I have asked myself and Michael this question often in the past few months. I've been asked by friends and family as well as our social worker for our home study. It is surprising how hard it has been to answer this question. With some time to reflect and see God's fingerprints at different points in our lives, the picture is becoming more clear. I would like to try to explain how God has brought us this far.
Both Ethiopia and adoption have occupied places in my heart for as long as I can remember. That was it. They were just small seeds that God watered for many years before they started taking root and eventually grew.
God blessed us with two healthy daughters, so our "back-up" plan of adopting if we could not have children never came out of the shadows. The next time I can recall thinking about adoption, Amelia was in kindergarten (4 years ago). Her teacher had one adopted daughter and was in the process of adopting another. When Amelia was in second grade, her first grade teacher adopted a little boy as a brother to her two biological daughters. Starting to see God? Well, I was. I started telling Michael that I had the feeling God was preparing us...but it wasn't time yet.
God shook my foundation with the earthquake in Haiti. As we watched the aftermath, our hearts began to break for the number of children that would be orphaned. How can we be blessed with so much and not share? About a month later, a friend literally draged me to a bible study by Jen Hatmaker over her little book Interrupted. After reading the first chapter, I bought two more books: one for Michael and one for Michela (13 yrs old). I knew right away this was a journey we were going to have to take as a family. Michela's response was "Let's sell everything and move to Africa." It's funny looking back that she at least had the going to Africa part right. So God interrupted our lives and made it very clear that He had BIG plans for our family, but we still did not know what.
Around this same time, Michela participated in 30 Hour Famine and discovered how it feels to be really hungry. We dicided to sponsor a child through World Vision. When we sat down at the computer I went straight to the children in Ethiopia because that is where my heart was. We sponsor a beautiful 14 year old whose birthday falls on our wedding anniversary. I started carrying her picture in my wallet, praying for her, sending her letters and looking forward to hers. I found myself wishing she could be my daughter and having to explain to the girls that we could not adopt her because she already has parents. Ding! Ding! Ding! So I started to pray that if it was God's will for us to adopt a daughter from Ethiopia he would do ALL the work in Michael's heart. WOW! The power of prayer!!! In July, we started the process to bring our little girl (LG) home.
But that wasn't the end; it was only the beginning! God has opened our eyes to a broken hurting world. A world where 163 million children have no one to love and care for them. I believe God puts it best in Micah 6:8
O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. NLT
People, there is no going back. What has been seen cannot be unseen. I am praying that God will inturrupt your life too.
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