Last Monday I posted My Adoption Story Part 1. If you missed it click here to read it. You need to read it in order to better appreciate today’s post, My Adoption Story Part 2.
I went home knowing that I would one day return to China for another daughter. The prayers continued. About a month after we were back, Kate and I attended a seminar for America World Adoption Association (AWAA). I was asked to share my story. I was happy to tell my story in hopes that maybe other girls would be adopted. In fact, in that meeting, we met people who are still friends today. AWAA continued to ask me to speak and soon I was volunteering for them, leading seminars and helping families find their children.
In the spring I met the love of my life, Kurt. That’s another great story for another blog post. One of the things that attracted Kurt to me was the fact that I had adopted. As we got to know each other, I told him that I had another daughter in China. He told me he wanted to adopt as well. At the time, Kurt was living and working at a children’s home. His whole life was about serving kids. We got engaged that summer and married in November.
Sometime that year, before I married Kurt, I just knew my next daughter would be named, Sara. I don’t remember when, but I do remember where. Kate and I were driving in the car and I just knew. Sara. What a pretty name!
One of my favorite stories to tell happened when Kate was star student in kindergarten. We were filling out her “All about Me” poster together. One of the boxes read, “I’m special because…” Try to explain the word special to a child who has been speaking English for less than a year. But finally I was able to get her to understand. She took her little hands and placed both on one of my arms, looked up at me with her beautiful eyes, and said, “I’m special because I have a mom!”
The years passed and I continued volunteering for AWAA. I began teaching at Kate’s school, where I still teach today. Kurt moved from working at the children’s home to working in the foster care system. Our hearts beat for Jesus and kids. We wanted more kids. We sought medical advice. We prayed for a miracle. But I never did get pregnant. We continued to pray for our daughter in China. Getting her would also require a miracle because we did not have the money necessary to pay for an adoption.
I eventually stopped volunteering for AWAA and I started to doubt what I had heard in China. There was no way that I could see that we would ever adopt. Right after Kurt and I got married, China changed the rules on adoption. We would have to be married for five years before China would consider us because I had been divorced. They also had a minimum net worth we had to meet and when the housing market crashed so did the value of our home. After five years of marriage our financial situation still looked the same.
“For nothing is impossible with God!” Luke 1:37 (NIV)
In September of 2011, we started the process to become foster to adopt parents. I never felt a peace about it but figured the peace would come. After all, we wanted a bigger family. How many seminars had I quoted James 2:27? “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (NIV) Why shouldn’t we?
The night before the first class I will never forget. I was cooking and Kurt was sitting at the counter. He could tell I wasn’t 100% on board. He said, “Your heart is in China.” I burst into tears. My heart was in China and although I had doubted I never did stop praying for Sara. I shared with him that I didn’t see how it was ever going to happen. It felt impossible. Kurt stood up, pointed to the backyard, and said, “God could drop a gold nugget in the backyard.” Without telling anyone, because I thought people might think we were crazy, we began to pray for a gold nugget.
Three weeks later, Kate was at a slumber party. Kurt and I rented a movie and snuggled in to watch it. We got about halfway when around 9:00 pm my phone rang. Hmmm, that’s odd, who would be calling at 9? What if something was wrong with Kate. I rushed to the phone, I didn’t recognize the number but decided to answer it. I answered it and listened in disbelief. This person, who I didn’t know that well, delivered a message that changed our lives. Her husband had received a large bonus at work. They had been praying about what they should do with it. She kept hearing my voice say, “I have a daughter in China that I am praying for.” She told me when I said that to her two years prior, she didn’t pay much attention to it. But over the last month it kept replaying in her head. They wanted to fund our entire adoption cost to adopt Sara! I began to sob and Kurt knew it was good news. He jumped off the couch, not knowing what the conversation was about told me not to say anything, grabbed a piece of paper and wrote, “China, $30,000.” I just shook my head yes.
The whole conversation is somewhat foggy in my mind, I was in shock. My God, the God of the impossible, was still doing miracles! He knew when I was standing in that bathroom in China scared to death to be a single mom what plans He had for us. When I doubted, He remained faithful. That night, Kurt and I praised the Lord like never before. We didn’t get much sleep talking about Sara and praying.
We still had one hurdle to overcome, our net worth. Although, we had all the money required, we still didn’t have enough of a net worth. But we started the paperwork in faith and waited. We celebrated Christmas and bought presents for Sara. We started talking about what Sara would be like, how old would she be? We knew she had to have been born when I was in China because of what the Lord had said to me. That meant she was somewhere between 7 and 14. I really believed she was younger than Kate so that would put her between 7 and 12.
One evening in the spring of 2012, I pulled up Zillow. And for some reason Zillow was saying our house was worth more than we thought. The next morning I called AWAA and they said that we could start the next phase of paperwork. On May 1, I received a call from AWAA saying our file was approved and we could start our home study. Oddly enough, that was the same day 8 years prior I had received the same call about Kate’s adoption.
On November 1, Kurt was putting Kate to bed when my phone rang again shortly after 9 pm. It was AWAA. Our family coordinator had found a little girl who had just come up for adoption that might be our Sara. I ran into Kate’s bedroom and asked him to come to our bedroom. I didn’t want to say in front of Kate who it was because I wanted to make sure this was in fact, Sara. In our bedroom, with the call on speaker, we listened intently. “She is 10 years old, healthy, and ready for adoption. I can send you her file and picture for you to look at.” We accepted just to lock her in, hung up the phone, and ran to the computer. Up popped this beautiful girl who looked a lot like Kate. We both looked at each other and knew, we just knew. We got Kate out of bed to show her Sara’s picture. I sat there staring at Sara. The girl I had been praying for vaguely since 2000 and more seriously since December 2004.
In the Lord’s perfect timing, we boarded a plane on May 15, 2013. The three of us stood on the Great Wall, toured Beijing, and enjoyed authentic Chinese cuisine. On May 19, we sat in our hotel room waiting for our guide to call us and tell us to meet her in the lobby. We were so nervous. This would be the last time it would just be the three of us. We reminisced over family vacations and silly memories. We prayed for Sara. We could only imagine how she would feel. The phone rang and off we went.
We rode the elevator a few floors, exited, and walked up another two floors. We were joined by three other families. Finally, through the door walked our Sara. We were introduced to her and of course I cried as did Kurt and Kate. Sara just stared at us. I held her hand. I wanted to pick her up and put her in my lap, but that’s not what you do to an 11-year-old.
The next morning I woke up before anyone else. I looked over at the bed the girls were sharing and to my amazement, they were holding each other while sleeping. I wept. All those prayers answered right there in front of me.
What started with a whisper from the Lord at the age of 14 came true 25 years later! I look back over my life and see God moving and working to bring me to that early morning in China. I love the Lord! I hope as you read this you see God’s hand moving in my life. I also hope you believe He is moving in your life as well. He has a plan for you that is more than you could even imagine. When I was growing up, I never thought I would stand on the Great Wall twice! I couldn’t imagine the way it felt to meet both my girls. I didn’t know a heart could love like this. Put your trust in Jesus and watch what He does in your life!
