One Busy Week...

This week we had 6 physicals and Mike and I did our State and FBI fingerprints. We were hoping to have professional pictures taken but the weather did not allow for that....considering the Lord controls the weather, I am ok with that :) We did have a friend at church take a couple quick unprepared family shots...we will call it good with that :) We are 100% done with our home study packet. When we return home from GA we will have our interviews with our social worker both seperate and together, we will also have our home visit/s. After our trip we will also start gathering yet more paperwork for our dossier to be submitted to Eastern Europe. Here are some pictures from this week...

Where are our hearts in all this...

Mike and I have always believed adoption to be a true example of Christ's love for His people. The bible says while we were yet dead in our sins, Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice, His life. He, the Lord of all the universe gave His life for the sin payment of poor needy sinners. What an example to follow. I am so thankful that when the Lord saved me, He did not think...oh no, I will not save Misty...she has way to much work in her heart and she will take way to much of my time. It was not about anything I had done, but it is everything about Him. We do this in obedience to the Lord. We do this to love and serve the child that no one else has wanted as Christ does for His church. We do this to bring honor and glory to our Lord.

On our way....

We have 3 goals before we leave in 2 weeks for GA.

1. To apply for passports. We were told today there is only a 4-6 wait till they arrive. We are not traveling anytime soon, however we need them to complete other adoption paperwork.

2. To have all of our home study documents turned it....this is an exceptionally long list.

3. To make a commitment to an incountry facilitator and have their forms turned in. Our facilitator will help our social worker with getting our paperwork together for our country. Our facilitator will also pick us up at the airport in our country, translate and pretty much be our life line everywhere we go, they will be there. They handle all the adoption paperwork while in country.

I feel like the Lord is leading us, as we walk with blinded eyes.

The country the Lord has put on our hearts is truely considered to be the "leap of faith" country for adoption.

You will not hear us name this boys location on our blog, we will refer to his location as Eastern Europe. Do we know where he is? Yes, we do. We know the exact place he is in. I can tell you it is a place where special needs children go, and they die there unless the Lord has an earthly family for them. It is a well known institution and everyone there needs our prayers. I think because we live in America we are very sheltered to the true reality of what is taking place where our son is. Death often comes very sudden to children there, often times from severe malnutrition. We have made adoptive family friends who have had their children die before they could get to them.

Tell me more about this boy....He is just precious! He was born with one eye and is blind in that eye. He is also listed as having some other medical conditions...we honestly do not know the severity of his needs as we have heard dr's there tend to over diagnois? If the Lord allows, he is our son no matter his needs. We desire and will equip him, Lord willing to acheive to his highest God given ability.

Why is this the leap of faith country for adoption? Most countries, you pick a child from a photolist, the child is put on "hold" and is waiting for you. Not with this country.....there is no commitment we can make to him until we have meet him! This is how it works.....after months and months of paper work and submitting forms. His country will, Lord willing...send us an invitation to come to their capital to the SDA (State Department of Adoption) office. Once there we will be shown referels of children that match what we were looking for ...example...special needs boy ages 5 and under...if we see one we are interested in, we take a train or plane to the child's orphanage or institution....once we meet with the child, we have the option of taking the child to the hospital for exams, we have full access to their medical records, we get to know the child. If we are not interested, we go back to the SDA for another referal...if we are interested, we make a petition to adopt the child. So...I need to make this clear...while we are desiring this child as our first choice...there is a possibility of getting there and finding out he is no longer available, that someone else has found him as their son. In that situation, we are 100% peaceful..we believe in the sovernigty of the Lord and know the Lord has our son waiting for us to find him. You are allowed 3 SDA appointmentss ( I believe ?)...then if you have not chosen a child, you are sent back to American with a failed adoption. This is why we are so so very carefully praying and asking you to pray. There is also a possibility that the judge can say..."No"...that happens also. Alot of times the Judge cannot understand why someone would want a child of such special needs and therefore will not grant an adoption. We could stress about all this, I choose to trust the Lord in what He has called us to. He has walked this journey before us, He is asking us to trust him.

Getting ducks in order...

Yesterday was one month since we found our son...we have learned much since then!! I have spent countless hours online and on the phone doing much much research and Mike and I have spent much much praying. God has been so good to us!! We are trying to get the perfect ducks (our social worker and our incountry facilitator) so they will line up in perfect order :) We are tying to be careful to use if possible Christian people who are also very educated in this process of adoption from our son's country. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has already directed our steps and how he has put wonderful Christian people in our paths to help.

The Lord's ways are interesting sometimes....

Several years ago when our friends were adopting their first child, I remember scrolling down the childrens pictures out of "curiosity." There was only one little boy that truely drew to my heart, he was just precious. For a split second I thought.."I would love to bring him home." I was pregnant with Beth at the time, so it was only a thought as I know it was not the Lord's timing to persue adoption. Here we are several years later, our hearts burdened for this little blind boy . Last week, someone sent me a baby pictures of him....would you know, it was the little boy I wanted to bring home several years back :)

How you can pray for us...

Pray first that the Lord would receive glory and honor through this jorney!

1. Pray for our son, Lord willing. Pray specifically that the Lord protects him at the facility he is in. Pray for his hundreds of friends that are there with him.

2.Pray for us as we wait on the Lord to provide us with the right social worker and in country facilitator.

3 . For wisdom, clear paths, open and closed doors.

4. That the Lord would close the door if this is not His will for our family. That our hearts would joyfully accept.

5. If the door remains open...For Mike and I and our children as we prepare our hearts for our new son and for the changes that will come forth.

6. That everything would move smooth and in just the right timing.


Great is His faithfulness...we have already seen it.

How did this come to be?

That is often a question I hear now days when sharing our burden of adoption for a special needs child. I can answer that in 2 simple words, Jesus Christ. I want to give everyone an in depth view of our hearts concerning this matter, how it came to be, and where we are at now.

To start at the very beginning...

We knew of a couple here in SD, who a while back were in the middle of their first adoption. The Lord had blessed this family with children of their own, yet had placed a deep burden in their hearts for some special needs children in the Eastern Europe. That family has now moved from SD and went on to adopt 3 children total, all with special needs. We prayed for this family through their adoption journeys, followed their blog and watched as their family honored the Lord through adoption.

A couple weeks back I found myself on the site where our friends found their children. I looked at all the children on the site, they were all so precious, all so fearfully and wonderfully made and yet the Lord did not work in my heart until I saw this child. It was almost instant, as if the Lord said...Misty, here is your son, this is why I took Levi to be with me...you have another son here on this earth that needs you now. For those of you reading, who may not know....we lost our son, Levi Wesley in October of last year, he was stillborn. I sat in my recliner consumed with this beautiful boys picture. I continued to look at the other children and came across another little boy, this little boy had down syndrome..precious boy, reminded me alot of Luke and Chad. I showed the boys to Mike that night, we talked about them and prayed for them. I went to bed with those boys on my heart and woke up with them on my heart.

Mike and I talked and wondered if the Lord was calling us to adopt? We both knew this decision would forever change our family, we needed to be wise in our decision.....we started praying and praying and praying. One important thing is that we wanted to do all the research we could to make sure we would even qualify for an international adoption...from what we found, we did. We were seeking the Lord through His Word and he was speaking to our hearts. After a few days, I was very peaceful in knowing the Lord was calling us to this. Mike needed to pray and seek the Lord more, so I waited on him and waited and waited to hear what the Lord had shown him. We both needed to be in full agreement that the Lord was calling us to adoption. On Thursday April 21st we surrendered to the Lord our calling of adoption. This decision was very carefully prayed through. The Lord used his word mightily in those days of praying and seeking Him to direct our hearts. There was so much scripture pointing us down this path. Scripture that we had read many times before yet this time it sank in our hearts like never before...the Lord is so good, He is so kind.

We had these two boys on our hearts. The sweet boy with down syndrome and the 5 year old child, this precious boy born with only one eye and blind in that eye, who also has other medical conditions. We now believe the Lord is calling us to adopt, but who? How do you come to this decision knowing that one boy will be left behind? Mike instantly said, we will pursue this little boy with down syndrome...he will be easier. When I heard that, my heart sank. Oh I did like this little boy but oh how I loved this little blind boy. A few days went on and I felt as if I was loosing some of my joy...my heart was longing for the little blind boy. Anna had piano one Monday afternoon...I sat in the van and sought the Lord to shed some light, to close doors, to open doors, to change Mike's heart if this child was the one He had for us. Why was I feeling so "uneasy" since Mike had announced we were going after this other boy...I should be joyful, after all, just days before this is what I had prayed for, I was joyous of the thought days before.

We came home when piano lessons were over, about an hour later I checked my e mail. I got an e mail that in our eyes closed the door for this little boy with down syndrome. I could have shouted from excitement. The Lord had so kindly, so quickly answered my prayer. I really liked the one boy he was such a cutie and I believe the Lord has a wonderful family looking for him. I will continue to pray the Lord provides that home for him.

That evening I told Mike about the e mail...we agreed this was a closed door for the one boy and an open door for the other. We have given him our hearts, God has put that love there.