except they are in Illinois.  I'm hoping they're open to keeping in touch with us.  As of now, we have a good chance at keeping in touch with at least 4 or 5 of the little ones Peng has grown up with. This brings great joy to my heart.

This is Yeager!

My main emotion these past few months about Peng's situation has been mostly heavy sadness. And like a rock is continually in my gut, churning around. Oh, with a bit of anger thrown in there at the ridiculousness of bureaucracy when children's lives are at stake. But yesterday, I just cried with happiness. Hearing the news about Yeager finally getting a family broke me. Thank you Jesus.

This morning I was at the gym. Kevin and I are in a pretty good streak of taking turns going in the morning before the kids get up. It's been really good for us.  But, really hard.  Boot Camp, I think they call it.  Most of the time, I get to a point where I'm so tired I want to collapse on the floor. The past few times I've gone, when I've reached that point, somehow I transformed the workout into a prayer. With everything in me I have pushed through the pain as an offering to God on behalf of Peng. I feel I've exhausted my words with Him and so this is a fresh way to petition, beg for mercy and keep knocking on His door. Doing that last push up when it feels like your arms are about to fall off and thinking of Jesus is like yelling out to Him with my body.

I've known Jesus in different depths for as long as I can remember, but I continue to be bafffled by Him sometimes. I guess he never really even explained himself fully to His disciples either, so I shouldn't be surprised. I don't know how my desperate pleas affect His hand, but I know they affect His heart.  And keeping my heart in line with His is my only hope.

I read a book lately that reminded me that when the Israelites were enslaved to Egypt, twelve generations of God's people prayed for deliverance and did not see God deliver.  Yet, twelve generations later, God's people were still crying out to Him, still believing in Him, still trusting His promises. Even when they had not seen His hand for THAT long.

Then finally....He speaks.

"I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land." 
Exodus 3:7-8

This reminds me that while God certainly doesn't always spare us from all suffering, He definitely does not delight in it.

It also came at a time we were studying Hebrews and how Jesus' mission springboards from God's rescue from Egypt.

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people."
Hebrews 2:14-17

So ultimately, the rescue from the baggage of sin we carry around is our greatest rescue. This free gift is available to us at all times, no matter what our current suffering is. That is good news.

Yesterday, we got an update from our social worker that Peng's file is scheduled to be registered within a week.  Mind you, we got that same news September 5 and also Oct. 21 of last year.  After that, they stopped giving predictions....until now.  So, if we and Peng come to mind or rise up in your heart...will you pray with us? That it really will get registered this week. He is now almost 3 1/2 and we have missed so much of his life. I don't want to miss anymore.

Thank you to those who prayed for Yeager, Trey and Jay.  I hope you are encouraged that God does hear the cries of his children. I am beyond thrilled they all have homes now.

Now, we will continue to press on in the work of prayer, in words, in body and in mind.....

Let's hope we see His hand in this, in less than 12 generations.