This past year Obe and I embarked on one of the greatest
adventures of our lives. In February 2014 we launched our
fundraising efforts for a double adoption from Haiti. We needed to have at
least $10,000 to submit an application, start the Home Study process and we
were shocked, scared and lost! We made a couple of calls and set out to do a
fundraising kickoff event and in one week we raised over $12,000!!!! YES- you are
seeing the right amount of zeros! We thought we would breeze right through this
first stage of the adoption. We felt God had blessed this tremendously and
nothing could stand in our way. We thought, HOME RUN! Then the loud sound of a screeching brake
stopped us dead in our tracks. By May we were told that we
would not be able to adopt from Haiti due to a traffic violation arrest on our
FBI background report from 2006 without running the risk of
getting declined at the end. Then another issue was there was some documentation from the crèche in Haiti needed to be renewed and well that’s where
we’ve been the rest of the year. In June we decided we would take the risk and
continue with the adoption and in July while in Haiti we realized the
challenging part we would face is in the waiting for this documentation
to get renewed after all this is Haiti. A third world county with not efficient systems to get this done in a quick and efficient manner.
We have had many nights of wondering, praying and crying and
asking God, “What now? How long? What next?” Obe and I are committed to one day
having our children home but what do we do in the waiting? How long do we sit still and wait? Our home is ready;
our hearts are ready -so now what? Almost a
year later from the rush of raising the initial costs, the finishing of our
home updates and the excitement of finally starting the adoption process we come
to the next step of our journey: as we keep waiting for our babies from Haiti
to come home we will be serving and loving children in the Foster Care system.
We have decided to open our home, our hearts and shower with
love children that need a loving, nurturing and safe home. A couple weeks ago
at church, Obe taught about how our Plan A’s don’t usually go as we plan and
dream. Our Plan A looked like it was blessed, doors were opened, hearts were
opened to help us, after months of searching for a home right on time we got
our home, it all looked as if it would be smooth sailing. Obe and I jumped
right in and whooped and yelled started pedaling that boat as fast and hard as we
could….. and then the storm hit and our boat was definitely shaken, it was damaged and
broken. For the past five months we have sat with our shaken, damaged and
broken hearts. We have sat still with our God, we have cried in our God’s arms, He has caressed us through this, wiped our tears, helped us up and held our right hand as we
walk to what is next.
We ask for your prayers and encouragement. We want to thank
to the many that not only gave money but also joined our mission this past
year. Those who joined in our happiness, our desire, and our pain -you are on
this adoption journey with us. Those who prayed, they gave and helped others
give, those who have cried with us, been angry with us and sat in awe with us-
we thank you and ask you to continue praying for those two babies stuck in
Haiti (and the thousands everywhere) until they come home, to pray for us as we
continue to wait for our daughter and son but go and love the children stuck in
foster care, pray for the children that will be coming in to our home that are
in foster care (and the 400,000 other children in the Foster Care system of
whom 102,000 children are waiting for parents to adopt them) and for our
families support, love and acceptance of these children. We love you. We thank you. We can’t imagine
this journey without you.
No comments:
Post a Comment