Adoption Story: Answered Prayer

In November 2002, my husband and I decided to attend foster/adoption classes (I had a hysterectomy about 7 years earlier due to endometriosis.) Classes began in Jan. 2003. We attended classes for 10 weeks. At the end of the classes we decided we wanted to adopt, we did not feel that the foster to adopt route was meant for us. We searched for adoption agencies…we contacted The Open Door. I called and requested an application. We sent in an initial application, I mailed it overnight… and waited and waited. We were waiting for a large packet of paperwork. We had decided we would adopt from Guatemala. Several weeks later, Tuesday, April 8, 2003, I was so discouraged. I remember sitting at my computer, at my desk, praying. I prayed for patience. I knew that God would send our precious baby if/when the time was right. After praying, I turned on my computer and checked my email. I will never forget this moment: There was an email from the adoption agency. It had gone out to all prospective adoptive couples. It said: “The Open Door has 2 beautiful baby girls from Eastern Europe. They are of a Middle Eastern decent. They are absolutely beautiful. These are newborn photos and the girls are now just a couple of months old. There is an adoption escort service available. This will be a Fast Track Adoption which will mean most of the fees will be due right away. Please only respond if you are reading and willing to go through the adoption process quickly. This is for paper-ready families only.”

Well we were not “paper ready” nor did we have the funds readily available. But, I answered the email anyway (it was late in the evening, so I didn’t call, assumed no one would be working). Within minutes the phone rang, it was Barbara from the open door. She told me that even though we had not completed (or even started) the paperwork she would help us! She faxed us pages and pages of paperwork. We stayed up all night filling out the papers. That was the beginning of the long process. My original prayer was, after-all, for patience!

By June, everything was complete. In July, we received a call saying our court case was scheduled and our baby should be home soon.

They called again in August and said about 8 weeks.

In September, they called again and said the adoption escort would be traveling to Tajikistan to pick up our baby and we should meet her in Dallas, September 26th. We made all the arrangements.

On September 25th the sad news came. The escort had gone to bring back 3 babies, and she was returning with only one. There was a problem with the paperwork, and they would not allow our baby to leave the country. I was devastated. I have never felt such pain.

The adoption agency called, Ed our consultant said he would go get our baby in a couple of weeks. The escort returned from Tajikistan with one of the babies: she was blind, but placed with a loving family who would meet her needs.

I did not feel right about Ed traveling alone. I prayed, and talked with my husband about this. We decided that I would travel with Ed. I would really have to rush, I did not even have a visa. It had to be applied for that very day…..I could not find my passport anywhere, it had to be in the mail or there was no way my visa would arrive in time. After hours of searching frantically, I again prayed. I remembered the last time I had seen the passports was while I was working on a scrap book for the baby…….my son helped me dig thru the trash. Yes, the smelly, gross, outside trashcan……there it was!!! (I’m lucky they gave me the visa!) Made it to fed ex just in time!

I left on Oct 11, 2003 for Kaazachstan (it turned out that if I had not gone, Ed would not have been able to bring her back either!) We returned home with our new precious baby girl 3 days later. She was like our own from the first time I held her, she bonded with the family right away. We thank God for Answered prayers daily!

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