The Dream

I've been thinking about this blog entry for quite some time and have hesitated to post it because it really needs a disclaimer. It involves a dream I had quite some time ago and what I feel God could be saying through it. This is where I need to be very careful because this is not necessarily what God means, only my interpretation.
Nadeem and I have prayed for the past year leading up to this journey for God's guidance, knowing this has always been God's plan. This spring God revealed to us that we should adopt a baby girl. Shortly afterwards, Hasan's mom told us there was a baby girl at the orphanage who would be 4 months old when we came in September. We were very amazed to see that God really was providing a child for us and that we hadn't been following Him in vain. The next day God brought something to my mind-a dream I had had many years ago. In the dream I was sitting at my mom's kitchen table holding a 4 month old baby girl. She was clearly mine to raise, but I hadn't given birth to her and had no idea why I had her. I just knew that her parents were gone for some reason. I woke up from the dream feeling very confused and then put it out of my mind until God reminded me again recently.
I got goosebumps and chills all over when I realized that God's plan was really huge-that years ago He had already selected a baby girl across the globe for us to raise in answer to our prayers and to fulfill His plan.
Shortly after this, Hasan's mom visited Atlanta. When we met her, she told us that there was a baby girl who would be 6 months old when we visited. What happened to the 4 month old girl? We didn't know. We knew this was the wrong baby. Nadeem told her that we had prayed and felt God calling us to adopt a 4 month old baby. When she returned to Bangladesh, she went back to the orphanage and found our Kalina. Originally we were told that her birthday was June 4 which meant she would be 3 months old when we met her and 4 months old when we brought her home at the end of September. That seemed to make sense. Then we learned that her birthday was actually June 28. No matter how you counted, she wouldn't be 4 months old. I didn't know what to make of this. She was the only girl in the orphanage other than the 6 month old. Nadeem and I felt she was our daughter, but I didn't understand the dream. Maybe it meant nothing. It seemed strange, though, that I vividly remembered the number 4 months. All along this has been in the back of my mind.
At the end of September as our plans were first being delayed I had this moment of panic as I suddenly wondered if perhaps I hadn't understood the dream completely at first. What if the dream meant that we were to return home with Kalina when she was four months old? I couldn't bear to think about being here for so long, and I certainly didn't want to post this for all back home to worry about as well.
Now, however, Kalina is almost 4 months old. She'll be 4 months old tomorrow! Does this mean that we'll be coming home soon? I don't know for sure. I suspect that maybe God gave us an idea of His appointed time to deliver us. God does send messages through dreams. Again, I'm not sure. What I do know is that God WILL deliver us at the right time! We are one day closer to seeing that victory! Thanks for praying for us and waiting expectantly.