My Witness Chapter V – Transformation Beginning
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
-Phillipians 1:6
We were invited to sit in Barb and Ericâs family pew at Easter Vigil, which was an honor even if the service was going to last a good three hours. Eric was baptized that evening and, had I known at the time, I wouldâve gotten a little chuckle out of the heater in the baptismal font not working. The catechumens got the equivalent of a cold shower of holy water that night. Cold holy water is certainly better than none at all.
The Holy Spirit at Work
When we left Easter Vigil, I told Jennifer it was better than I thought it would be and actually quite interesting. I wouldnât realize it until later but the Holy Spirit was quite obviously working within me. One evening I would tell Jennifer that now was the time to unify our family under one faith. Any day we could receive the call and be adopting a baby so I thought it best that I become Catholic to get our entire family off on the right foot. When the new RCIA class began in August, I was a Catechumen with Jennifer as my sponsor.
I thought it was the right thing to do but I still wasnât totally bought in. I made Jennifer a simple promise to take things one week at a time. Iâd show up, do my best and if I felt good about it, Iâd be back the following week. I was true to my word. I quite enjoyed learning about church history and why Catholicism is the one true faith. Unfortunately we werenât really building relationships with my fellow candidates and catechumens but that was ok for the time being. As long as I was still showing up, everything was good.
So How Goes the Adoption?
As I slowly began this faith journey â things started to pick up steam on the adoption front. Weâd had a promising situation come our way. We actually talked to the young birthmother on the phone and found her to be a nice young woman looking to do the right thing for her unborn child. We signed the paperwork, sent a payment to our facilitator, then received news the young woman was a fraud.
In all likelihood, she wasnât even pregnant. Some Iâs didnât get dotted, nor Tâs crossed and she slipped through the cracks. We got our payment back from the facilitator, however our trust in her was shaken. We listened to our guts and started looking for other options.
We signed up with an agency right here in Overland Park, KS while visiting over the holidays. We also joined a mailing list based in Southern Ohio that provided situations other agencies were struggling to find birthparents for. I became more invested in the process, although I was still a little distant and cautious.
One night, likely inspired by a combination of âThe Secretâ and scripture, we took a big step by walking into Babies âRâ Us and buying a travel system and a pack & play. We needed to be ready at a momentâs notice, right?
In case you missed it…
Chapter IV – A Rebuilding Year
Onto the next…
