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
As I clicked on a link to a blog post from a friend's status on facebook, I read what seemed to be my own thoughts, just not told or written by me. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with Jen Hatmaker and her family, but as my husband and I began our adoption journey, my dad called me one day and told me about how Jen and her husband, who is a pastor at a church in Texas, were in the process of adopting two children from Uganda. At that time, I was reading every blog I could find on adoption to Africa, wanting to get a feel of what this journey may be like. I followed Jen and her husband through the end of their adoption process and even had an opportunity to correspond with her about her adoption and the process in general. It is so neat how God has brought different people into our lives through this adoption process and at exactly the right time! So, back to the blog...Jen shared about how we (families who are in the adoption process, as she puts it "pre-airport scene" and "post airport scene") feel. All the words that adopting families want to say, but never really do...we do mean to say them sometimes, but can''t find the right words, or we think these thoughts, but never have the guts to come out and respond! I'm sharing this link with you, our family and friends, because I feel like it is an important part of how we feel and think and without us having to say it all because, well, Jen did it for us! There are so many parts of this process that have been so hard for us, some of which she talks about in "the things never to say or do", which we've had said to us or done to us. Then there have been so many blessings that we've experienced during this journey, and again Jen touches on those in the "things to say and do".
One of these blessings that comes to my mind this very moment is a particular Saturday. The girls and I had a play date at my friend Traci's house with her sweet children. She was cooking us lunch and we were bringing dessert. Right before we left our apartment to venture up the stairs to hers, I sat down to read a letter from a hospital worker, at the hospital where the triplets had been born. This was about a month after we had found them and had begun the process to adopt them. The email in short said that even though this worker had told me early in the week that the girls were available for adoption, that the girls were now wanted by three other families and that they wanted to each adopt one girl (so to split them into 3 different families). It didn't say that the families had started already or that this was going to happen, but just that they wanted to adopt them. Tears couldn't have flowed out of my eyes faster. I broke down and all right before I was about to step out of the house. Hannah and Noelle just looked at me. So to not scare them any further, I wiped my eyes and up we went. We knocked on the door, Traci opened, and I couldn't help it but greet her with tears. For the next few minutes I poured my heart out to her as the kids ran around her house. She was exactly who God knew I needed that day and at that time. She had to have been a bit overwhelmed, but instead of trying to find the "prefect" words to say, she had tears in her eyes and asked if she could pray for me! What a blessing! Thank you Traci for that blessing that I will ALWAYS remember!
Jen's blog, in a weird way, comforted me today. It helped me see that it wasn't just our family experiencing these things, but a lot of families and that it is okay to tell people what you want and how you feel! Today, for me, was one of those bittersweet days. I thought of all the pregnant women I know who will give birth soon and have already put together their nurseries and as I was plowing away at clearing the junk, books, and paper taking up space in our middle bedroom, I started thinking about how I'm going to decorate the room, what color I will paint the walls, then I paused.....the women I know about to give birth, most of them know what the sex of their baby is and how many babies they are having so that they can plan and be more prepared. They can go and pick out bed sheets, and hang clothes on hangers, they can even register for baby items (because their loved ones are throwing them a shower), but I have a bedroom that in a few days will be empty, I won't know what the sex of my babies are, how many we're exactly getting (we'd love to think that the triplets are ours, but we don't know that yet) and as exciting as I am about decorating our nursery, I can't help but greet my joy with tears. Joy because God is allowing us the special blessing of adopting orphans into our home so that we may love them the way their birth mother and father can't/won't but tears because tonight they are going to sleep without a mommy and daddy (us) to tuck them in, to kiss them goodnight, to tell them how much we love them and how much God loves them. Please keep us in your prayers as these days are hard and sometimes all we want to do is cry. Pray for strength! Pray for our babies that are in a room, a hut, an orphanage, or a hospital right now maybe not even realizing they are without a mommy and daddy!
Thank you once again for allowing me to pour out my heart,
My father recently gave us a book entitled "Orphanology" Awakening to Gospel-Centered Adoption and Orphan Care by Tony Merida and Rick Morton. Even just on the first chapter, I can say it is a book that I recommend everyone read. Let me share with you the first paragraph of the first chapter:
"Our prayer as we begin this journey together is for you to experience 1 John 3:1, "see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we would be called children of God; and so we are." And if you are a Christian already, please consider afresh God the Father's personal, particular, and persevering love for you, His adopted child. May your consideration of this love God gives create in you a desire to reflect His love to orphans."
That is our prayer too! We want our journey to reflect God's love...God's love for us as His children and God's love for the fatherless, abandoned, lonely. To look back, already, and think that this adoption may have already led people to Him or that it has already opened one or more persons eyes to the fact that God has called us all to care (in some way) for the fatherless, abandoned, lonely, the orphaned is so exciting for us!
We originally created this blog so that we could allow a window into our journey of adoption, whether it be to aid another family in an adoption to Malawi, help us to raise money for our adoption, to raise awareness of the fatherless and orphaned around the world, or just to provide a way for friends, family, and/or even strangers to know how to pray for us. Whatever the reason we first started this blog, it has become so much more for us...it is more than a window into our journey, it is a window in our hearts. We have shared our tears, smiles, laughter, dreams and frustration with you and with Thanksgiving soon approaching, we want this month to be focused on the thanksgiving we have in our hearts for all the things in our lives (including you, yes you who are reading this). So, let me take this time now to say "Thank you". Thank you for reading this post, for following our blog, for learning about us and walking alongside us on this journey, for giving your time to pray for us, for being willing to be used by God to help fund our adoption to bring our babies home! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
This past month a lot has transpired, so I want to share some updates with you:
We are excited to announce that our home study is DONE! Yup! If you haven't already heard via facebook, we finished up our home study and received our report around the second week of October. We are now working on sending out applications for grants (things have taken a bit longer with that since we have recently joined a new church and so our new pastor will have to fill out all of our applications-we will be meeting with him this next week about that). We know, however, that God's timing is absolutely prefect! We have sent in our i600a form (along with $890) to homeland security to be approved to bring orphans into the United States. That document is the last (for now) that stands between us bringing our babies home. After Malawi officials have given us a "for sure" "ok" on children there, we can then file our i600 form to approve those particular children as orphans (that doesn't take as long to be approved). Right now, though, we could be waiting up to 75 days from the date our documents were received which was October 24th. So roughly around Christmas or a little after is about the longest we'll have to wait, but AGAIN God's timing is prefect and if He wants it processed next week it will be and honestly we are anxious but we are also okay with waiting because we know that He has called us to wait upon Him! In the meantime, Hyacinth Kulemeka (the head social worker in Malawi) has told us to wait on her. She had been asking us to call her every week for an update on her end, but she has since asked us to email her our information and wait on a response from her. She has sent a team to the hospital where the triplets were born and to the village to get written permission from their family members for adoption, so we are waiting on her response. We have known all along that the triplets could possibly not be found eligible, or that another family could be working just as hard to adopt them and maybe even get to take them home instead of us, which has honestly been rough on us, but we know that God has the right children for us. He has led us to the triplets for some reason, whether that be to bring them into our home, whether it be to pray for them, whether that be to support their Aunt (who is caring for 3 of her own children and 3 of their older brothers and sisters), whatever the reason we want what God wants for us!
So, in short: we are waiting...on a lot of things...but still we are waiting and we know that God can and will be glorified even in waiting!
