November is national adoption month. We are very strong advocates for adoption in our family. We are a large, close knit Christian family. We love children and have had the privilege of having children biologically and through adoption. We have been told by others that we take the scripture verse in the bible in James 1:27 literally that talks about taking care of widows and orphans. In our experience there is no difference. A child is a gift from God no matter how they come into your family.
We don’t believe in luck…we believe that God has a plan for everything and everyone’s life. This is a story that is almost too unbelievable to be true.A story that brings tears to our eyes every time we think about it.A story that had the whole court room talking about when we shared our story with the finalization of our son. It is how God brought Aiden Gabriel into our family.In March 2016, I had the privilege of traveling to Kinsasha, Congo in Africa with my daughter.Her husband and her had been in the process of trying to adopt a little girl, but government hold ups etc. made it an almost 4 year process. When they finally received news they could travel, they decided my son-in-law would stay back with the other children in the home and I would go with to help bring home their long awaited daughter.I have traveled overseas quite a few times and into some pretty rough places.
But this had to be the saddest most neediest place I have ever seen.While in Africa, we decided to visit several of the orphanages. One in particular tugged at my heart and would not leave my mind.The children greeted us with song although, the faces of some were telling another story. A baby with a huge hernia on his tummy sat in the doorway where we entered holding an empty metal bowl on the dirt ground.They were out of food that day and 49 of them were living in overcrowded conditions in basically two rooms.I remember sweat pouring off of me from the heat.
side and an odor.There was one little boy who wore a plaid blue long sleeve shirt,for a brief moment I thought of how hot he must be but then reminded myself of how grateful he probably was to have a shirt to wear. He was chatty and clung on to one of the ladies who had visited there before. The children were so longing to be held and touched and loved.The caretakers were few,but were trying to do their best with what little they had. We were able to take pictures with the children and left them a treat and some funds for food. The poverty here was that of a whole different level!
When I returned home I promised myself that I would never forget those children and started praying for them daily and calling them my 49ers (for the 49 children left in the orphanage. A few months later, my daughter called me and was all excited. She said you will never believe this, but one of the kids from the orphanage is on Second Chance Adoptions. My daughter is very faithful to follow Second Chance and shares the children on her facebook in hopes of them finding a family.We jumped right onto the web site page and were sure this was one of the 49 children out of the orphanage that we had been praying for. I grabbed my photo album and saw the precious little boy in the plaid shirt. We took this immediately to the Lord in prayer and decided to pursue this and see what the Lord had in store for us. We then contacted Second Chance.This was one of the quickest, smoothest adoptions we have ever done.You can only imagine the joy we felt when we held him in our arms as I met him again as his mother!! We have so much to be thankful for in the wonderful people who played such an important role in bringing Aiden into his forever family.Thank you, Cyndi Peck, Michelle Warner, Christi Guinard and his first adoptive mom, for believing in us as a family.We sometimes sit down with Adam and look at the photo album of my trip and enjoy hearing about some of his life in Africa.They all knew that this was a connection made by God.They too saw this perfect plan from God. How He brought one little boy all the way from Africa,from that particular orphanage to our attention and into our home still makes us in AWE of His wonderful glory and grace!! Luck, no, we saw a true miracle from God!! Adam wakes up happy every day and goes to bed with a smile on his face. He is very bright ,funny and loving, athletic and can play the drums well beyond his years. He knows how much Jesus loves him and the love of a family!
Our story does not end there.This past June, Adam welcomed his new sister,” Davina Grace” into the family, also a Second Chance child. November 14th, we had our final post placement visit for her. Not a more appropriate time of the year. Sort of ironic as when we started this journey of adoption,we originally were going to adopt from Romania, but the country shut down. The country she is from is in that realm of Eastern European countries. Davina caught our eye right off and captured our hearts.Would this realistically happen again? Well ,with much prayer and a little hesitation,we contacted Second Chance again. How could we ever even of doubted what God can do. Much to our delight,Cyndi Peck called us to see if we would be interested in interviewing with the adoptive mother. After talking with her,we were so extremely grateful as she choose our family for this special little girl! We could hardly wait to meet her and knew her right away at our first meeting. She looked just like her picture. She was so petite and cute as a button. Our hearts just melted for truly God had brought another special little one into our lives. All adjustments are different in children, but hers was extremely easy.We knew once again,that she was home with her forever family and it was so meant to be.She is blossoming! She is sweet and silly and mellow. A girly girl who loves dress up and doing her nails with her older sisters. Adam and her are two peas in a pod, and he is a nurturing proud big brother. We give so much thanks and praise to our Lord and Savior!! Our quiver is full, our hearts are touched with the addition of our very “Special” children.Please consider opening your hearts and home to a child for we believe every child deserves a home and family of their own.We highly recommend Second Chance. They are very open, honest,work quickly,are professional, but yet so very personal. When we sit at our Thanksgiving table this year,we will not forget those who played a very important role in bringing these children in to our home. Davina often comes up to me and says, “Mom, does Jesus love me?” The answer is yes, more than you will ever know.I f you feel lead,don’t be afraid to step out in faith,the positives far outweigh the negatives. People often tell us that we are such special people to do this, NO, these kids have blessed us beyond belief!! May God bless you this holiday season!!
JEREMIAH 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.