Nathan's Birthday and Story

Nathan turned 8 today and is officially out of a car seat! woot, woot! Praise the Lord. Two down and two to go. I wanted to share Nathan's story on his special day. So, here is an excerpt from my autobiography (something we had to do for the adoption process) which tells about his adoption. It's long but it's a good story.

We began the paperwork for adoption in April of 1999. Nathaniel was placed in our arms on August 10, 1999. That’s a fast adoption, right? Yes, it was in retrospect but what’s that saying about a watched pot? That’s right. It was the longest four months of our lives. We were right back where we’d started; throwing fits with God for not following our timetable. It was in the middle of one of these tantrums that the Lord finally got my attention.

I was home alone one day and I had cried and prayed until there was nothing left emotionally. I sat with my Bible in my hand (please note that I had not bothered opening it until after venting my fury –pitiful!). I was sick and tired of reading the same passages over and over. You see, I had been picking and choosing the ones that I thought would put the most pressure on God to act immediately on my behalf. Verses like Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” According to my calculations, God needed to uphold His reputation by making good on those promises RIGHT NOW! (you know you've done it, too!) But obviously He wasn’t getting the message.

So, spent and frustrated, I decided to read a passage of Scripture that was obscure, if you will. I had never done a detailed study in the book of Ecclesiastes and didn’t know of many people who had. It seemed like a good starting place. Initially I did what I had painstakingly trained myself to do. I skimmed the page for any “key” verses that would help me tighten the fetters I had placed on God’s wrists. Nothing jumped out. Then I hit chapter five and the words exploded on the page. I stared in disbelief for a few seconds. It was so specific, so personal, so not what I wanted to hear that I knew it was exactly what He was saying to me.

“Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore, let your words be few.”
Ecclesiastes 5:2

Ouch! My words had been many; my mouth had been rash; and my heart had uttered hastily time and again. An almost audible voice thundered this paraphrase, “Shut up you whiny baby. You can’t see what I (God) see. Just be quiet!” Maybe you’ve never been slapped upside the head by God. The thing is it hurts…for a moment. But the same hand He smacks you with is slathered with salve –a healing balm. It stings and then instantly soothes. Amazing grace indeed.

I spent the next days and weeks learning (and failing repeatedly) to hold my tongue. I knew that God could handle my incessant ranting and raving but that enough was enough and sooner or later I had to “be still and know that He is God.” And next thing you know, a precious baby boy was placed in my arms. He was perfect in every way. Nathan was five weeks old when he came home with us but weighing just over seven pounds, he still seemed brand new. It was at this time the agency told us that our profile had been chosen by Nathan’s birth mother on the very first day it was shown. God had already provided and already been faithful before we could even see it.

Nathan is Mr. Whimsy as noted occasionally on this blog. After we sang Happy Birthday to him in bed this morning, he jumps up and does a little booty dance while singing "I like to move it, move it." Silliness. He is Mr. Compassionate. I'll NEVER forget the day that Mamoune was in trouble and he pulled me aside and asked to take her place -no strings, no hidden agenda, just love for his sister. And he is Mr. Supreme Snuggler. In fact, we have his word that even after he gets married and moves out he will come over on Friday mornings and snuggle in the bed with us. ;-)

Nathaniel means "gift from God" and he is exactly that!