“An
invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may
stretch or tangle but it will never break. “ ~An ancient Chinese
proverb
Aron and I met through my best friend in high school ~ Missy ~
who went to college with Aron. We were friends for a few years
before we ever dated, and were married in October of ’98. We had
our first daughter ~ Kyra Ashlee ~ in March of ’03. Now 7, she
is such a smart, beautiful, and responsible girl. We had our
second daughter ~ Ryann Kate ~ in October of ’05. Now 4 ½, she
is a very sweet, animated, and free-spirited girl! They are both
totally awesome, and are so excited to bring Leah home!
We have felt called to adopt a little girl from China for 10
years, shortly after getting married. We quickly learned that we
were too young, and decided we would have two children
biologically (God willing), and then adopt a third. We had our
beautiful Kyra, and then turned 30 the following year. What to
do? I was torn. We got an information packet, and prayed about
it. I was pregnant in a couple of months. Prayer answered ~
check. We had our beautiful Ryann, and thought about what our
timing would be as far as starting the process. Plans going…
well, just as planned. Except for one tiny little problem. We
didn’t want anymore kids. Huh? We were supposed to do this,
weren’t we? But we truly felt complete with our two girls. We
could picture future holidays, and it was just the four of us.
And if I’m honest, we didn’t want to start over with even a 1
year old. Don’t get us wrong, we loved having two babies, and
would never trade that for anything. But we just didn’t want to
“start over” again, so to speak. So, even though I was confused,
our family was complete, period.
Fast forward a couple of years, and we were hearing from
friends, who were in the process of adopting from China, about
how the wait for a healthy little girl was stretching from 2
years to 4 years to 8 years. (And even more now!) Wow… we would
have been stuck in that timeline if we had begun the process
when we had “planned”. So that was why God took it off our
hearts. His timing is perfect, and it kept us from having a huge
age gap with our girls. Thanks God! On with the rest of our
lives.
Not so fast! Through a conversation at church, a friend
suggested the Waiting Child list for our friends that were
waiting. She explained that it was the special needs kids, the
process is around a year, there were many minor special needs on
the list as well as moderate and more severe, and all different
ages. Um… what was that I was feeling? Are we supposed to adopt
a special needs girl? No, that would be too much for us…
wouldn’t it? The nagging feeling wouldn’t go away, so I talked
to Aron about it. He wasn’t really sold, and truth be told, I
don’t know that I was either. But the feeling just wouldn’t go
away, and after more talking and praying, we were both on board.
We felt it was definitely God’s plan for us.
And let me assure you, it was a bit scary at the start, learning
about so many possible issues, and not knowing what we might
face. But after looking at the precious little faces month after
month, well before we were ready to accept anyone, we got less
scared about the special need, and more excited to be able to
give a home to one of God’s beautiful children. And let’s face
it, no one is perfect. You could have a child born to you with
just as many, if not more problems. Would you love them any
less? Of course not! We didn’t feel that this was any different.
So yet again, God’s plan and timing… perfect! Not that we would
expect anything less! |
Aron, Ryann, Jenn, and Kyra
Kyra
Ryann
Leah's sisters
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
~Mohandas Gandhi |
