God's grace

God has been amazingly present in our lives lately. Two weeks ago M and I were in a car accident.  Traffic had slowed suddenly and the guy behind us didn't notice.  He rear ended us, pushing us into the car in front of us.  Our car was totaled.  His car was totaled.  The third car lost a bumper.  I ended up with some nasty burns from the airbag explosion (both front airbags deployed), but otherwise we were all unharmed, through the grace of God and a good and sturdy Volvo.  The emergency responders were all pretty amazed that we were ok.  Our insurance company was top notch and 10 days later we were buying our replacement.  I really wanted another Volvo, but we had also (for months) been talking about needing a larger car when Faith is finally home with us.  Our plan had been to just squeeze in until we our finances were a bit more secure.  We thought we needed to finish with the adoption expenditures before starting with a car expense.  So back and forth we'd talk about getting a mini-van.  I did some research back in the Spring and identified two candidate models.  Both had great reviews for safety and longevity.  And since we were planning and dreaming, I also announced that I wanted it to be navy blue.

So when we found ourselves forced to start looking for a new car, we looked at both replacement Volvos and mini-vans of the make and models identified.  We test drove one Volvo, looked at a couple of others, then ran across a mini-van of the make & model desired, in our price range, and available locally.  For all those things to line up in our small town was all God.  But the biggest surprise was to get to the lot to see what I thought was the car we were meant to buy, only to find, sitting right next to it, the navy blue minivan I'd asked for. Only God.  So we are now driving a navy blue minivan which will fit the five of us with room to spare.  And somehow, He even made the money part work out so that this one, like the Volvo, is fully paid for.  Through the blessing of an unexpected car accident we have the car we need for our growing family.  Praise be to God, who makes all things possible for them that love the Lord! 

Our paperwork is nearing the end of the US immigration approval process, and will be delivered for final travel approval on November 15th.  Travel approval can come anytime after that, most often between two and four weeks.  We are still anxiously awaiting God's plan for our travel.  If the travel approval comes in early December and we can get a consulate appointment before Christmas, we'll travel right away.  If not, it will be January.  Something tells me there is someone we are to meet while we're in China picking up Faith (adoption #4?).  So whenever we finally go, I am confident it will be exactly when we are supposed to be there.