Bringing Evie Home... Part 1

We have been blessed with the opportunity to share our adoption story (remember my entry a while back: Nothing happens by chance)

 When 'The Boss' was buying his car the gentleman asked him if we would write our adoption story for a book he is putting together.

 I am really excited and even if nothing comes of it, I think it will be completely amazing to get a more firmly written out account of how Evie came home.  I have written about it throughout the journey, however I didn't journal as much as I probably should have when we actually brought her home... Two reasons, I was busy with four boys and a newborn and completely overwhelmed by emotions of answered prayer!

I thought just to get my own thoughts sorted out I would include you all in the ups and downs of our journey. This will not be the final draft for this gentleman, in fact I'm sure my husband will actually do most of the writing (have I ever mentioned that he's an incredibly talented writer on the side?) Anyway, he'll do a much better job than I, but I thought it might help to have it written out from my perspective as he and I work through the process of writing.  You get a sneak peak into:

 Bringing Evie Home

 I have been given a glimpse into God's amazing intricate hand in our simple day to day lives, how in "Jeremiah 29:11 He says: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". It is amazing to think of the tiny peak into the threads He weaves through our lives to create beautiful tapestries. I have heard it said that our lives are a beautiful tapestry that the Lord is weaving from Heaven, from our human perspective we cannot see anything but a mess, the back side of the tapestry where we can't imagine how any of the threads work together to make a picture of any kind, much less a beautiful one.  Yet there is the Lord faithfully weaving, pulling each strand just where it should go. Every now and then He turns the tapestry for us to have a peak into the work in progress...

 My first desires to adopt actually started as a child. I remember being in the 3rd grade and coming to a new school. The teacher pointed me towards a grouping of desks, as I sat down the girl sitting beside me introduced herself and then said "You should just know, I am adopted, my parents got to pick me!"  I was SO fascinated by her, I wanted to know more. I wanted my own parents to adopt, though this wasn't the Lord's plan... for them.  My mother was adopted after her parents lives were taken in a car accident, she has always had such a positive attitude about adoption, she always saw it as a gift and it made her understand her salvation he adoption as a child of God in a deeper way because of her own earthly example.  I soaked it up...

  One day I met a dashingly handsome man... A man I knew after only two evenings together was "THE ONE" God had created for me.  We were engaged in almost no time at all... I remember so vividly an conversation we had one evening in his car, I remember we actually named our first son and our first daughter that night...  We also discussed how many children we wanted to have... I laugh now at how perfectly the Lord answers prayers, also how true the verse is: Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 If we are delighting in the Lord, our desires are His desires and He grandly fulfills them. At the time we had thrown out the following "lets have 3 or 4 by birth and then adopt 1 or 2"

 Fast forward a few years to the birth of our second son, though two more followed him, at this point the loss of my ability to carry a child had begun.  By the birth of our fourth son the doctors were in dismay that he or I could have survived the pregnancy... After much prayer, many tears and to be completely honest an incredible amount of grief  we believed it the best course of action to take permanent steps to prevent further pregnancies.  I grieved for a year over the loss of future children.  Then out of the blue one day the Lord opened back up that desire to adopt.

 I was incredibly cynical at first. I was interested but I couldn't imagine us ever being able to afford the journey, I was unsure of how it would effect our family and on and on.  However, one day I was here at home with my kids and a friend called, she was listening to focus on the family on the radio and just felt like she should call and share it with me. A little baffled I turned it on. They were discussing adoption and promoting a new book:  "Successful Adoption a Guide for Christian Families"   I was intrigued but still skeptical.  Much to my complete surprise that evening 'The Boss' came in the door with a box in his arms... Curious as to the contents I followed him into the kitchen.

 Go ahead, guess what he pulled from the box... Yep, it was the book I'd heard about on the radio.  I stood there in shock as he explained that he'd already read the book cover to cover during his lunch hours and that he would now like me to read the book. This took place in February of 2007