Closer Than We Thought!

Five short days after my last post I received an exciting phone call from our agency. We have been on a roller coaster of emotions since then. Let me just tell you, God is bigger than paperwork! (Just so you know!)
On Monday, November 3, I received a phone call from our agency stating that they had received two boys (brothers) at one of their orphanages, ages 2 and 4. (We had requested 2 children between 0 and 4 years.) We were told we wouldn’t get pictures or medical information for a couple of weeks, but if we wanted them, they were ours! WOW! We thought that we still had to submit our agreement with our agency, agency fees, and our dossier before we would ever get THE CALL. God had different plans.
The following day, Tuesday, I opened my email and there was an email titled “Pictures.” As soon as I clicked on the email, two beautiful Ethiopian boys stared me in the eyes! Once again, although we thought we would have to wait a few weeks for pictures, God had a different plan. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel. I was excited that I was possibly staring at pictures of my children, but nervous that I didn’t know anything about them. We still didn’t have medical information, so we decided not to tell too many people about the referral. That didn’t last long! We quickly fell in love with the boys and couldn’t help but share our good news. Almost two weeks went by without any medical news on the boys. Only two weeks to look at their pictures daily and fall more in love with them. And then the call came.
On Friday, November 14 I received a call from the agency. Our case worker said the boys had been taken to the doctor and she has some information for us. She explained that the 2 year old had club foot and could not walk. I wasn’t exactly sure what club foot was, but when I heard that he couldn’t walk I was in shock. We had never given any thought to the boys having any physical problems. From the pictures you can only see faces. You can tell that the little one is lying on his belly, but it never crossed my mind that he couldn’t walk. The case worker went on to explain that club foot is correctable with braces and/or surgery. With the little one being classified as special needs, they could perhaps come home sooner. But, she said she completely understood if we didn’t feel would could accept the boys. Wow. Two weeks of falling in love and then the thought of never bringing them home. Guilt. I called Matt and we were both pretty dumbfounded. On the one hand we had fallen for them and were almost considering them our own, but on the other hand we were thinking about how we couldn’t afford multiple surgeries for this little guy. We did all we knew we could do and prayed for peace. We prayed God would make it abundantly clear that we were either to accept these 2 boys or allow them to be taken by another family. We prayed and slept on it.
On Saturday, I received another email that explained the little one did NOT have club foot. But he did have an orthopedic problem (whatever that means!). It also said that both boys were clear of any blood-borne diseases. While this news brought great comfort, it also seemed to bring less clarity. What kind of orthopedic problem did he have? Would he need surgery? Braces? Can we provide for him? We prayed and slept on it.
On Sunday, our preacher preached a great sermon on faith. In a nutshell, I walked away reminded that I just need to have faith and believe that the Lord’s will is going to be done and we will receive the children the Lord has already chosen for us. And as for the little ones, they will have very lucky parents, be it us or someone else.
So this is where we are. We have to wait for more in-depth medical information so that we can make a more informed decision. Praise the Lord, He has given Matt and I a peace about our decision, whatever it may be. We are also waiting on more pictures and video of the boys. The great news is that they have been moved from the orphanage to the agency home where they are receiving better care. And they have gone to the house in the company of one of our friend’s baby girl!
In the mean time, we will be submitting our agreement to our agency and our dossier! Hopefully by the first of December we will have more information and a decision made. Please pray that we will listen closely to the Lord’s leading. And pray for these precious little boys!