A Journey Overseas

Week Two:

Open Mind, Open Heart

I realized that I couldn't sum up a three week trip overseas in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy this three part series!

Traditional musicians at the opening night ceremony for the summit conference.

To set the scene, Andrew and I communicated but very minimally because of busy schedules and the time difference.  He had been very sick before I left with some sort of bug and wrote to me saying he’d had a relapse.  Having taken care of him in that state for a whole week, it was really hard to know that I couldn’t be there to help.  

On top of that, the conference my group was attending was harder for me to connect with practically speaking.  It was a larger summit conference with other organizations working to network and collaborate on finding solutions to some of the world’s humanitarian problems.  Since I’m more on the administrative side of my organization, working on a periphery level and not necessarily part of the inner-workings of our mission, I was there as an observer.  Already weary from sitting in meetings, feeling a bit out of place at this conference and my husband being home sick, things started to feel like that dream where you are running and not getting anywhere.

I’m sure that God always has a purpose for everybody in everything that they do; especially when they are obedient to Him.  Obedience for me was being on this trip.  So, even though I didn’t feel connected to my organizations purpose at this conference, God used the time to work on my heart.  

Something that Andrew and I have talked about since we met was our desire to adopt children someday.  We’ve been able to engage in some conversations with people through our church about different options and our ideas about adoption haven’t always met in the same place.  I always thought of bringing home a brown baby from a run-down orphanage somewhere in another country.  Andrew’s mind had become open to possibly adopting an older child out of the U.S. Foster care system; this scared me to death!  

It just so happened that one of the topics discussed at this conference was the problem of orphans around the world.  I would have loved to be a part of those seminar meetings as the presentations from up front broke me.  Because of my job, I instead attended meetings about poverty.  However, from the main program presentations and talking to those with “Orphans” on their name tags, God began to work in my heart and open my mind about the reality of adoption and what His plan might be for Andrew and I.  I was able to set aside some fears and sacrifice my need for control.  

In a conversation with one woman from the orphan group, I realized that the American mentality toward adoption is a lot like shopping for a car; they want to choose the make, model, year, color, and even characteristics of their child.  I know that this isn’t how God created children.  When a child is conceived within a woman, no one has that choice apart from the man-made science of genetic engineering (I disagree with this type of science but will not get into it now).  I realized that if I were pregnant, I wouldn’t even care if the child was born with some sort of awful birth defect or disability.  I would love that child like crazy because he or she was mine; a gift from God.  So, why shouldn’t I let God decide what orphan child needs my husband and I as his or her parents?

I’m fairly certain that is not why my boss brought me to that particular conference but after it was over, I was there.

After sitting in meetings for two weeks, I had the opportunity to visit my step-cousin, who lives in Ubud, Bali.  This is me with his daughter, Melati.