Our Story

In the Fall of 2004, David & I had been married for 12 years and had two beautiful boys - Noah was 3 and Nicholas was 1.  We had just moved into our new home and our lives were complete...or so we thought!
 
One night as I was putting Noah to bed and we were saying prayers, out of nowhere, he began praying for God to send a baby sister!  I remember walking out of his room, coming to our bedroom and telling David that he would never believe what his son was praying for.  We both kind of laughed about it and thought it was cute.  However, over the next few months, Noah would continue to pray for a baby sister and slowly my heart began to change.


I can't explain it but to say that it truly became a physical yearning.  I talked to David about wanting another child but he was content with the family we had and not ready for a third child.  For over 18 months I would pray and ask God to either take this yearning from my heart, because it was a pain that I could not see living the rest of my life with, or for Him to convict David that our family needed another child.  I tried very hard not to bring it up too often, and for those of you who know me, you know how difficult that must have been!  I knew this had to be a decision David made and not one that I talked him into.


On Saturday, May 20, 2006 my prayers were answered when David said that he felt like we should look into adoption!!  Both his mother and I are adopted, so we were very comfortable with this option.  Well, of course, I wasted no time and on Monday, June 5th we had an appointment to meet with a local agency, DeColores Adoptions International in Moss Bluff.  I remember waking up that morning feeling very frightened; thinking what were we doing and was it the right thing?  Which of course seems crazy because this was what I had been praying for all this time!  But God is so good, after I finished praying I went to read my devotion for the day and it began with the title An Astounding Affirmation, and the first sentence after that read..."A few years ago, my husband, John and I felt led to pursue international adoption.”  It is truly the first time that I can say God spoke to me and I had such a peace moving forward from there.


We met with the agency and after discussing the countries they represented we felt called to adopt from China.  China’s adoption system seemed very efficient and babies out of that country were healthier.  Also, 95% were girls.  We never had said we wanted a girl, I just wanted another baby, but if we could choose, it would be great to see some pink in this house of blue!!  We filled out an application, paid our fees, put together our dossier and began preparing for what we were told would be a 12-14 month wait.


Fast forward 3 1/2 years!!  God has truly blessed us over the past few years, and as hard as waiting has been, the fact that it was totally out of my control actually made it easier.  In the beginning I would try to crunch numbers to figure out if she was born yet, etc. but peace came when I let that go and put my trust in God's timing!  Through so many ups and downs, one of the biggest being when it looked like the chance to adopt might fall through all together, God was there. 


Every time we began to doubt or feel discouraged, God would send us some encouragement.  We are blessed with family and friends who have waited along with us and prayed for us.  During the past 3 ½ years, I learned that:


1.  God speaks to me all of the time, it’s just me who has to listen;
2.  God may say "yes", but wait;
3.  His timing is perfect, and
4.  I can't plan anything better than He can!


All of which I should have already known, but now, will never forget!!


Now we are in February, 2010; the wait time is still expected to be another 3-4 years and our agency has just become qualified to participate in China's special needs program.  That has never been an option for us before so after some time praying we decided to look into it.  On Thursday, February 4th we met with our pediatrician who helped us go over the list of potential needs that our family could look into.  That evening I emailed our survey into our agency.  By Monday, February 8th we had been sent 3 possible files to review...WOW!  Exciting but not a position we ever wanted to be in...we had always said that we didn't pick the two we already had, how could we pick the third?  One of the files stood out to us, our pediatrician felt like her development was on target, and since her need is related to her vision, I had two eye doctors look at her information. With the weight of emotion pushing down on me, I began to pray that night and the next morning that God send us a "burning bush" (I'm not a subtle hint kind of girl), and this was just not a decision we could make on our own. 


I had been researching her condition and every site seemed to indicate that it was caused by  a much more serious neuromuscular disease.   I just kept feeling like there had to be something that said you could have just this condition and nothing else.  On Tuesday (2/9) as I was doing more investigating on the computer I found a link to a research lab studying her particular condition.  They were looking at this condition as being hereditary in families.  There was a contact person's name at the bottom and after a few minutes I decided to call...what did I have to loose?  After telling her my story, she offered to let me talk to one of the doctors.  After a few moments, an actual physician came to the phone (a miracle in and of itself) and when I told her why I was calling, she asked if I had medical information and photos.  I said yes, but it was limited and she proceeds to tell me that she understood because she has a daughter adopted from China...I immediately knew God had led me to her. 


She offered to look at the file and photos I had if I would email them to her.  Of course I didn't hesitate and she responded very quickly wanting a phone number to call me back at that evening.  In the signature line of her email were also her credentials...not only was she over the research lab, but she was also a professor at an Ivy League school!  This was the burning bush I had been praying!


All afternoon I prayed that God would speak through her to us and give us a clear direction with this child.  I also called some friends and asked them to do the same.  Well, God is faithful and hears our prayers….when she called she shared a lot of medical knowledge and began to tell me what she saw..the baby appeared interactive, she sat in a tripod fashion which was good, balanced, focused on the camera, her weight was low, but the growth of her head was “beautiful”, etc.  Of course I was totally aware that none of this was a medical diagnosis, but just an opinion.  What stood out the most to me during our conversation was that she kept referring to what her heart was telling her.  Then she says that if she had this file in front of her to consider she would not hesitate to adopt!  I felt as if it was God himself telling me this.  I told her “I don’t know you, but I want you to know me. I am a Christian, and I have prayed all afternoon that God would speak to us through you, and I believe He just did”!  We hung up just as David drove up in the driveway and after quickly telling him what she said neither of us had any doubts about moving forward!  The first persons we told were the boys and they were so excited to know that they now had a sister!!  We were over the moon!!


Well, a few hours later I received an email from our adoption facilitator who said that they had called the orphanage and found out that the baby might be a higher risk referral than thought.  The orphanage said she could see fine, but her language and motor development lag somewhat behind; that she could not stand up alone and would only stand or walk when holding on to something.  We felt like we had been punched in the gut.


It’s hard to understand how you can be so elated one minute and defeated the next.  I didn’t sleep well that night, but somewhere in the middle of the night I remember thinking hadn’t I prayed to see my child’s first footsteps and maybe that was why she wasn’t walking??  Didn't we want to be the ones celebrating the "firsts" in her life??  In the morning, David showed me a verse he had been studying in John 14:1 where Jesus tells his disciples “Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me.”  We both found comfort in this scripture.

Maybe God had wanted to “test” us a little and see if we would trust in Him.  I just know in my heart that she is going to be fine and that she is the child that God has planned for us all along.  I am filled with such an amazing peace and free of doubt.  We love her so much!!


I contacted our agency on Wednesday (2/10/10) and late that evening our request to adopt this baby, known to us as Eva, was forward to the CCAA in China.  We expect to bring her home within the next 4 months.  It’s going to be so hard to wait while looking at her picture.  We couldn't love her more if she was physically here.  I wonder how she is, who is rocking her to sleep and I constantly pray for God's hedge of protection around her.  The boys also pray for her every night; we don't go anywhere without wanting to buy her something (evidenced by the full room waiting for her) or hearing the boys say "I bet Eva would want that".  More than anything I wish she could somehow know her family is coming very soon to bring her home where she belongs!!  

Letting our family and friends know has been the most exciting time in my life!  I was very excited to announce my engagement and marriage; pregnancies and births, but this is so different.  My insides shake every time I talk about her…it is indescribable joy!!


Thank you for reading about our journey thus far and for sharing in this time of our lives with us.  May you find comfort and encouragement from our story.

Kelly