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Our Story
Our
adoption journey began in 2005; we attended an AWAA
seminar May 21, which also happened to be our 3rd wedding
anniversary. It was a Saturday morning and we were going
to have to drive a couple of hours each way to the city
where the seminar was being held. Mark wasn’t sure he
wanted to spend his Saturday morning driving that far that
early in the morning, but I drug him into the car (almost
kicking and screaming). However, God opened Mark’s heart
during this seminar like only He can. As we began the
drive home we were in agreement that our daughter was in
China.
Throughout this process (waiting and waiting) the
coordinators at our agency kept telling us that it would
happen in God’s perfect timing. Which in our hearts we
believed but some days the wait seemed more than we could
understand. We would soon see God’s perfect timing in an
unexpected way. Mark not having seen a doctor in 10 years
because “I am fine I don’t have time for doctor’s
appointments” found he had high blood pressure when he
went in for his adoption physical. A few months later on a
follow-up visit to check his blood pressure he reported some
symptoms to his doctor which reluctantly Mark agreed to
have checked out. He had some tests on his heart which
were abnormal; on February 1st 2007, it was found that he
had blockages in2 of his coronary arteries that would
require heart bypass surgery. What a shock he was so
young—did I mention we both have healthcare backgrounds
(so of course we make the worst patients). Surgery was
scheduled for the next morning. We prayed together before
he left to go to surgery and after our prayer Mark said to
me “I know there’s a little girl in China I am destined to
meet”. Surgery went very well and Mark recovered quickly.
We are now living healthier lives than ever before.
Fast-forward to June 6th 2008 while on vacation we
officially applied to the “waiting children” program.
Knowing that we could still have another year of waiting,
but after much prayer we felt it was the right decision
for us. Only 10 days later we received the call that would
bring us to our daughter. On June 16th (the day after
Father’s day) our agency contacted Mark with the
information about a little girl with a heart defect. She
was 2 years old and living in an orphanage in Beijing. By
the time we called the agency back her file had been
locked down by another family. We believed that God had
the perfect family for her and it didn’t appear to be us.
However 3 days later the agency called back and her file
was available again. We locked her file down and I must
admit I was very scared—could I care for a child with such
a serious condition—it had not been long since the scare
with Mark’s heart surgery, could I go through this again?
We had to meet with a physician to review her file and
write a plan of care for her before we could move forward
with the adoption. No pressure but all this had to
completed and returned to our agency by 3 p.m. the next
day (Friday). I called a pediatric cardiology office in
our town and explained the situation and we were in the
office within a couple of hours—this was the 1st door God
opened. Next I wanted an international adoption physician
to look at her file as well, but the clock was ticking.
The physician agreed to take her file home that night and
call us after she got her children to bed. She talked with
us from 10 p.m. to midnight going over the file page by
page. I was up the rest of the night writing the plan of
care for our daughter. While I was on my way to work still
scared and doubting myself (I can’t even begin to describe
all the emotions I had going on). I was just praying that
we would know without a doubt that this was our child and
that nothing else would matter. My cell phone rang it was
Mark; he said “I know this is our little girl and it’s all
going to be okay”. God knew our fears and sent reassurance
every time we needed it. All of this to say everything we
thought could never be done in less than 24 hours was
accomplished with a great deal of Divine intervention. We
are so unworthy to have received such a gift. It is our
hope that our daughter will someday read this story and
know that this is the plan God had for her life from the
beginning. We can’t wait for her to meet all the wonderful
people who helped bring her home. |
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Fear not for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you
with My righteous right hand.
~Isaiah 41:10
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