Thursday, June 21, 2007

How Our Journey Began.............

Actually quite simple. I had been praying about adopting again for months. Because of all the talk about the impending Hague and uncertainty in Guatemala, and too because our last adoption took so long, that I felt strongly our next child would not be coming from there. Don't get me wrong my heart will always be in Guatemala. It is Chloe's birth country. We have a wonderful foster family that we adore there, and we hope one day to be able to go back to visit them as a family. But I just knew that my heart could not take another adoption from there.
Therefore, I started researching both Vietnam and Taiwan. I really liked what I read about both countries, and I also liked that Taiwan the in country stay is only 5 days. But the more I researched Taiwan the more I thought about Vietnam. Was God leading me to Vietnam?
The more I began to research Vietnam the more I felt peace. Why? Taiwan has been doing adoptions for a long time now and the program is very stable and usually runs smooth. Vietnam had just reopened and there would be lots of unknowns. Surely after our last adoption taking almost 2 years you would think I would choose Taiwan. Somehow deep in my heart I knew that God was calling us to Vietnam. Where in the world was we going to get the money to adopt again and Vietnam of all places where the in country stay is 2 to 3 weeks and travel is so expensive. Where indeed! I started praying 1st of all if it wasn't the Lord's will and just my own selfish wants for Him to remove that desire from my heart. The more I prayed, the more I wanted it. Late one night after I prayed, I could not go to sleep for nothing in the world. I got up and got on the computer, just surfing, I ran across a blog and when I opened it up it was the answer I was looking for. It was about a family that already had 4 biological children and had adopted this past fall 2 beautiful little girls from Vietnam. As I read on I got so excited because you see this guy was a Youth Pastor. My husband Daniel is the Student Minister at our church.
Somewhere in his blog he said, "if you feel called to adopt do not let something like money and thinking you can't afford it stand in your way." Wow, I felt like he was talking to me. I was sitting there thinking, if they can do it surely we can too. So me and the Lord started working on Daniel!

At first he said "NO" we are too old, we are 42 years old. Then he said, "we can't afford it we are still paying on Chloe's adoption". I just said pray about it. Every day I would ask him was he still praying about it and every day he would say yes but the Lord hadn't showed him that this was what we should do. So I just kept praying for the Lord to open his heart and his mind to adopting from Vietnam and he did.

While I start to worry that maybe this desire to adopt again was my own selfishness and not coming from the Lord at all, Daniel knew all along. You see my husband has the most Godly wisdom of anyone I know and I started thinking if the Lord hadn't showed him by now then maybe it is not meant to be, because I knew if it was Daniel would know. He knew, but he was trying to hold off to my birthday..................

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