"Mr. & Mrs. Nicolajsen: I am pleased to advise you that your application to adopt was approved effective April 24, 2009."
We are now officially going to be adoptive parents! I was so surprised to hear back so quickly from the government, considering the time line we were told to expect. The first thing I did was call Angel at work to tell her the news. Needless to say she was more than happy, and the first thing she did was e-mail her boss notifying him that we had been approved and would need to look into adjusting her hours once we have a placement. The second thing I did was update my facebook status, which now says, "Hendrick and his beautiful wife Angel are OFFICIALLY approved to be adoptive parents!! Now the wait begins..." And so it does. I feel a sense of excitement and anticipation, and that sometime in the future our lives will be drastically altered. The timing of the letter is funny, as I had a dream last night about having adopted a son. In the dream he was having a hard time adjusting to having new parents, and I was simply giving him a listening ear. Prophetic? Maybe...
So needless to say big stuff is happening in our lives; we've taken the next step in the journey towards parenthood. The letter stated that we would be hearing from an adoption/permanency worker to talk about what happens next, which is something I really appreciate. There's a level of communication and support that wasn't there 10 years ago when we went through the adoption process the first time. In the meantime we've got some preparing to do, as we need to start changing the physical layout of our home in order to make space for a little one. Not only do we need to make space in our home but in our lives as well; for Angel that means her hours at work will change once we get a placement, and for me that means I need to get school out of the way.
Which brings me to some more big stuff... It's been a while in coming, but after months of thinking, praying and talking with people I've made a decision. I've decided to become involved in pastoral ministry again. Yes, you read right, I'm getting back on the horse again. Well, not quite yet. As I mentioned I need to get school out of the way first, as I've learned the value of doing a few things well. A number of things led me to this decision, one of which was my convocation at Prairie. Something seemed to click for me there that was, I suppose, the final little nudge in this direction I was already heading in.
I guess I've come to accept that like it or not, whether I want it or not, God has wired me for pastoral ministry. I don't know if it'll be vocational, as much as it needs to be if I'm going to have the time to do it well. But I now realize that Calvary is my ministry field and not just the place where I was doing my training. So it'll start small by getting involved in prayer ministry (which won't happen until the fall) and getting back on the teaching team, which won't happen until the new year. There's still a part of me that says, "Are you nuts?" But that's another blog entry, which I'll think about writing another day. In the meantime I have papers to write and furniture to move.
Big stuff. What an understatement...
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