It’s been quite a while since we have posted on our blog, but in that span of time a lot has happened, yet much has still stayed the same. Last time we wrote we were sitting and waiting, and as it turns out we are still doing very much the same. Papers and reports are now out of our hands and in the hands of others with so many other things to do than to dedicate sole focus to our adoption. For that we turn to the only leverage we have… prayer! We pray daily for our little girl and that God would put in the hearts of those who come in contact with our adoption the same feelings we have for completing the adoption and bringing this girl home to where she belongs as soon as possible.
In between the sitting and waiting though, I had the amazing privilege of traveling over to Ghana and meeting my little girl!!! I could never anticipate the entirety of that one week trip to Ghana, but the time I spent with Clara was a week of my life I will never forget. So far in my life there has been one girl who has completely stolen my heart never to give it back, and she is the wonderful woman with whom I am adopting Clara. There is now officially s second girl in my life who owns my heart. Clara was incredibly sweet and shy when we first met face to face. She slowly walked up to me and wrapped her skinny little frame around my frame as if to say “I know we haven’t met but I also know that you are MINE, and now I am yours.” From that moment when we arrived Clara almost never left my side; partly because she always wanted to be close and hold my hand, and partly because her dad knew he had a very short time to spend with her.
As the days went by Clara opened up more and more. She is reserved with new people and very emotional (remember I have 2 boys so this is completely new to me). She is also hilarious and goofy which melted my heart and made me think even more that God designed her knowing full well that she was going to end up as Rachael and I’s daughter. She is also so much more beautiful in person than I could have imagined. Now this might be a doting father speaking, but even the pictures in which you think wow she is soo cute, do not do her justice. And though she may not be the same skin color I have to tell you that there are some very distinct characteristics about her that make me feel like she is the exact type of daughter Rachael and I would have wound up with if we conceived her ourselves. In so many ways from looks, to personality, to her big brown eyes Clara is a mini version of Rachael , which as you can imagine makes me a very happy man. She can be shy one moment and then rolling on the floor laughing and making faces the next.
Coming back from that excitement and love was extremely difficult. Not because I wasn’t thrilled to be back with Rachael and Noah and Henry, but because at that point it became very real to me that I was coming back to a family who was missing one of its own. Talking with Rachael after I got back, it was wonderful to see her face as I told her all about Clara and showed her the thousands (literally thousands) of pictures I took while I was over there. I could also see how badly she wanted to go over and have the very same experiences I did. And for that I can certainly not blame her. It is incredibly difficult knowing Clara has already lived 6 years of her life without us and now its tough to swallow as more days and months tick by.
So….
We decided that because paperwork was going slowly, and we didn’t want Clara to have to go too long in between me coming over there and her seeing at least one of us again, and because it seems a mother just can only be separated from her child for so long, we are raising funds to send Rachael over in the very near future. The trip will also serve the adoption process as we will need someone to deliver our dossier as well, but the trip will none the less be expensive. We fully trust that God will provide us with the resources we need to complete this process, but that certainly doesn’t mean he has or will give us more than we need. We have found out of the last few months that there are some additional costs that we will need to fund in order to complete the adoption, but we have had some amazingly generous family and friends that have helped us so far and we are praying God will continue to send people and resources our way.
Right now we are selling hemp bracelets that Rachael is making for $10 each to fund our next trip and then later this summer we will be selling T shirts locally and to anyone else who is interested. You can use the paypal button on the side bar of this blog to donate the $10 for a bracelet and you will be able to use the same process once we get t shirt sup and running. Thanks for all the support and prayers!!
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