That's how long the Disney cast member told us we'd have to wait.
We'd gotten up early, rode the Disney bus over to Epcot, arrived just as the park had opened, hightailed it to the back of the park to Norway in the World Showcase, and then stopped in our tracks when we saw the line.
Hundreds already waiting. Little girls everywhere. Everyone wanting what we'd come for as well. A chance to meet the princess sisters, Elsa and Anna, from FROZEN.
(Now if you don't know who Elsa and Anna are, then you don't have young children, haven't been around any children, especially little girls, or you've been hiding under a rock for the past four months. So stop reading and Google them right now.)
Here's the funny thing. When I heard the Disney employee say, "Three hours", I didn't even blink. Frankly, I didn't care. For us, this was the piece de resistance of our trip.
It's all my girls had talked about. They'd worn their FROZEN t-shirts. They had their autograph books and their cameras. No way we were walking away. The wait was inevitable. With no other option that worked for us, I got in line, sat down...and began the wait. Just like every other
But my girls...
I could hardly expect them to wait three long hours while they (literally) had a whole world of fun and activity on every side of them.
So Derek and I made a plan. He took them to ride a couple of rides. He came back. One hour had passed.
I walked them down to China to meet Mulan. We ate our snacks. We met a family from Texas and spent time getting to know them and their two daughters. Two hours passed.
We each took turns walking the girls around all the other countries while the other held our place in line. Finally, three hours had passed and the wait was over. It was our turn.
As their happy chattering died down, our girls turned to hug us and thank us. Then my oldest asked me, "Do you think all that waiting was worth it, Mommy?"
"Yes. Absolutely."
It was then that I realized how far I'd come in the waiting game.
I learned that waiting is really not that big of a deal; the time goes by faster than you think. I also learned it is possible for me to wait with contentment. And I learned there are plenty of things I can do while I wait.
Waiting in line for two Disney princesses showed me how much patient endurance the Lord has developed in me over the last few years.
All the credit goes to this long journey we've been traveling with Him toward adoption.
It's been over two years now since we officially began the process. And it's been one year since I wrote the post about the giant, all-encompassing wall we'd hit.
But two years ago, when we submitted our application to our agency to adopt from India, they told us the wait could be up to, or even more than, three years before we bring our daughter home.
Three years of waiting.
Our first year was a flurry of activity: filling out paperwork, completing our homestudy, dossier, fundraising, and lastly, being matched with an orphanage.
Our second year was filled with nothing. That's right. Nothing. Nothing but waiting.
In this past year+ of waiting, we had to make a choice. Grumble, bellyache, sit around and do absolutely nothing or...live.
"Waiting does not mean doing nothing.
It means that you're patient while your faith is doing something."
In his book, Joseph, Charles Swindoll, using Joseph's imprisonment as an example, says this about waiting,
Those two full years for Joseph were neither exciting nor eventful. They represented a long, dull, monotonous, unspectacular, slow-moving grind. Month after month after month of...well, nothing.
That's what it's like when you're in a period of waiting. Nothing's happening! Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
On the other hand, it only seems like nothing is happening. In reality, a whole lot is happening. Events are occurring apart from our involvement. Furthermore, we are being strengthened. We are being established. We are being perfected. We are being refined.
As we continue to abide in this "land of nothingness" which I wrote about last year, we are still trusting Him while we wait. And we still believe His promise for us and for our daughter.
Here are some practical things we have done recently and are doing now:
1. Updating the homestudy since it had expired (paperwork, fingerprinting, home visit by caseworker, physicals, TB tests, etc.)
2. Appealing to CARA for an orphanage transfer since no referrals have been issued from our current orphanage pertaining to our homestudy
3. Praying!
In the "winter of our discontent, we are believing there'll be a spring."
We have hope...hope that as we continue to wait, spring is coming indeed!
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