Mathew 18:5

"And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me." Mathew 18:5

Saturday, August 10, 2013


THANKFUL FOR OUR PRAYERS BUDDIES!...... WE LOVE YOU!!!!!
 

Selam everyone! It has been awhile since my last update. A lot has happened since then. I’ll start with about 5 weeks ago we had our first visit with our case worker. It went very well. I will have to admit, I was a little nervous, but once we met her, we felt very comfortable. She was very nice and we warmed right up to her. After her visit I headed to work. I was at work for about 3 hours and I got a text from my husband saying, “Call me we need to talk.” I called him right away. He proceeded to tell me about two children who are waiting for a forever family. My husband received an email from our agency telling us about these two siblings who were waiting children. These children were not a match for anyone on the wait list for Ethiopia, so therefore they open these children up to anyone in the Ethiopian program. I hung the phone up after speaking briefly with my husband, my heart was racing. I just couldn’t wait to get home to read all about these children. At this point there were a lot of things going on in my head. Are these really my children that God has chosen for us? I have only been praying for one child, and now two? How does my husband feel about two? Many more questions were racing through my mind.

I got home and looked at their beautiful faces on the computer, and instantly I fell in love with these children. Nick and I didn’t have to do a whole lot of talking. We both knew what we were going to do. The next day I called Melissa, who is in charge of the Ethiopian program. I asked her if our family could be considered as a match for these children. She then told me to call our caseworker to ask if we were ok for adopting siblings. Our caseworker said yes we were. We called Melissa back to tell her. She said there were several families who have inquired about these two children and they were going to have a meeting on Monday July 8th, and they will pick the family that they feel fits these children the best.  I can’t describe the way I was feeling at this point. There was something about these children that’s so special, and they arrived at Hanna’s Hope on my birthday. The next day all I could do was think about them. I must have pulled up the email on my computer a half a dozen times or more, just to read about them and look at their picture. My friend Erica was going on a mission trip to Ethiopia and was going to be at Hanna’s Hope that very next week. That is our agency’s transition home, where these children are living.  How exciting that she would be over there and hold these children and love them. If you all remember in an earlier post of mine I told you that I bought some bracelets from Erica’s daughter, Shana, to help her raise money for her mission trip. These bracelets were prayer bracelets. You buy the pair and one goes to you, and one she will give to an orphan. When you wear the bracelet, it reminds you to pray for your prayer buddy in Ethiopia. I posted in that post that I can’t help but wonder if one of these bracelets I bought would go on my son.

The very next night Nick and I received an email that struck us like a bolt of lightning. For all of you that don’t know, our agency has strict birth order rules, which we knew about and completely understand and agree with. This rule is that any adopted child has to be at least ten months younger than our youngest child. Lily is six so the child has to be at ten months younger than her. The little boy’s birth certificate said he was five, making him eleven months younger than Lily, and the little girl was three. In the first email, we were told that just because their birth certificate says their age, that it wasn’t necessarily right. All God’s Children has their doctor check them out at the home, and they go by what age the doctor says they are. Well, in that email, it stated that the doctor said the boy was eight and the little girl was five. This means we are not a match for these children. I had a break down. I had gotten my hopes up, and I just crumbled. It was now the 4th of July, and time to celebrate this amazing country and all I could do is cry. I sent a message to my friend Erica and just poured my heart out to her. She is such an amazing person, sent from above. She knew all the right things to say. My husband also was my rock that day. Those children will always have a special piece of our hearts. I will pray for them daily, for I know that they are going to a home with their forever family in this beautiful country. I’m so happy for them and their new family. Erica asked me if I would like her to give our matching prayer bracelets to these children and I said absolutely. Every time I look down at my wrist I’m reminded to pray for these two special children.

I was then praying to my Savior GOD: I’m not here to question your plans, but I can’t help but wonder, why is this so hard? Why God, did I really feel those kids were mine? Can you please show me just a little of your plan for us? Just then it hit me. These children were a part of God’s plan for us. We never even hesitated when we saw two children that need a home in that email. Nick and I are following Gods plan for us. We believe that God has put these two children in our lives to show us that he may not have just one child picked out for us, he may have two. We had our next visit with our case worker and told her we would like to change our paperwork. It is a lot easier to change our paperwork now before our home study is done. Drum roll…………..and so we did. We are asking for one child of either sex, or a group of siblings up to two, between the ages of two and seven. I’m so excited for God’s plan in our journey to our amazing adoption. I will forever hold those two children close to my heart. For God put them in our adoption journey to help us bring the child, or children, that God has chosen for us home. It’s so comforting to know that God has a plan, and understands your pain, and can help you through your trials. When you have faith in God and his plan, you can be assured that there’s a purpose for everything that has happened in your journey. Amazingly, with God’s help you can experience joy even in hard times, and face life’s challenges with a spirit of peace.