What's in a name?

Didn't Shakespeare ask that?

I decided to name my blog The journey of 8,000 miles begins with...HOPE for two reasons. First, according to Adam's blog (a good friend from church who adopted his little boy from Ethiopia), Addis Ababa (the capital city of Ethiopia and where we will be traveling) is exactly 7,999 miles from here. I'm taking his word for it! I figured with our penchant for getting lost, one mile more wouldn't make a difference. If you want to read Adam's blog about his and his wife's, Sarah, journey to their son, Malachi, you can at: http://7999miles.blogspot.com/.

Secondly, I like the message behind the old Chinese Proverb; The journey of 1,000 miles begins with just one step. So true! I've said it so many times in frustration through this process...if I had seen the whole picture of all the paperwork and disappointment, I'm afraid it would have seemed too overwhelming and I would have never started. Isn't God amazing to only show us a bit at a time?

Josh, our pastor, spoke to Liam and I about this very concept once a few months ago when I was crying and deathly afraid that I was suffering another miscarriage. I had said that I wish that God would show me the next 9 months, so that I could just see the outcome, because the worry and anxiety of the moment was killing me. He reminded us God doesn't work that way. He only allows us to see just a bit in front of us, because we are told to walk by faith, not by sight. It's for our own good that God doesn't reveal everything.

I can see that now. If I had the full picture 4 years ago of everything that we would endure these last years, I know that I would have said, "it's not worth it". Instead, after every frustration and heartbreak, God revealed a bit more of Himself to me. Liam and I started this adoption with just two things...the hope of two people who desperately wanted to be parents and the faith that God would one day fulfill that deep longing. And He is. I guess I could have just as easily named this blog The journey of 8,000 miles (or a lifetime) begins with...FAITH.





Hope Is Rising
I've lost all my earthly optimism,
That it's all going to be alright,
That the good will win this fight.
Somewhere between youth and disappointments,
The dream became despair, the love became a lie,

Just now, I've reached the end of my line,
Just now, I'm to tired to keep on trying,

Chorus:
Hope is rising, it's a sunrise, for the end
Hope is rising, and it's breathing for me again,
Hope is rising again.

Soon beneath the roses I will lie,
All the memories of my days, gathered to the sky,
Soon all my work will find it's worth,
And all my strength returned, to the water and the earth,

Just when I reach the end of my life,
Just when my eyes dim out the last light.