I have learned through this adoption journey that God provides. He has provided materially for us through others supporting our adoption and blessing us with the funds we need to complete our adoption. I am so blessed and I realize that every day when I see families who are trying to complete their adoptions and cannot, due to lack of funds. The fact that I am not stressing out about funds at the last minute is such a blessing. But God has provided in so many other ways that I didn’t realize I needed. He has provided clothes for our daughter from others who have been kind enough to bless us with them. He has provided people to be there along the way to encourage us when we are discouraged with the waiting process. But just this week he provided in a way I didn’t expect.

My husband works as a school administrator and through his job he has the opportunity to connect with other school administrators around where we live. This week he spoke with one that runs a school for disabled children. In the course of conversation, he told her about our daughter and her challenges. She was so encouraging and helpful. She sent us some resources and advised us on how best to help our daughter reach her potential. We were so blessed and encouraged by her optimistic view of how much our daughter can achieve.

Our daughter has labels put on her. They are labels about her ability. They are labels about her past and what others expect of her future. The labels can be scary. We have taken what we have read about these labels with a grain of salt. But it’s hard to see those labels and not wonder what our future as a family holds. What will our daughter be capable of and what will it be like to parent her? We don’t know. We can’t know until we do it. But we are trusting God has it all worked out. He has called us to this and we are walking in faith that He has the details worked out and that we can handle it all with his help. It was so nice this week to hear an expert on children like our daughter tell us it’s going to be okay and if you do all these things for her she could really make progress. We don’t have expectations about her, we can’t. If we did, we would be disappointed. I expect her to be as she has been described for the rest of her life and not to make any progress. I have to think that way, it would be nieve not to. But I also have hope. I have hope that what I see in her eyes is potential. I don’t let the labels that she has taint what I see in her. I see life and beauty. I see spunk and curiosity. I see a little girl who just needs a chance to have a better life and parents who love her. I am willing to trust God that He knows what is best for our family and He will provide. He already has.