In 2016, right around Christmas and in the middle of our first adoption, we signed the papers to adopt a second set of twins.
Our family was about to grow from one child to five via adoption. A month and a half earlier, we’d flown to a country in West Africa to adopt our girls, Adah and Ayana. They are our “first set of twins”. That was all we had planned to do in Africa. Fly there, adopt our girls, get their paperwork done, fly home. God had different plans.
He planned to:
- Teach us a few lessons on grace and patience,
- Test our obedience,
- Grow our faith and trust in Him.
- Put us in the right place at the right time and he burdened a missionary’s heart to tell us about the second set of twins.
- Open our hearts to these orphans.
- Provide for them financially in an incredible way.
- Show His power and the power of prayer.
We were approved to adopt four children from Africa. Our agency said it was possible. These sweet babies, only 11 months at the time, needed help. We were willing and able.
Was this of God?
We prayed, we sought council. We reached out to all of you asking for prayers for discernment, provision, and for God’s will to be done.
The Holy Spirit gave me a spark of faith,
“This is something God wants us to be willing to do, we are willing, but He’s going to have to provide a way because we don’t have the money. He’ll provide it in three days.”
My faith weakened. I almost didn’t tell anyone that I knew God would provide the funds for the adoption in three days. I didn’t want to look foolish if I was wrong. But I knew it would bring more glory to God if I shared the faith He gave me. Three days came and went and the funds were in our account. We were all blown away. I remember running to the upstairs building of the missionary guest house to tell our new friends, and a visiting missions group how God had answered our prayers and miraculously provided.
We all praised God together in awe.
I thought that was the biggest hurdle we needed to overcome. I thought those babies would be in my arms the very next week. I thought we’d fly home with five children. It’s been over two years since that day. “Have you heard anything?” “What’s going on with the younger twins?” “When will you get to bring them home?” I sound like a broken record when I respond to the questions about the twins, “No, there’s been no change,” I start. If I continue, I share, “We haven’t received an update since spring of 2017. Everything is at a standstill because the country is changing their adoption process.”
Unfortunately, it takes a really long time for a country to change their adoption processes; especially if that country is a third world country in Africa. You’d think the passing of time would be the most discouraging. It hasn’t been. We’ve seen God’s timing work perfectly over and over again. We are patient to wait. The hardest part is in not knowing. The heart break is not receiving any updates or photos. The frustrating thing is having to redo all the paperwork. The difficult issue is that we need to pay the adoption fees all over again because paperwork is now expired or it’s different because the process has changed.
Read this post from 2017 about some of my feelings on this adoption: “Sometimes it is Easier to Ignore Them”
Right before our Naomi was born, we spoke with our new agency. We’d been waiting months for the results of an investigation that would determine if the second set of twins would be considered adoptable under the new process. Because our case is unique, we’ve been concerned they wouldn’t be.
Instead of finally getting the answers that we’d been praying and hoping for, we got an all too familiar answer:
“We can’t complete the investigation on your twins right now because the facilitator who started your case is being investigated by the state department. We can’t even get you an update or photo. We were told hands off this case until the facilitator’s investigation is closed.”
The agency continued to tell us we have a few choices:
- Choose to continue investing time and money into this adoption while not even knowing if the completion is possible.
- Decide to walk away from the adoption because our family has suffered enough emotionally and financially. Or
- Continue to wait for answers.
We have faith that God intended us to be obedient, to start this adoption, and that the process has brought awareness to these children and their needs. But we don’t know if it is God’s will to see this adoption through. Will it be completed? Was the whole point of this to show God’s glory and ability to provide? Whatever those answers may be, we are at a crossroads.
To be perfectly transparent, we have no idea which way to turn.
We’ve been praying and seeking council, but we don’t have peace and confidence about our decision now like we did in December two years ago.
Should we start fundraising and applying for grants again? Hundreds of people joined us in prayer and helped to support this adoption already. The originally provided funds were paid in full to our old agency who lost their Hague Accreditation forcing us to move our case to a new agency. Now, due to the new process and the passing of time the entire adoption needs to be paid for again. Everything needs to be done again. But we can’t even guarantee these children will be considered adoptable.
Should we accept the constant road blocks, the passing of time, and the funds being gone as a closed door? Is this God’s way of telling us we were obedient to start and now we need to be obedient to stop? Stopping would be even harder than starting. Should these twins who we’ve considered a part of our family for two years, who we’ve prayed for and loved, who were miraculously provided for, who were almost starved to death by their family, stay there with that family?
We talked to the agency again yesterday. They still have no news. The investigation is still open. We still don’t have any updates, photos, or answers about if or when. And the country is still working through how to do the new process.
Pray with us. Pray for guidance. Pray that God makes His will clear to us. And that either way, He gives us the strength and provision to be obedient.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides the quiet waters. He restores my soul.”
Yes, He restores my soul.
