Did you know that my dreams are coming true? I have dreamed and hoped to adopt for many, many years. I’ve had dreams of holding, nursing babies that didn’t look like me, that were scared, hurt, needy and showing them the nurturing heart of God. Ask Matthias…since before we got married, just to see a person with Down syndrome brings my heart great joy. It eludes to something God must have put in there—something dear to His own heart.
Yes, it is one of my wildest dreams to have the privilege of adopting a baby with Down syndrome. I am overwhelmed to think that the Lord sees fit to make my dreams come true now. Perhaps because the Lord isn’t boxed in by age, income, status, home size, length of marriage, etc…
You see, almost two years ago, newly married and even more newly pregnant with my daughter, I remember looking through the Reece’s Rainbow Down syndrome adoption photo listings for hours at a time, dreaming. Hurting for the babies and children with no families, some neglected simply because they were born with an extra chromosome. Trying to devise a way to make it happen, I looked at the requirements and talked to my husband. It wasn’t the right time. The Lord brought it up in our hearts again earlier this year and here we are, $25,000+ later, we are about to leave for Ukraine!
Married just two years in May, we just made the two years of marriage requirement. I’m sure there were some eyebrows raised over that.
Speaking of requirements, good thing my husband turned 25 this year, because we—well, he—just made the age requirement. (This is all for our specific program.)
Our daughter just turned 16 months. She’s a handful—spirited and busy. She is still nursing and isn’t potty trained yet. Even more eyebrows raised.
We humbly have left our family planning up to the Lord completely. We know first-hand the blessing of a child to a marriage and welcome any blessing the Lord has for us. Are your eyebrows raised yet?
We make a very modest income and live in a very modest apartment. We can’t justify getting into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for a house right now, so we choose to stay debt free in a rented apartment. In some countries, many families could live comfortably in our home! Why not another child?
We look at how a man appears—his income, values, beliefs, home size—but God sees right inside. God just needs faith, the mountain-moving, mustard-seed type faith. Do we have that? I don’t know. Maybe? All I know is God has taken this young, seemingly unlikely couple and shown what He can do. I’m humbled and blessed at His choice to bless us in this way. I pray He will give me the strength to be a wife and mother that would please Him and that I would never doubt Him or put Him in a box again.
