Toddler Adoption

I haven't posted much about our adoption, how it's going, how the kids are, how we are, the details of our trip and the journey God has us on. I could say, "I'm too busy". But the truth is... There is so much inside of me and I've been trying to sort it all out. Is it (adopting) everything I thought it would be? Yes and no. So much of it is what I thought it would be and I was prepared, other parts I knew were a possibility but I chose to ignore it, and so much more is completely different than what I thought. Bottom line adoption is hard, toddler adoption is crazy hard, and toddler twin adoption is insane hard. Adoption in general is not for those who have a whim, a thought or even a desire. It is for those who God has called and it is their purpose to care for the orphans and vulnerable. It is something that is as forever as your marriage should be, as deep as your love for God, for spouse, for child. It has been amazing to experience the unfolding, the growing, the pain and the reward that comes with adoption. All of it the emotion especially comes in stages. From the plantation of the idea to adopt all the way to today. Sometimes I can still sit in complete amazement at all that has transpired. There is so much I want to share on this topic and there's no way I could do it all now. It will come in bits and pieces but it will come.

An amazing testimony I have wanted share is about Luke and his premonition of Xia. Some of you might remember a post I did last year about Lukas and the brown baby. Here's a recap-Lukas woke up really freaked out (he was 2) He kept talking about the brown baby. "mommy we have to rescue her. The brown baby is screaming, she has no food, she has a broken mouth, mommy please we have to help her." I would ask him where is the baby, and each time he pointed east. He talked about the baby with the broken mouth for days, the urgency in his voice was intense. After that I felt prompted to change countries. 3 weeks later we find out about twins in Ethiopia, the same day our dossier arrived, Diezel and Xia were brought to the orphanage. It wasn't until we were there two months later to pick them up did we understand. Xia's mouth was, "broken". Because of the severe protein malnutrition her skin started eating away at itself. Around her mouth the skin had broken down. Scabs and pus covered her mouth and chin, her mouth was broken. Lukas dream stirred urgency inside of me which caused me to switch everything, country, agency. To think when he had his dream, the twins parents were praying and fasting about God's direction for the twins lives.



This picture was taken about a week before I went to Africa, a week before the infection set in.