Adoption is a miracle. Truly. That God would choose us, love us, and pursue us is beyond comprehension to me. And then, that he would then allow us be a part of the miracle of adoption is such a testament to his love and supernatural power. It is through this same power that the Lord led our family to adopt. We brought home our first miracle from India in 2010 at the age of three years old. Her name is Priya Grace, which means “Beloved Grace.” And she is beloved. Sleepless nights and 15 hours a day of play-dough (or so it seems!) can’t compare to the joy that our new daughter has brought to our lives. Shortly after bringing her home, we knew we were called to adopt again.
We applied for our 2nd adoption one year after bringing Priya home. The second time around wasn’t quite as smooth. For one thing, we only had one salary from which to save since I resigned from my previous job to care for Priya. Secondly, India made many changes to the adoption process, which meant a longer waiting period. This made us a little anxious, but we felt God calling us and we obeyed.
After two years had passed and we still had no referral, we began to get frustrated. We were spending extra money to renew paperwork and continue with the adoption process. There were times when we wondered if maybe we had misheard or misunderstood God’s call. My husband went through some health issues in early of 2012 that led him to be hospitalized for several weeks. Financially, this took a huge toll on us. We had to take money out of our adoption savings account in order to pay medical bills. Again, we wondered what God was up to and how in the world we would recover financially from this setback.
Of course, God already had a plan that he was working out; we just didn’t know it. One Sunday in February 2013, our pastor and church community surprised us with a HUGE blessing. We were on the stage of our church with other adoptive families, thinking we were part of a service about orphan care and adoption, which was partly true. What we didn’t expect, however, was that our church was about to present us with a huge financial gift towards our adoption expenses, a third of which was coming from a Show Hope Adoption Aid grant! We were in shock! Blown away! My husband and I both did the “ugly cry” and were humbled and in awe of our great God. The timing was impeccable and the gift was beyond gracious. The amount we received that day was the exact amount that we had taken from our savings to pay our medical bills. God replaced every penny of it. His ways are truly higher than our ways!
Fast-forward to 2014 and we have our new daughter home with us! Her name is Hope Sara. She is 6½ and an absolute joy. Although we definitely were confronted by the unknowns adopting an older child, these have been silenced by the voice of our great God. He is her healer, her redeemer, and her restorer. We traveled to India to get her before the adoption was even complete; we felt God calling us to go. We thought it was crazy. We would likely be in India waiting 4-8 weeks, or more, to finish the paperwork. Still, we went. And, as he usually does, God BLEW OUR MINDS. Everything that people told us was impossible to do…God did. We left for India and came home 10 days later, with our new daughter in tow. It was miraculous. God showed up and showed up big time. We’re humbled to continue to be a part of His beautiful plan.
We praise him for the way he moved in the hearts of our generous church and pastor and through the generous donors of Show Hope who made this adoption possible for our family. We will be forever grateful!
Ephesians 1:3-5 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world…In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ…to the praise of His glorious grace.”
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