In April of 2007 the Lord began speaking to us about orphan care and adoption.  We knew that He was calling us to adopt and to care for orphans.  We requested information and began to pray about how we could become involved and what the Lord wanted us to do.  The same week that we began this journey my Dad passed away very suddenly.  This was a very traumatic time for our family and our focus quickly shifted to grieving and helping my Mom get through this sudden loss of her husband of 39 years and best friend.  Several months later we were surprised to find out that we were pregnant with our fourth child.  This had not been something we had planned but was definitely a welcomed surprise.  We were excited to be focused on a new life and take our eyes off of our grief.  However, approximately 7 months after my Dad passed away we learned at 12 weeks in our pregnancy that our baby had also passed away.  I had to undergo a D&C procedure and then we began to grieve another loss.  It was a very hard time of sadness and loss but through it we clung to our faith and it was a time of great growth.  The next several months were a time of healing and moving forward.  Then in June of 2008 we found out we were expecting again.  This time we had a healthy pregnancy and our first daughter, London (now 2), was born in February 2009.  2009 was a year of new beginnings and God beginning to slowly remind us of this journey He had called us to.  We went through a lot of growth spiritually as the Lord was laying a foundation for what was to come.  By 2010 I knew that there was something more that I was supposed to be doing with my life.  In April of 2010 I went to a Women’s Conference at church and was praying that God would show me what it was He was calling me to.  During this conference I heard the Lord say two things.  They were phrases actually and they were “the lost daughters” and “the babies”.  I also had a vision of a room with a lot of cribs and all filled with babies.  It’s funny how when life gets crazy how easily we forget what the Lord has shown us just several years before.  So, even though looking back now it seems like a “duh” moment I still wasn’t sure what God was trying to say.  So I was desperate to hear the Lord’s voice and figure out what He wanted me to do so I came home from the conference begging the Lord to tell me more.  I went and googled the phrase “the lost daughters” and the first thing that came up on the search was a book called “The Lost Daughters of China” which is the story of orphan girls in China.  For some reason I still didn’t “get it” and walked away from the computer frustrated.  Then exactly one week later I got an email about some babies in an orphanage in Russia that broke my heart.  It was my “ah-ha” moment when it all started coming together.  The Lord reminded me through my tears of the journey we had started on 3 years before to become a part of orphan care.  We talked about this call on our lives and knew that this was what God was trying to remind us about all along.  I immediately went back and logged onto Show Hope’s website, the Orphan Care Ministry we had requested information from 3 years prior looking for ways to become involved in orphan care.  The first thing I saw was a trip to China to Maria’s Big House of Hope, a special care facility for orphan’s with Special Needs.  It seemed like a crazy idea but through several events God confirmed to us that we were to go on this trip.  God worked miracles to provide the money for us to go and in August of 2010 we kissed our four kids at home good-bye and boarded a plane to China with expectant hearts for what the Lord would show us.  On the very long plane ride there we talked about adoption and what country to adopt from.  We discussed several countries but never were really agreement on any of them.  We knew we would adopt some day and that in time God would show us where from and when.  We spent a week in China at Maria’s Big House of Hope loving on and caring for orphans with special needs.  We fell in love with a little girl named Martina.

She was precious and God used her to work in our hearts.  While we were there we also took a tour of the State Welfare Institute and were heartbroken as we spent a very brief time touring the home to over 600 orphans.  We knew before we left China that we were to come home and begin our adoption process of an orphan with special needs from China.  Remember, that google “The Lost Daughters of China” . . . it all started to come together now!  We wanted to pursue adopting Martina but because China does not allow you to pre-identify children we knew up front that it was next to impossible for us to be matched with her.  We found out that the children at Maria’s Big House of Hope mostly go to the special needs waiting list for a specific agency so we decided to use them as our adoption agency to have a chance at finding her file.  We began our adoption process on September 1, 2010 and we filled out our medical conditions checklist and chose about 30 conditions we were willing to accept.  On September 30th we were shocked and excited to get a phone call that they had a file for us to review.  The little girl was not Martina but she was at the State Welfare Institute that we had toured and her diagnosis was . . . the same as Martina!  If we had never met and fell in love with Martina we would have probably never considered the waiting child program because we would have been scared of what that meant.  God used sweet little Martina to bring us to our daughter, Lilli Hope.

We immediately accepted her file and went through the various steps to complete our adoption as soon as possible.  From the time we boarded the airplane to go to Maria’s Big House of Hope to the day we got Travel Approval to go get Lilli it was exactly 9 months.  We left on May 24, 2011 for China to bring home Lilli.  She was placed in our arms on May 30, 2011, exactly 8 months from the day we got her file.

She is a absolute joy and blessing to our family! After we got her home and had her examined by doctors here we found out that she has absolutely no medical problems at all!

Oh, and Martina . . . she has been matched with a wonderful family who will be bringing her home this summer!  God is so amazing!