Farewell Message from Bangladesh

I woke up this morning early feeling so excited! We're finally coming HOME!!! We'll be home for Christmas with our beautiful baby girl! Nadeem gets to keep his position at SunTrust and get a paycheck again soon! Does it sound like a Hallmark movie (or maybe a Lifetime movie, Darcie)?? That's the kind of God we serve! He delights in blessing His children! These are the kind of friends and family we have-ones that stand by us, praying, loving, and believing!
Prior to this trip I prayed the following verse many times: "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly." -Philippians 3:10a (Amplified version) God certainly heard and answered this prayer, but not in the way I expected!
As I prayed this for months leading up to our trip, God already started responding. He revealed in many ways that I would know Him as Jehovah Jireh, our provider, and Jehovah Nissi, our victory.
That sounded pretty exciting to me! I really wanted to know Him more! I was already scared about this calling to quit my job and come to Bangladesh to try to adopt a baby without any plan. Knowing God better would be a wonderful reward to look forward to. My imagination went to work, deciding how God would reveal Himself as our provider and victory.
I pictured that God would give me strength for this trip. Up until a week before our trip, I was pregnant, expecting to have a second child in March. We considered this a glorious gift from God to have two children on the way! I was nervous about traveling to a foreign country, let alone traveling while expecting. I pictured that we would come here and easily adopt Kalina, returning home in two weeks instead of three. Before getting Kalina, we would have the chance to spend our time bringing the light and love of Jesus to other orphans and to the child we sponsor through World Vision. We would surely see some sort of miracle, too!
My thoughts and ways are not God's! He has indeed been Jehovah Nissi, our victory, but not in the way I had pictured. God orchestrated the entire adoption journey! He gave us the I600A approval with Nadeem's fingerprint approval, even though this was "impossible." He gave us Kalina, even though it's "impossible" for us as Christian Americans to adopt a baby from here. Today He's giving us Kalina's visa despite so many obstacles. Day after day we saw the victory as God gave us strength and faith to stand firm and not quit.
When thinking of God as my provider, I had specific prayer requests: to have healthy food and water, to have good health, to be able to exercise, to be able to communicate with home, and to have money for our adoption needs. It's interesting to me to look back and see how God answered this. At first, He seemed to answer every prayer. I did have good health. I exercised. We had money. We had good food and water. We had access to a laptop/Internet. As the trip progressed, however, God showed Himself as our provider in different ways-our provider of strength, hope, and faith in the middle of the storm. When I had a stomach bug, God comforted me. When we lost our computer connection for several days, God calmed me. When I became too weak to exercise as much, God gave me the strength I needed. I think that as I grew on the trip, God knew that I wouldn't have to depend so much on the physical provision but instead could lean on Him for greater provision spiritually.
In the book Boundaries, the authors Cloud and Townsend write that everyone has a rock to carry and sometimes a boulder. A rock represents your daily burdens-working, taking care of your family, etc. A boulder represents a heavy burden such as sickness, unemployment, or grief after losing a loved one. The problem is that sometimes we act like our rock is a boulder and expect people to take care of our needs that we need to care for ourselves. Also, sometimes we act like our boulder is a rock, and we refuse the help we need to carry the load.
I fall into the latter category. When I was sick with mercury poisoning, I kept the news mainly to myself and acted as though I were perfectly fine. I had too much pride to ask for help or to share my "weakness" with others. Finally there came a time when I was truly too weak to carry the boulder. My dear friend Leslie brought some homemade soup for me. Instead of feeling like a weak failure that she had to help me, I actually felt good. I felt loved, and I realized that it's okay to let people help.
Nadeem and I both love to give and feel very awkward being on the receiving side. When I pictured God as our provider, I pictured that He would give us all the funds we needed for Kalina and our trip. We had saved and planned as carefully as possible. As new problems arose, I then pictured that God would somehow drop down help from heaven like manna. It never crossed my mind that God would use other people to help. That's God's way-to help us to love one another! Sometimes we're on the giving side, and sometimes we're on the receiving side. There's a lesson in both, I believe.
Yesterday Nadeem repeatedly tried to call Delta to book our tickets to come home from Dubai. We had prayed for God to help us with securing the right flight. Truthfully we were a little concerned since it's the holiday season. We really wanted to be home in time for Christmas and for Nadeem to return to work and keep his position. Nadeem couldn't get through. Finally he called his sister in Florida to see if she could help. She and her husband fly Delta often for work. We had open tickets for one year since we couldn't use our original tickets back in September. Would you believe that Delta now says that the tickets are no good? They were only good for 30 days. Somehow there was yet another mistake made on this journey. Are you surprised? Would you be surprised to know that God already had a huge blessing ready for us? Nadeem's sister Nadia and her husband Sean have given us tickets for a first class, direct flight to Atlanta arriving in time for Christmas and Nadeem's job!!!!
We are truly leaving! This is our last day in Bangladesh! The next time you hear from us, we should be in transit or at home. We plan to spend Christmas with our family, and then we hope to hear from you all and see you as soon as possible! Plans are still being made for the Celebration of Praise and Worship. Here in Bangladesh the phone or the doorbell is always ringing with visitors. Let's bring some of that back home! We love you all with the love of Christ! Thanks for praying for us! During this holiday season, please remember the miracles of God and give thanks!