The Transition to Adoption ...

I was on my way to work that day, listening to the same Christian radio station I had listened to for several years, hearing the same disc jockeys announce the “child of the day” sponsorship opportunity as they did at the same time every day.  Interested persons could call in to “sponsor” the child mentioned, usually in less-fortunate countries, by sending money to the program and letters, photos and small gifts to the child, thus improving the well being and future of that child while creating a friendship.   I had heard this promotion repeatedly and it was always the same.  But that day was different …

… There wasn’t [a] “child of the day”; there were fourteen children, … five of them girls, aged 5, from CHINA … unprecedented and unheard of in all the time they had been promoting the program.  Immediately, I was in a panic!  I became so excited and anxious and distressed all at the same time.   I don’t carry a cell phone and because I was still a good twenty minutes from work, I believed there was no way I would make it in time to sponsor one of the little girls.  History told me that these children would all be sponsored before I could get to work to make that call.  I began praying, “Please, LORD, … Please, LORD …” as I gripped the steering wheel tightly with tears streaming down my face.  “Save one for me, LORD, … just one.”  I was nearly frantic but then I felt a calming peace come over me while I was pleading and praying; I could feel God wanting me to trust Him.  I just knew that He would do as I asked. 

Still, when I got to work I ran all the way inside until I reached the phone in my office and I dialed the number as fast as I could.  I misdialed and had to do it again!  On my second try, the call went through and a woman answered the phone.  Still trying to catch my breath from running, I shouted out, “Are any of the girls from China left?”  There was this incredibly long pause; it must have been at least 10 seconds, and finally, she replied, “I have only one girl left.”  I shouted back at her, “God saved that ONE for me!”

I was so excited and I wanted to tell my husband, Brian, all about it so I emailed him at work.  I typed out how it went and then, strangely, at the bottom of the email, I typed the following:

“I wonder if China has 5-year-olds to adopt?”

During the four and a half years since we married, Brian and I had pondered and discussed adoption as a means of growing our blended family.  As many times as we brought up the subject, we turned it down as well.  We had enough issues just trying to blend our lives together with our children that it just didn't seem right to take that step.  In my heart, I wanted another child, a child with him, and I prayed to God that if we were ever to take the route of adoption that Brian would be as much for it as myself.  I knew that we BOTH had to want to take that step TOGETHER!

                        “I wonder if China has 5-year-olds to adopt?”

I stared blankly at the typed question for what seemed like a very long time and then I deleted it.  I silently ridiculed myself, “why in the world would you type such a thing?  We’ve been through this.  Why do you keep doing this to yourself?”  But I felt a nudging, a gentle push, (literally behind my left shoulder … that’s how specific it was), as if to say, “go ahead, type it, … go ahead.”

So, I re-typed it and sent it off, deciding I wouldn’t make an issue of it.  A little while later, Brian called me.  He said that he had just read my email and that he was very excited that I was finally able to sponsor a girl from China.  We talked about it for a bit, but he kept getting interrupted due to his being at work so I said that I would just talk to him later.  And that was that.  I really didn’t think anymore of it.  Well, a while later, before I was getting ready to leave for the day, I noticed my voicemail light was flashing and because it was a Friday afternoon, I thought I better check my messages.  I had only one.  It was from Brian.  He said he was sorry he hadn’t been able to talk earlier and that he really just wanted to tell me that he had read the last line of my email, about adopting a child from China … he said that he really wanted to do that, to adopt a little girl with me and he wanted her to be from China. 

Next: Choosing Molly