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Our Story
Trust in the
LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
~Proverbs 3:5
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said ”A journey of a thousand
miles begins with a single step.” Maybe the most incredible
story begins with but a single sentence.
Our story began ten years ago when Frank and I met on a blind
date. We were married two years later and so began our journey.
We settled into raising three teenagers, buying a home and
becoming more involved in our church. Life was comfortable and
we were doing all the things a good Christian family does.
Little did we know that God’s plan for our life was so
incredibly different from the life we had planned and well, the
one we thought we deserved, right?
On the other side of the world, a new born baby boy had been
abandoned in a hospital maternity ward. Alone and very sick. Our
son was waiting for us. God just had to prepare our hearts for
the most life-changing event one could every imagine. We were
suddenly confronted with adoption. “What God? Now?” Well, when
God wants you to do something, He makes sure you know it.
We started the paperwork in November of 2003 and received ‘the
call’ in January 2004 that our son was waiting for us. While in
country with Matthew’s adoption, it became clear to us that
there was at least one more child that was supposed to be part
of our home. Abbie joined our family in 2005. She bought an
entire new meaning to the word determined. Abbie was born with
Fibula Hemimelia. She had surgery at 21 months and received her
prosthesis in March 2006. She has never looked back. This child
has a spirit way beyond her six years! She has brought more love
and sunshine than I could ever imagine. After being home for
just a short time, God began whispering, “There is another. He
has been waiting such a long time. Can’t you open your heart for
just one more?” Andrew joined our family in 2007 at age three.
He was born with a cleft lip and palate. Life with Andrew is
never dull. Continually challenging, always interesting, but
never dull. We thought our family was complete. We now had three
teenagers with all the challenges typical of that age. We also
had three special needs preschoolers. We were doing our part. We
had answered Gods call to the “Fields of the Fatherless’”.
Wasn’t it someone else’s turn? No, once again we were asked to
trust. To step out in faith. We had another daughter and it was
time to bring her home. She was waiting. We traveled to Hannah
in 2008. She is my baby in every way. Hannah is now five and
still dances rather than walks. She is sunshine or thunderstorm.
There is no gray area with Hannah.
Have you been able to keep up with this crazy life? Yes, now
there are seven. Four under five. Our life consisted of
preschool and proms. New drivers and diapers. Life was certainly
never boring. We had children leaving the nest to begin their
own journeys. We settled into our new ‘normal’ routine;
parenting preschoolers. We could finally remodel our kitchen. It
was so long over-due. We were tired. Adoption has been the
biggest blessing we could ever have imagined. It has also been
the biggest challenge we could have ever experienced. We were
about to get the surprise of our lives. |
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Our family was growing once again. God was stretching us, asking
us to trust him. To step out in faith in a big way. This is the
same God who sent his only Son to die for us. Adopted us as His
own to become part of His forever family. How could we not
answer with a “Yes God, send me”? Was it a resounding yes? Of
course not. We are human. We are selfish. We don’t have the
money (nada). We are too old. We have more than we can handle.
To all of this, God’s answer is, “You are absolutely right. You
can’t do this, but I can.”
God never asks us to go where His grace won’t keep us. He is
glorified in our weakness. I am humbled and feel incredibly
blessed. I feel ill-equipped but covered in His grace. I will
soon be mom to at least two more. We will soon be traveling to
bring our two newest daughters home. They are waiting in China.
We are extremely excited but nervous as well. Once again we are
venturing down an unknown road with unseen pot holes to avoid
and steep mountains to climb. Thankfully, God already knows what
lies ahead and will be carrying us the entire way. Please pray
for our family as we grow once gain and become a family of
ELEVEN!!! Wow!“The King
will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” ~Matthew
25:40 |
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