We Were Called

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. ~ Matthew 18:5 

Randy and I have talked about adoption before we were even married, before we were even engaged. We both had a desire to add to our family through adoption. Through the years we would talk about it off and on always pulling back due to finances. We thought that someday we would do it, but we thought we would adopt through the foster care system in our state. Little did we know what God had planned for us.

About 5 years ago a couple from our church adopted a little girl from China, and though we didn’t know them very well, we fully supported them through prayer and were very excited for them. Had we known then what we know now, we would have helped to support them in other ways as well. God planted the seed for us to adopt internationally through their experience. They have become very good friends and a tremendous support to us.

We attended a Winter Jam concert in January 2010 and we heard several speakers supporting international adoption sponsored by a particular adoption agency. We came home with the feeling that God was saying, “You are correct that you do not have the upfront finances to fund an international adoption, but I do…get started!” How can you tell God no?! Although we tried to say no, we just couldn’t do it. So began this long-and-sometimes-difficult-but-so-worth-it journey to our daughter, Rachel.

On March 11, 2011 our dossier (compilation of our documents for adoption – a file that took many months to compile) was sent to China. We received a call the same day asking about the special needs we had listed on our medical checklist….the list of medical needs we felt we could handle. The questions were quite specific and it made us wonder if they already had a child in mind, though we had been told our first chance at a call for a referral would be March 22^nd.

Randy and I both had been drawn to children with vision impairments. When we made our medical checklist we researched many special needs and our list of what we felt we could handle was quite extensive. We did not highlight vision needs, it was just one of the many we had listed. So when we received the call on March 15^th, we were shocked that we received a call so soon, but I can’t say we were shocked at receiving a referral for a little girl with post-operative congenital glaucoma. We know that’s how God has worked throughout this process. He has put desires in our hearts and then fulfilled them time after time. And we are so thankful for that!

We are very happy to be adding little 4 year old Rachel to our family. Our boys are just as excited as we are! God has been faithful to help us financially and showed us ways to pay our fees that we had not considered in the past. We have covered all but the travel portion, and now we are tapped out, but we know God WILL provide. We seek His wisdom and provision daily. We ask that you would please pray for us and for God to supply what we need to bring our little blessing home from China.