"God Sightings"

Recently I ran across a couple of pictures that I didn't remember I even had. They are our earliest pictures of Ian, and though I cannot say for sure I believe they are of the day he was brought into care. He was four months old.

These pictures are just one of many "God Sightings" I can recount through this adoption process. They are the only pictures we have physically received by mail to our home in Chile. And they arrived on the very day that our first trip to Haiti was postponed due to circumstances outside our control, an extremely disappointing day. I wrote about the experience of receiving them in this post:

Yet God has a special way of reminding us of His presence even in the dark times. When I stepped outside on my way to pick up the girls from school, I caught a glimpse of an envelope on the damp grass next to where our trash can usually stands. Thinking it had fallen out of the trash, I almost left it there until I returned but instead reached down to retrieve it. Far from being trash, it turned out to be an envelope postmarked by our adoption coordinator in Haiti! Inside were a handful of photos of our boys, as well as two postcards with their little feet stamped on them. I couldn't help but feel as though God was smiling down on me and reminding me that this was all going to be okay; that these boys are indeed our children; and we will be together in due time.

What are "God Sightings?" The concept isn't unique to me. It actually came from a friend's post about her many journals and the things she writes in each. One journal is set aside to record the times when she actively sees God intervene in her life. (Of course He is always at work; but sometimes we're better at noticing than others!) I might also describe "God Sightings" as the times I see evidences of His fingerprints on my life. I took my friend's idea and started a journal of my own, and so far most of the entries have to do with our adoption from Haiti. Those things that bless me with a reminder of God's presence might mean little to someone else. But for me, they reaffirm God's goodness, His constant care and compassion, and His leading in my life.

For instance, not long ago I was reflecting on our son's birth names. We will eventually readopt the boys in the United States and legally modify their names, keeping their current first names as their middle names and formally giving them the names we have been calling them throughout this adoption process. Personally, it was important to us that the boys have a name given by us to them but also that they retain the name chosen by their birthparents. However, in keeping with the names of our other children it was also our desire that their middle names be Biblical names. As I mentally ran through a list of all the children I know in our agency's care, I realized that our two boys are unique in having Bible names: David (Ian) and Stephen (Alec.) Even that simple fact reassured me that these two boys are exactly the two God had chosen for us before the foundation of the world ... another "God Sighting."

This next example may sound simplistic, but on my last trip I saw God in the details of my actual flights. I learned from my previous trip to Haiti that an aisle seat on an overnight flight is not the most comfortable when flying alone. Nor did I want to be in the middle of two strangers, so I purposely chose my seats early and made sure they were window seats. As I already shared in a previous post, on the first long leg of my journey I was actually bumped up to first class for the first time in my life! And even though I was on the aisle, the comfort of the big leather chairs made the trip perfectly enjoyable.

Unfortunately on the way home, seats for a number of passengers were somehow switched and I found myself in the middle of two strangers after all. I was disappointed and tried to have the seat changed to no avail. Not long after taking off, I realized that the man seated to my right had been separated from his wife and I offered to change seats with her if he would like. He accepted gratefully and wouldn't you know that his wife's seat was a window seat? I settled in with my pillow and blanket and slept peacefully through the night ... another "God Sighting!"

But the fact that the tiny little baby pictured here is now a handsome, healthy, much-loved little boy about to turn two years old is the greatest "God Sighting" of all.