Part Four

If you need to start from the beginning scroll down and look for Part One, Two and Three.

Part Four:



He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11.

This may seem like I am backtracking, but bear with me. As we were praying about whether or not to proceed with the adoption of YuanYuan this thought came to my mind over and over…We say we love the orphan. We say we believe that God says to care for the orphan. So shouldn’t we love and care for the orphan even when it is not convenient and even when it doesn’t fit into our simple little plan? 

So many things happened over the next few weeks that I just don’t want to forget. God was providing for the financial needs of the adoption in unexpected ways and we want to give Him the glory! In just over one month we were able to add a little over $7000 to our adoption account! So many friends and family purchased Ugandan necklaces, earrings, and bracelets from us. A talented and crafty friend from church made scarves and gave us some of the profits. We were given several monetary donations from friends…$30 here, $100 there, and even $1000 from someone! Some very sweet friends of ours even had us over for dinner one night and gave us some cash that they decided as a family to donate to us for Christmas…and then proceeded to tell us that they felt like God was urging them to give us the remaining balance that they had in their account at their adoption agency (which just so happened to be our agency as well) because they had had to put their adoption on hold for awhile because of a pregnancy. Wow! We rejoiced in the ways in which God was providing!

We had a small but wonderful Christmas together. It was fun to talk about how next Christmas would be so different with a new little one. We sent a care package to John Thomas and got some updated pictures. He was still showing signs of cyanosis and we prayed that God would make a way for us to go get him quickly. It is so hard to look at pictures of a child, your child, knowing that they are sick and you can do nothing about it. We continued to trust that God was in control though. 

During the months of December and January Aaron and I talked a few times about how the desire to have a daughter had not gone away. But the conversation always ended with, “I just don’t see how it is possible.” We had filled out a form with our agency and listed the age range and special needs that we might be comfortable with for a second child but we had not gotten a call about any particular child. I found myself looking at our agency’s waiting child lists again, even though I had told myself I wouldn’t do that. It was very hard because at times I felt guilty that I wasn’t content with this precious gift of a son. Little YuanYuan was growing in my heart…but in a new place! A place I didn’t even know was there! That spot in my heart that was there for a daughter though was still empty. The desire for another daughter would not go away. I prayed about it every day, multiple times within the day! 

Then, on January 9^th I got a call from Karla, our social worker. She wanted to talk to me about a little girl whose file they had just received. This was a little girl that Karla had actually met back in August when she was in China visiting some of their new partnership orphanages. I got a few basic facts about the little girl and then told Karla I needed to talk to Aaron. Well, the conversation did not go as I had hoped. Aaron did not want to see her file or put it on hold. The financial aspect of adopting two children was just too much for him. I had to tell Karla no…and I was heartbroken. This seemed like the answer may have come…and maybe we were not supposed to also adopt a little girl at this time. Adopting two at one time was never in our original plan…but it was something that I had become very comfortable with. But I knew, without a doubt, that if it was God’s plan for us then He would unite our hearts. And if my wonderful, perfect for me husband did not want us to proceed then I had to support that. We committed to pray about it but I told Karla that we could not put her file on hold. 

I laugh now, that I thought this time around the adoption process was going to be a little easier. Again, we were in a dark time…but right where God had put us! It was comforting to be reminded by Karla even, that this situation was allowed by God and that whatever the ending…it was going to be beautiful. 

Aaron and I had some precious prayer time together over the next few days. I am so thankful for his leading, his heart, his love for me. I did not try to “convince” him of anything. I just prayed that God would unite our hearts again and give us peace. I felt like God kept whispering to me…Trust. 

To be continued in just a bit...