It'a a Sign!

For the past six years, we have a game that we play at my house called “It’s A Sign”. Well, mostly I play and my family makes fun of me, but whatever. Anyway, whenever we saw anything remotely related to China or adoption, I would say “it’s a sign!” and we would laugh and it would renew my hope that one day, I might just make it. Since we have started our paperwork, however, I pray everyday for a sign that we are doing the right thing: the right thing for us, for our boys, and especially for Lily. Some days I see the signs and some days in my haste or worry or distraction, I miss them. On this particular day, I was almost ready to give up. I had thought for over a week our homestudy was complete and on it’s way to DHR and had just found out that more information was needed before it could be finished. I had begun to question whether this whole thing was ever going to happen, whether this really was the right thing to do. I was frustrated and disappointed and on top of everything else, I had to go to work. I was so not in the mood. Anyway, around lunch time things tend to get a little crazy. We had patients coming in for surgery and patients coming back from surgery all at the same time. We were all running around like chickens. So, we get a call from the ER that they are bringing someone up and we scurry to get the chart put together and find a bed to put her in. We also find out that she has no family, she has Alzheimer’s and her blood count was low, so we’d have extra fluids to hang. Ugh! And of course, I was the “lucky” one to get the chart when she arrived, so I decided to just do the best I could to get her ready and send her on to surgery. Anyway, to make a long story short, she had no idea of her medical history, what medicine she took and there was no way I was ever going to get another IV line started (not a vein to be found). Usually, the first thing I do is check the patient’s armband, but in all the rush I forgot to do that until last. So, just as she was about to be wheeled to surgery, I remembered to check the band and imagine my surprise: this sweet little lady who had caused me so much trouble name was Lillie Mae! Sometimes God has to crack me over the head, I guess. Anyway, I knew that everything was going to be OK and I was once again reminded that we are working on His time, not mine (you’d think after six years, that one would have sunk in!).