Last night our family celebrated Gotcha Day.

“Gotcha Day” for those not familiar with the term, is the day we “got” our daughter from China. She was a dream that came true 15 years ago. We knew it was what I call a God-Dream because it came out of the blue and was bigger than anything we would have come up with on our own. And it was a little scary…God-Dreams are like that.  It took several years from when that dream seed was planted until we actually had her in our arms but we learned these things along the way.

1. God-Dreams are accomplished one step at a time.

When we had the idea to adopt we had no idea how much it cost.  When we found out how much it cost we had NO idea how we were going to pay for it. So we decided to take one step at a time and pray for the finances to come in for each next step. And they did.  From crazy places. Every cent!

2. God-Dreams don’t always go according to our desired timetable but there is a good reason for that. 

If the adoption had moved along at the pace I would have like it would have happened at least a year sooner than it did.  But the timing was crucial. A year earlier we would not have gotten our daughter because she wasn’t born yet!  Anyone who knows Danielle knows that she is a Metzger and I wouldn’t change one minute of the excruciating waiting time in retrospect.

3. God-Dreams go over and above what you can plan on your own. 

When we started our process we thought that I would have to travel alone to go get her because of financial restrictions but God went overboard and provided a way for all four of us to go on the trip of a lifetime to get her.

First family photo

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever! Ephesians 3:20-21