So much exciting news to share since our last update! We received our Seeking Confirmation Letter (SCL) from China last week, a full 5-9 weeks sooner than we were expecting. We should be in the air and on our way in about two months! Now we wait for our Travel Approval (TA) which they estimate to take about a month. Lastly, we will make travel plans and apply for Visas. The best part is he will likely be home for Christmas AND Thanksgiving!
In the midst of this expedited blessing, we had to speed up one very important detail. A name. We have Wei Gong Zhe's picture on our fridge and beside it a piece of paper with various names we have liked. We wanted to give him a name from the Bible and have spent time in the stories of scripture and the meanings of scriptural names. The names Samuel and Jacob have come to the forefront and with the quick arrival of our SCL, we had run out of leisurely time in pondering this decision. I kept looking at his picture and with his beautiful round cheeks and wide brown eyes, Jacob he looked like and Jacob he will be.
Now, you may be wondering.....Jacob? From the Bible? Wasn't he a schemer, liar and manipulator? Well, yeah, he was. Didn't he cheat his brother out of a birthright? Yep, that's the same one. Did I also mention he took on God in a wrestling match one night to force a blessing? Not exactly a stellar representation of a blessed and praiseworthy man from the Bible. But I ask you not to be too hard on Jacob. When we take a close look at Jacob and his struggles (Genesis chapters 25-37, 42, 45-49), we see that we really aren't that much different.....I know I'm not.
No doubt, Jacob struggled with God his entire life. As he matured in faith, Jacob depended on God more and more. As mentioned above, the turning point for Jacob came after a dramatic, all-night wrestling match with God. In the end the Lord touched Jacob's hip and he was a broken man, but also a new man. From that day forward, Jacob was called Israel. And for the rest of his life he walked with a limp, demonstrating his dependence on the Lord. Jacob finally learned to give up control to God.
There is something about that story that I have always been attracted to. How can someone have the audacity to take on God in a wrestling match? What human could ever win such a match? But if I am honest with myself, I have known myself to meet God in the dead of light (even sometimes in the revealing brightness of daylight), taking him on and demanding my own will. I have certainly done it time and time again in our adoption process. Like Jacob, it took a "breaking" of sorts to my own demands to bend my will to God's and enable me to be a new man.
So to you, our dear Jacob Wei Lutz. It is our hope that in this journey of life, where only a small portion will be walked with Mom and Dad by your side, you will allow God to break and humble you and your will many, many, many times. Through this process you will emerge a new man, a stronger man, a better man---not because of who you are, but because of who God is. To Him be the glory our dear son for all that you are and all that you will be. We love you!
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