The Adoption Process Begins

This summer I had the great opportunity to go to E. Asia for a month. While I was there I was able to visit an orphanage in the city where we were staying. First let me back up a little...

Shannon and I have talked for years about adopting a child. For whatever reason we have always wanted to adopt a child from E. Asia. Several months before I had the chance to go to E. Asia we began talking about tying to adopt a special needs child. Now back to where I was earlier...

When we visited the orphanage in E. Asia it just happened to be a special needs orphanage. The kids there were amazing. They just grabbed your heart. We actually got to go to this orphanage twice. Both times I spent a lot of time with one particular little boy. He is about 18 months old, was born with 3 toes on each foot, and no fingers. He was dropped off at the orphanage when he was 2 days old.

The last day I got to spend time with him was really hard on me. I held him for about an hour. I took him over to the window to watch it rain as he took in everything his little eyes could fix on. At one point another girl there was dancing around while everyone else clapped. I held this little boy on my knee while we watched her dance and he began to bounce up and down and got really excited. This was the first time I had seen him with any sort of excitement on his face. Shortly after this we had to leave and I had to lay him back in his crib. As soon as his little body hit the crib he began to try to roll over to get out of the crib as he cried horribly. He did not want to be put back in the crib and it ripped my heart out to see him lie there crying. I wanted so much to take him with me and vowed if I could I would come back and take him home one day.

While I was in E. Asia I began asking people about the chances of us being able to adopt this particular little boy. Everyone there told me the chances of that happening were very slim. Apparently you typically fill out the paperwork and let them know what type of child you are looking for and they match you up with a child. You don't get to choose the child or even the particular orphanage the child comes from. When we began the process a couple of weeks ago I asked the lady we were talking to about the chances of getting this little boy and she also told me that the chances were very slim, but she said we could always try and see what happened.

I gave the lady we are working with a description of the little boy and the name of the orphanage. She sent her guy to check on the little boy. It actually looks like we may have a pretty good chance of getting this particular little boy.

And this is where we find ourselves today! We have a pile of paperwork to fill out and a lot of money to come up with. The Lord is already working and doing amazing things. Here is the verse I am memorizing right now that was given to me while I was in E. Asia the day after leaving the orphanage for the last time...

Romans 4:18a & 21 (NIV) 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed ... 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

I don't have a promise from God that this little boy will be ours one day, but we do have a great longing in our hearts to make him a part of our family. It seems like the Lord is working things out, but we have a long way to go. Will you join us in praying for His will to be done.

We have found out that the little boy's name is Mei (pronounced May). We are praying that the Lord will allow us to bring him home! Join us!

TD