We have been wanting a child for a couple of years now but were running into one obstacle after another. Thus, adoption became an option we began to explore.
It was the end of summer 2006 when we started requesting information from several agencies looking into adopting from Thailand and El Salvador. Adoption is very expensive and we were unsure how we could afford it but felt God was leading us with sign after sign pointing us towards adoption. At this point, we put the thought in the back of our minds.
In Decemeber 2006 our pastor was preaching on a sermon that was asking "What was God asking you to do in your life that you think is impossible" and to take that leap of faith. During that same month our bible study leader asked David Dodd to come give his testimony to our bible study group regarding his adoption journey to Guatemala and to Liberia. It turns out that Mike went to high school with David's wife and approached him with questions. We had never seriously considered Guatemala due to the fact that most adoptive agencies were showing a cost between $32,000 and $36,000, which was out of our price range. Soon after David's testimony, he and Stephanie invited us over for dinner which gave us great insight into the adoption agency and the process. That night we went home and crunched some numbers and only knew how to pay for two thirds. Later that night I told Mike that I wanted to do it and was ready to start. He asked me to let him pray about it overnight which he prayed for one more sign from God just to show that we are making the right decision. The next morning I asked Mike if he was ready to mail in our application but he informed me that he had prayed to receive one more sign that day from God just to be sure. He did sign the application and I took it to work, yet I was reluctant to put it in the mail. Later that morning I got an email from Mike that was simply titled, "Why worry God's in control." During his drive to Anderson for the day, he passed a car that had a bumper sticker that read "Why worry God's in control." This was the sign he had prayed for the night before. He told me without a doubt to mail in our application. We were ready to take that leap of faith, trusting in God that he would bring us a healthy little girl and that the financials of the adoption would all fall into place. We mailed our application to the agency on December 21, 2006 and made the announcement to our families on Christmas Day.
In January 2007 we completed several packets of paperwork, 3 homestudies and began the process of gathering documents. Our entire paperwork packet was completed by the end of January with the only thing holding us back being immigration approval. During this time we completed our fingerprint appointment on February 9, 2007. Also in February we received DSS approval and on February 27th we finally recieved immigration approval. It was at this point that meant we could now be matched with a child and we learned this as Mike was going out of town for 3 days. During my drive to work on February 28th I prayed to God to bring us a little girl today and later that day he delivered.This was the first time I had asked for her my prayer had always been for a healthy little girl when it was in his timing. I received a call from our agency around 11:00am indicating there was a beautiful little girl for consideration. Later that day I received Ella's first pictures and forwarded them to Mike in Atlanta. This was an extremely difficult time for Mike and I as we were geographically separated during this, the most exciting time in our lives. We both came to one conclusion and that was that this little picture of a girl...was our little Ella.
On March 17th we were given another blessing from God when we learned that a donation had been made to our agency in the amount of $5000 to help with our adoption costs.
Mike and I wanted to share this with you as a testimony to God's work in our life and our adoption. Please take a leap of faith if you feel it on your heart to adopt.
