Our time in Saipan was C-R-A-Z-Y- and not just because of the roller coaster that is adoption, nor the two adoptions that fell through before Bohden. There were several typhoons while were there, including the one that plowed through the center of our little island, destroying our house and everything else in its path. And also, we were living on a tiny speck of island in the Pacific, far from our people and everything familiar. Truly, that season teemed with the wildest mix of good and hard.
Sometime near the beginning our time there, when we’d started doing foster care and wondered if perhaps adoption from Saipan was in the cards for us, we memorized Psalm 126:3 as a family “The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.”
That verse has become an anchor for us, a true thing to tell our hearts when everything feels tangled and twisted. God IS good. He has done good things for us. In the things that look neat and tidy, in the things that take quite a different path than we expected, even in (especially in) the things that break our hearts in half. God is near and He is good.
Honestly, when I made this Psalm 126:3 banner, I thought there was going to be a baby girl in that crib. Actually, I was sobbing at the base of that crib when I received word that it wasn’t going to be a baby girl after all. And then, months later, I cried so very many happy tears watching a baby boy sleep below that garland. Both aside from and in the middle of our circumstances, God was so so very good to us in Saipan. He grew us and changed us in ways I didn’t even think to pray for. And, truly, we are filled with joy at what He has done.
The garland was super easy to make- I picked up some alphabet boat stickers at Home Depot in Guam (haha), cut little rectangle cardstock ‘mounts’ for each letter with enough room for punched holes at the top and for the letters, added letters to each cardstock mount, spelled out each word for my verse and then strung the verse onto baker’s twine.
I have a feeling more of these verse garlands are in our future (they’re so simple to make, but leave such visual impact). However, this specific Psalm 126:3 garland has a special spot in my heart and made the trek with us back from Saipan. It’s currently hanging in my office, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up in Bohden’s new nursery when I finally start putting that room together.
