Winter into Spring

Winter into Spring  

by Richard Lackman

And so it is that through the coldest season of the year

We sequester deep within the halls that we hold dear

Waiting for the sunrise and the promise it will bring

That the stranglehold of winter will be broken by the spring

Then finally it happens; ice flows melt and streams cascade

Flowers bloom and fruit trees blossom while the pall of winter fades

Black and white are all forgotten as a rainbow now appears

And the cycle reinvigorates the passing of the years

 

Winter into spring. The time amidst the cold, gray certainty of winter with nothing but the hope and the promise of the coming spring. Here we find ourselves. And here is where our adoption story is, as well.

The hope and excitement of the promise of adoption and the anticipated joy when we accepted the referral of Jeremy and Jadon to our family has been replaced with the pain and disappointment of a referral lost through corruption and greed. Our pain has been deepened by our awareness of more fraud, failed adoptions
and warfare within this country we have come to love – all at the expense of those least fortunate and most vulnerable.

At the depth of winter, a failed adoption, twins who are part of our family who we will never meet, a country we love – that we will not  adopt from, at least not now. Though we are confident that God triumphs over evil, sometimes, for the moment, evil wins – such is life in a broken fallen world.

And in the depth of bleakness, a ray of spring. We will now move forward to adopt from Ethiopia – a country we are learning and I’m sure we will come to love. We shall move forward in hope and trust; hope for what lies ahead for our family and trust that God will in right time make all obscure things clear.

-by Thom