Finding Home Part 3

Yesterday I promised you a story of an amazing answer to prayer, so let me begin with that. I mentioned as well that we had been planning on adopting two 3-5 year old children who had been in an orphanage and had thereby suffered a life without love and affection. We knew there would be challenges, but were willing to take those on.

Sometime before we were to leave for Romania, a close friend called me one day and asked what exactly I was hoping to adopt, meaning boy, girl, age, etc. I found myself hesitating to answer, because in my heart of hearts I knew exactly what I was hoping for, but was afraid to say it out loud. She challenged me to share it anyway, but I continued to struggle inwardly “to put it out there”. I knew I was afraid to trust God and afraid to end up being disappointed when I didn’t get what I had asked for. I finally did tell her, though, that what I was really hoping for was a newborn baby girl. I immediately added a disclaimer and acknowledgement that babies were next to impossible to adopt and that I didn’t really expect to be able to bring home a baby girl. My friend reminded me of the verse Matthew 18:19: "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” and promptly asked if I was in agreement with her to ask for a baby girl. I swallowed hard and told her, hesitatingly, that yes, I was. She pounced on it and told me that she would be checking up on me and asking if I was actually praying together with her for it. (For the record-she did).

Back to preparations. We continued to gather information and were put in contact with a woman in our province who had come back from Romania after adopting a young girl and who was now helping others prepare to go. When she found out how we were planning on landing in Bucharest with no one to meet us and how we thought we would magically find an interpreter somewhere, her response was (to Bob), “Oh, you poor, naïve man!” Turns out she was right and turns out she was an incredible gift from God to us. She made sure that someone would be waiting at the airport for us when we landed, that we would have a place to rent while we stayed in Bucharest, and that we would have an interpreter to help us find children available for adoption.

So, as I mentioned yesterday, just 2 short months after Bob and I decided to go to Romania, we were on a plane headed for Bucharest (the capital city). Somewhere between Frankfurt and Bucharest I remember Bob and I turning to each other and wondering, with panic in our eyes, what exactly we thought we were doing! It really hit home at that point that we were somewhat out of control at this point and that there was no turning back.

We landed in Bucharest, immediately dealing with culture shock as we walked from the plane, passing armed guards and into an airport with broken down doors and intermittent lighting. Once we were through customs and had claimed our baggage (including several boxes of donated medical supplies) off of the baggage claim (which looked like it would break down at any moment), we moved on to meet our contact. She was holding a sign with our names, just like in the movies. Except there was no limousine waiting for us.

As we walked with her outside to our car, she turned to us and told us that she had good news for us. She told us then, casually, that our God loves us beyond measure and that He was pleased to answer our prayers, hesitant as they were on my part. She didn’t tell us in those words of course, but rather by saying, “If you want, you can adopt a new born baby girl. Your interpreter has been in contact with a new mother and has begun to make arrangements.” IF WE WANT? Oh yes, we want! I can still not tell this story, even type it here, without weeping at the goodness of our Lord. We did not deserve this gift, but we gladly accepted it.

Without a doubt, God had a plan for this newborn baby girl and without a doubt, He was working to bring her home.

From that very moment, Katy (named after the friend who asked me to pray with her) was our daughter. We never looked back. I remember lying in our bed that night, naming her, together with Bob, and marveling at the love in my heart for a baby I had never seen, or even heard of until that day.

More to follow tomorrow.