Adoption

While in Ethiopia I met three children who for whatever reason had a particularly strong impact on me. It was like love actually. I loved them immediately.
During the days when Mussie and I were at Layla House we spent time with these three, getting to know them, passing time with them, being touched even more by their lives.
I can say that we did the normal ~ singing, laughing, joke telling, relaxing, hair braiding, story telling, horse playing. I can also say we did the unexpected~ dancing the night away around a bonfire, trucking through Addis together in a big red van searching for Chinese food, dressing up for Halloween using tin foil and feathers.

My mother and grandmother also met them. Within a moment of the meeting my mother was in love. She said that Natty reminded her of my brother. She could not get enough of them.

Before I left for home with Mussie gifts were given and notes were exchanged. I wanted to promise that I would find them a family, but I did not want to promise anything I could not keep. Instead, I promised I would write and I did. I have.

Not longer after we came home and settled I started talking with Jason about adopting these three children, two of which are siblings. He asked me to work for a time and see if I could find them a family, perhaps a family a bit older than us. These children are all ten years and older.

I talked with people at our church. I sent emails out to anyone I thought might be interested. I sent emails to people I did not think would be interested. I convinced people to have lunch with me. I begged in some cases.

Finally, after a time a lady emailed me back. She lives in Washington and has adopted 17 children. SEVENTEEN!
She wanted to know everything she could about B, she and her husband felt that there was still one child missing in their lives. I told her everything I knew. Within a few days they submitted the paperwork and began the process for the seventeenth time. B has now been home, in Washington for several months. He is doing well. He is happy. They adore him. He takes everything apart, wondering how it works, and then puts it back together. He fashions his own toys out of items in the recycle bin. He loves his siblings. He is going to be a cowboy.

The two other children, N and B, continued to have my heart. N and I wrote back and forth, we still write back and forth actually. My friend Sherry (also bringing home three darling Ethiopian children soon!!!) set me up on a lunch date with a lovely family looking to adopt. They were interested, but the Lord led them in a another direction and now they have two beautiful daughters from the US foster system.

I think I talked about them a lot, but I honestly can not recall. I know I prayed for them and thought of them often. I sent letters off to them and jumped up and down when I received one back. They are in stacks now on my bookshelf, treasured little notes of paper and stickers.

One night Jason and I were laying in bed and the phone rang. It was my mom.
She sounded excited. I almost did not believe her when she broke the news.
She and my stepfather had contacted the adoption agency on their own and were pursuing an adoption. She said she was so touched by the children in Ethiopia, by these two children in particular that she could think of no reason why they should not adopt them. "You keep looking to find them a family, but we are a family. We can adopt them."

It has been interesting watching my mother prepare to become a parent again. Most of us do not get to witness our parents in the process of becoming a parents, being that we came after the fact. The giggles. The planning. The questions. The nerves. The thoughts. The random buying a silly childish things. The waiting. The hopes.

After many months of paperwork and uncertainty my mother and stepfather were able to celebrate their very own "Gotcha Day" this week. Natty and Bethlehem, an absolutely precious brother and sister, had their cases heard in court and are now officially Nuzzi's.

Now, my son will have an Ethiopian Aunt and Uncle. And not only that, but an Ethiopian Aunt and Uncle that knew him and loved him while he was at Layla House, before he ever knew me. A piece of his tiny history in the form of two children now writing letters about how they can not wait to teach him soccer, how they have loved him always, and are so excited to be his Uncle and Aunt.

My brother, sister, and I now have two new siblings. I can not express how exciting that is and how daunting at the same time.

My mom and stepdad now have two children, although not of their own blood, but of their own doing, of their own journey. That is really powerful for them.

And, mostly these two children once again have a family.

I just received a letter from Natty. It is the first one that I have received since he learned the news.

He wrote that he has been clinging to Jeremiah 29:11 ever since I gave it to him. He wrote that now it is his very favorite verse because God has FULFILLED the promise he gave to him. That he would give him HOPE, that he would give him a FUTURE, that he would give him a FAMILY. He also wrote that his greatest wish, all this time, had been that the family God would give he and his sister would be ours.

Congratulations Mom and Pop on taking steps of faith together, on being vulnerable and opening your hearts to two children across the ocean. Congratulations on becoming parents through adoption, it is truly a miracle. Thank you for letting God use you to answer a little boys prayer, that he and his sister might have a family and that they might also get to play a little bit in the snow.






On another celebratory note my brother-in-law and sister-in-law have been in the domestic adoption process for a long while now. They received news TODAY that a baby boy has been born and has been placed with them. Until it is official I am not going to talk more about this, but please be in prayer. The little baby Brabson is in ICU right now due to swallowing fluids at birth, but he is recovering very well.
They will be bringing him home to a long awaited nursery in the coming week.
This is also a prayer answered and I can not wait to post more of this amazing story and pictures of Brady Brabson as soon as the paperwork process has completed.


In one week we have gained Natty, Bethie, and Brady all through adoption.
Love it. Love it. Love it.