Leaving on a jet plane!

Throughout this adoption process, I have become dear friends with several other adoptive mamas. Though miles may separate us, we are connected in a way that seems more like next-door neighbors than Facebook friends. 

On Monday, we heard news from two of those mamas that they had received court dates. Because our circumstances are very similar, my mind immediately began reeling with what could possibly have caused us not to get a court date along with them. I’ve been able to keep my emotions in check for the past several months, and while we were certainly happy for these sweet families, our lack of news essentially sent me over an emotional edge I had not known I was wandering near.

Let me put it this way, when I’m so sad that I can’t eat dinner, something is seriously wrong. 

On Tuesday morning I was still deeply discouraged. I’m not sure if I walked J. Henry to school or if he walked me. As we were parting ways, my sweet boy pulled me close and with a wink and a smirk, whispered, “Mom, just stay away from the ice cream and the sharp objects while I’m gone.” 

Back at home, standing at the kitchen counter, tears still in my eyes, my phone rang. Our social worker was calling to tell us that they received confirmation of our court date early  Tuesday morning. I had to hand the phone off to Nathan because I knew she couldn't understand my hot mess of a response. 

Y’all… we leave for Ethiopia two weeks from today. I’m not even kidding.

In a redemptive manner that only God can pull off, both of those families I mentioned above and our family all share the same court date. We’ve walked through a unique kind of fire together for the last 18 months, and it's a "beauty-out-of-ashes" phenomenon that our stories have converged where it matters most.

In two weeks, Nathan, Henry and I will travel to Ethiopia to meet our daughter in person and officially adopt her in-country. Then, we will return home for 3-4 weeks while her exit paperwork is processed. Toward the end of April, I will likely return to Ethiopia by myself just long enough to get our girl and bring her home.

We are so grateful for this news. Thank you for rejoicing with us!

Leaving on a jet plane,

The Cardens 

"Call me when you get a chance..."

Yesterday morning, before work, Nathan and I had a bit of a…(*ahem*)...difference of opinion about driveway courtesy and spouse vehicle use. If you have a single car driveway that causes one car to be blocked in behind another, and your spouse takes your car for an early morning meeting and you have to meet with the VP of your workplace at a certain time 55 miles away and your spouse makes you run late...you know exactly what kind of difference of opinion I’m talking about.

After arriving a little past on-time for a meeting, I believed that I had finally regulated my blood pressure when I received a text from Nathan at about 10:30:

“Call me when you get a chance. 3 quick things.”

When I called him, this is how the conversation unfolded:

Nathan: Hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry about this morning. My bad on that. Hope you weren't too late.
Kameron: Thank you, I appreciate that.

Nathan: And also, you said that you needed bread flour from the store, right? I can pick that up. What brand?
Kameron: Gold Medal.
Nathan: Now is it self-rising or bread flour? Because I get those confused.
Kameron: Bread. Flour. It’s bread flour.

Nathan: Okay, I wrote that down. Last quick thing and then I’ll let you go. Remember last night when you said that you hope you never hear the word “maybe” again because we say it so often right now? Maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow? Well, you don’t have to throw that word away, because……….we just got our approval letter this morning.
Kameron: Stop. Seriously?! Stop. Tell me you aren't kidding...Seriously?! Are you serious?! What?! Oh my God...I love you so much! Ahhhhhh!!!

So that, friends, is how receiving our approval letter made me forget all about single driveway transgressions.

This is the document we have waited and prayed for, for 17 months. Based upon recent trends, we should have a court date between five - eight weeks from now.

God is so good. We are so, so thankful.

THANK YOU ALL for every small or big expression of support and prayer.

This is your approval letter, too. 

Please continue to pray for all 5 of us during this journey.
In God's Grace,Kameron, Nathan, J. Henry, Amelia and Little Girl

A Totally Fair Question

This past fall, I audited a Biblical Narrative course through Asbury Theological Seminary. The
professor, along with several other biblical studies experts, recommended breaking in your
independent exegetical practices in the New Testament, the Gospels perhaps. Definitely don’t start
with a challenging, confusing text like Job, they said. Well, “Don’t start with Job…” was all I needed
to hear. Nobody puts Baby in a biblical corner. Job it was, then.

Job is hard. Job is confusing. Job is LOOOOOONG. And, as it turns out, Job is exactly
what I needed to read during this season of waiting.

Job begins with a brief description by the narrator of the main character and his family. Job is upright
and blameless. He fears God and turns away from evil. His family is awesome, and he’s healthy,
wealthy, and wise. All good things, all good things. The scene quickly transitions to this heavenly
court scene with a host of heavenly beings, including the Satan, reporting to the Lord. Today, on the
17 month anniversary of receiving our referral, that’s who I want to talk about: the Satan.
The Satan in Job is more accurately described as the Accuser. Think modern day court proceedings.
If the Lord is the judge wearing the black robe and holding the gavel, then the Satan is the
prosecuting attorney wearing tailored black suit and slicked back hair.

A judge and a prosecuting attorney are not enemies; in fact, they function within the same judicial 
system. The prosecuting attorney is charged with bringing the facts of a case before the judge against 
the defendant; he bears the burden of proof. Think of the Satan as an accountability partner who takes 
his job a little too seriously. The Lord basically asks the Satan, “Have you been doing your job?” The 
conversation continues to unfold like this: The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant 
Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns 
away from evil.”

Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around 
him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his 
possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and 
he will curse you to your face.” – Job 1: 8-11

Essentially, the Satan wants to discern whether Job’s fear of God is borne of a contract or a covenant. 
In a contractual relationship, both parties are operating under if/then agreements. If God fences Job 
in, then Job fears him. In a covenant relationship, both parties are operating under no-matter- 
what/then agreements. No matter what, Job fears God.

Y’all, that’s a totally fair question. And I have to wonder if, somewhere up there, a prosecuting 
attorney has had to ask the same thing of me recently. My adult life has been pretty sweet. There’s 
been a pretty tall white picket fence around me. So, it’s been pretty easy for me to love Jesus and 
praise God. Not a lot of lamenting has gone on around here in the last decade or so.

Seventeen months in, and we are still waiting on our approval letter. It feels like that white picket 
fence is starting to lean and needs a fresh coat of paint. I have to wonder if He’s noticed that praising 
him doesn’t come easy or often any more. I’m not cursing him to his face, but I’m also not resting in 
him right now either. There’s a whole lot of room in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, 
devoted to lamenting and petitioning. In fact, Job uses up all of his press time from chapters 3 
through 38 doing those exact two things. And, in the end, God declares that Job has spoken rightly 
about him. 

I’m thankful that there is room in the biblical narrative for lamenting and petitioning, because
that’s so where I am right now. But I’m also thankful for these little scriptural gut-checks to
remind me of the no-matter-whatness of the covenant, a no-matter-whatness that goes both 

ways.

You may recall that our original adoption agency closed and left us and nine other families
scrambling to find a way to bring our children home. Since that agency closed in July, none of the
families with our new agency had received an approval letter. Until this week. Two families finally
did receive approval letters this week. So even though we weren’t one of them, there’s hope in that,
thanks be to God. Until our letter comes, whatever may come, if those heavenly beings are called to
court, I want the Accuser to be able to say, “Oh, Kameron? Yeah, don’t worry, she’s all in. That’s a
covenant you don’t have to worry about.”

Please continue to pray for all 5 of us during this journey. 
In God's Grace,Kameron, Nathan, J. Henry, Amelia and Little Girl