God Answers Prayers!

As of Thursday... Dave's birthday no less... USCIS (aka immigrations) approved us to bring a child into the U.S from a Hague country!  One big step down.  We are waiting for the official hard copy of the approval letter this week, then we will submit our dossier documents to our agency.  Praise the Lord!!  Getting closer little guy... mom and dad are hurrying as fast as we can!

Last week we also met an online friend that adopted her daughter from the same orphanage as Z!  There are a couple of orphanages in his town and also the one she was at was fairly big... about 200 kids.  So, we weren't sure if she was at the same one that she was.  Until her little girl saw his picture and immediately said, "Oh, he is blind and his room was close to hers!"  You can imagine how excited this news was.  Someone knows him!  I also found out that his orphanage is one of the better ones in his country.  Not perfect, but at least we learned that the staff genuinely love the children there.  They try really hard with the kids, but they are understaffed.  It's so awesome to talk to her about the experiences she has had with adopting from his orphanage.  Since starting this adopting process, we have met some amazing people.  I love how God has connected us with so many people who can help prepare for this new little addition in our lives!

I got asked a while ago what made us decide to adopt.  You know, it's always been in the back of my mind... even as a teenager.  When I first met Dave we actually talked about doing foster care.  Went to a couple classes early in our marriage.  The timing was not right back then and we knew it.  But I was not willing to give up on my dream.

I always wanted to make a difference in a child's life, even when I was a teen babysitting.  I actually thought that I wanted be a special education teacher, much like my favorite author, Torey Hayden.  She wrote her first book a long time ago entitled One Child.  If you haven't read it, you should.  I first read that book in 8th grade.  It's about a teacher (Torey) who taught children that were labeled "garbage children."  The ones that didn't fit into regular classrooms.  The hard to reach kids.  One little girl was placed in her classroom as a last resort.  This little girl was very troubled and didn't know love.  Torey was able to show this girl unconditional love and she blossomed.  

After I read this book, I continued to read all of Torey's other books.  Each time I read another book, I felt so energized... like this is the life I want to live.  Like I could make a difference in a child's life.

Then... it seems life happened.  I went away for college.  I tried education courses to become a teacher one semester in college. I was just not dedicated to it at the time.  I still knew I wanted to make a difference in children's lives, but I was young and didn't want to put the effort of learning how to do lesson plans.  Then God blessed me with Hannah and I felt that I needed to take the easy way out.  To combined all the credit that I had and figure out the fastest way to get a degree!  So, getting a degree in STATISTICS was the easy way out :-).  LOL.

Tonight we watched a movie called "Untamed Love." This movie is based on the One Child book.  While watching it tonight, all the thoughts I had long ago while reading the book came flooding back to me.  Torey Hayden is an amazing person and one that I really admire. God knows my deepest desires and he has answered not only our prayers from July when we prayed for Z to find a family, but my prayers from long ago... to be able to make a difference in a child's life much in the same way as Torey did in her classroom.

I may not ever be able to be a special education teacher like I used to think I would, but I can tell you that I am excited that God has called our family to make a difference in a little boy's life, who lives far, far away.  This boy that we love!

I can't wait!!!  I can't wait to learn how to care for a blind child, who doesn't speak, is not toilet trained, does not eat by himself, does not dress himself, may not be able to hear... one that has been written off as not knowing anything.  I can't wait to show him the world and teach him who God is and to teach him that prayers are answered.  God has remembered him :-).

I hope to see many of you on Saturday.  Thanks for all who have signed up to help make this night a success.  We still need a few more desserts if anyone would be willing to make some.  Please respond here or on Facebook.  Or you could email me at hanstella9@yahoo.com