My hope is in You, Lord

The title of my post today comes from the title of one of Aaron Shust's songs. After I dropped Trey off at work this morning and made my way home, this song played on the radio and I couldn't help but tear up and get goosebumps (if you are a female, I'm sure this happens to you more often than not with a good song or book or commercial, if you are like me :) ) Anyways, the words were what I needed today (the link to hear the song is at the bottom of the post) as I share some important news in our adoption journey.

As most of you know, we came across triplet girls who were recently orphaned (in August) after their mother died and their father abandoned them. The events that led us to them were orchestrated only by God and for the past almost 4 months, we've been journeying down the road to adopting them, working with the head social worker (Ms. Hyacinth) in Malawi. It hasn't been easy waiting on emails and phone calls, and well it had been about a month and a half since we had heard anything last. So, Saturday morning I gave Hyacinth a call to check on how things were progressing (she had asked me to let her contact me, this was back in mid October, and said it should be awhile before she had any news). She answered her phone and I told her who was calling. I explained that I had received an email the day before (last Friday) from a worker at the hospital where the triplets had been born, stating that they were up to their birth weight and had all been placed in foster homes (we had known one had been placed in a foster home, but not that the other two had). She then apologized that her email had been down for the past couple of weeks and so she had no way of contacting me, but that the information I received was accurate. She said that while we were pursuing the girls adoption, these other families were also and even though they are not Malawians, they have first rights to the girls since they are in the country. My heart sank, I had prepared myself the day before (when I was reading the email from the hospital worker) that this news could very well mean that the girls would no longer be eligible, but I was also still optimistic (I guess I see the glass as always being half full). I had cried a lot on Friday and the tears welled up in my eyes again as we continued to talk about our adoption. She said that things were done differently there and that we would have to be there to foster a child, etc. I then asked her if I could say a few things to her (silently asking God to give me the right words to say, praying for favor as I spoke with her), I continued (I'm going off of memory here-so please bare with me), "Ms. Hyacinth, we want nothing more than to do things the way that they are supposed to be done. We chose Malawi because we know that God is in control of all things and we believe He has led us to adopt from your country, led us to you, and will lead us to the right children. We, as Christians, aren't called to walk the easy road, but to walk the road less traveled and to bring all glory and honor to Him in doing so. I know that adoption is still very new in Malawi and that most families have to still foster before they can adopt, but again we want to do things right and this is where we ask for your help." Her response brought a huge smile to my face as she said, "We have made exceptions to the foster care adoption rule and let me share with you how we have to do that. I think you are a wonderful person and you could pass every test in the United States to tell you yes you can adopt, but I need to meet you and my office needs to evaluate you. So, we need you to come to Malawi and we can go from there as to finding children already eligible." She had to cut the conversation short (after about 20 mins on the phone) because she was preparing dinner for her family, but she said that she was looking forward to my email with questions on how my visit to Malawi would go (about how long I'd have to go there, what paperwork to bring, would they have referrals from children ready when I got there?, etc). A conversation that started out in heartbreak ended in a note that only brought glory to the One who deserves all our praise! That has and will always be our goal in our adoption journey....that He may be known!!!

It would be a lie to tell you that my heart doesn't still hurt... a lot, that I don't still think about the girls, because I do. I still look at their picture everyday, since the day I first saw their beautiful eyes. But I am happy to say that they are all up to and past 5 pds. and since we won't have any issues now with the court of sharing their names and photos, Tadala ("we are blessed") and Takondwa ("we are happy") are being fostered by the clinical officer who delivered them (her and her husband don't have any other children) and Tamanda ("we are grateful") is being fostered by a maternity nurse from the hospital, that has taken care of the girls since they were first born. I'm so happy and grateful that they have families and I feel so blessed to have been able to pray for them (and I so thankful that they had people, YOU ALL, praying for them too)!!! Here are a couple of pictures of the girls (may you look at them, as we do daily, and remember to keep them in your prayers!!).

What do we do now? Well, we are waiting on grant replies. We are waiting on our 1-600A Form (our petition from the gov't to bring orphans into the United States) to be approved (which will be no later than Jan. 9th). We are waiting on a response from Hyacinth with instructions on when to travel and what to expect when I go. We need to raise more funds! We have raised some funds for our adoption expenses (thus far) and have paid a lot out of pocket, and as we look to the next month, or two or three, as we near the end, we know we still need to raise at least $14,000 more (this is the amount if we bring home one child, so the cost is still a little unknown) but we are confident that God will provide, either through grants, through the job that He has provided to Trey, and/or through our friends and family that have said yes! to helping bring the orphaned into families that love Him! Thank you so much for praying for us, loving us, encouraging us, getting excited with us, crying with us, financially supporting us, but most importantly THANK YOU for following with us in God's command to care for the orphaned, the fatherless in their time of need!

"REJOICE in HOPE, be PATIENT in TRIBULATION, be CONSTANT in PRAYER." Romans 12:12

With Much Love,

Ashley