Receiving God's Treasure
This was probably the longest 9 days of my life... the tests came back positive... he did have Hunters. And the family again made the decision that they thought it best that he join our family. After, probably, the longest 9 days in their lives as well, we all met at the adoption agency for very sobering moments. They gave us their son. (note this is the picture is how we first saw him... as soon as his birthparents left the room to sign papers, we took this picture!)
Because the money had not been secured yet, the agency used a "Safe Families" designation until we could secure enough money to cover the reduced fees that they had offered to us earlier. But $13,000 is still not so easy to come up with, and we wanted to be sure that we were doing this in a way that honored God. We believed that if He brought us this far, that He would carry His plan through. We had been applying for grants like crazy, but they work in God's time, not in our agency's timeline!
Although we believed that God had a plan, we still were not sure what that plan actually was. During the "Safe Families" time, the family still had the right to be able to change their mind. Did God place him with us to give the family the time they needed to be more comfortable with taking him home? No one really knew what to say to us... congratulations? who might this be? so is everything final? is he really yours?????
A couple weeks after having him, I took the girls upstairs for bed while Joel taught a music lesson. While sitting in my "Mary Poppins Chair" (I call it that because Mary Poppins sat and knitted in a chair while waiting for the kids to go to sleep while singing the "Don't go to sleep song), I prayed. I poured my heart out to God, I asked if we had stepped out before him. What did He want us to do? It had been a couple weeks and the money was not coming in. The agency had said that they didn't want this to not go through "because of money," but I didn't think this was what they were expecting. I asked for something... anything! I couldn't do this if God was not in it.... what hard thing did He want us to do, now? Give up our son? All this time, because of insurance, tests and procedures were being stalled that would allow Hudson to get the much needed enzyme replacement that would help him avoid some of the symptoms of Hunters.
Then Joel appeared in the doorway of the girls' room with tears in his eyes. When the family had left, they handed Joel a check. Since this is common practice for payment for music lessons, Joel just slipped it in his pocket to account for it later. A few minutes after they left, he took it out and looked at it... it was $5,000! We studied that check for anything that would indicate that it was not intended to be what it appeared to be.... and then I said, "you'd better call them and make sure!" With a laugh they said that they were blessed with a bonus, and they were praying about what to do with it. God was saying, "Just trust me."
But that was not yet enough. The agency was getting nervous, and we didn't want to make the birth parents nervous either, but we really didn't have any control. During this time my grandmother died and we went back to our hometown for the funeral. Joel was on the phone with insurance people and adoption people much of the time. We were encouraged by a couple families giving to our adoption during that time as well. It was encouragement that we needed, although we still weren't sure how all of this would work out.
When we got back, we got a call from the adoption agency that said that they wanted to sign the papers that week. They would take the 5,275 dollars we had so far, and then we'd sign another addendum to our agreement that would allow us to pay the rest in the next 5 months. We had our official "placement date" on April 11!
Because the money had not been secured yet, the agency used a "Safe Families" designation until we could secure enough money to cover the reduced fees that they had offered to us earlier. But $13,000 is still not so easy to come up with, and we wanted to be sure that we were doing this in a way that honored God. We believed that if He brought us this far, that He would carry His plan through. We had been applying for grants like crazy, but they work in God's time, not in our agency's timeline!
Although we believed that God had a plan, we still were not sure what that plan actually was. During the "Safe Families" time, the family still had the right to be able to change their mind. Did God place him with us to give the family the time they needed to be more comfortable with taking him home? No one really knew what to say to us... congratulations? who might this be? so is everything final? is he really yours?????
A couple weeks after having him, I took the girls upstairs for bed while Joel taught a music lesson. While sitting in my "Mary Poppins Chair" (I call it that because Mary Poppins sat and knitted in a chair while waiting for the kids to go to sleep while singing the "Don't go to sleep song), I prayed. I poured my heart out to God, I asked if we had stepped out before him. What did He want us to do? It had been a couple weeks and the money was not coming in. The agency had said that they didn't want this to not go through "because of money," but I didn't think this was what they were expecting. I asked for something... anything! I couldn't do this if God was not in it.... what hard thing did He want us to do, now? Give up our son? All this time, because of insurance, tests and procedures were being stalled that would allow Hudson to get the much needed enzyme replacement that would help him avoid some of the symptoms of Hunters.
Then Joel appeared in the doorway of the girls' room with tears in his eyes. When the family had left, they handed Joel a check. Since this is common practice for payment for music lessons, Joel just slipped it in his pocket to account for it later. A few minutes after they left, he took it out and looked at it... it was $5,000! We studied that check for anything that would indicate that it was not intended to be what it appeared to be.... and then I said, "you'd better call them and make sure!" With a laugh they said that they were blessed with a bonus, and they were praying about what to do with it. God was saying, "Just trust me."
But that was not yet enough. The agency was getting nervous, and we didn't want to make the birth parents nervous either, but we really didn't have any control. During this time my grandmother died and we went back to our hometown for the funeral. Joel was on the phone with insurance people and adoption people much of the time. We were encouraged by a couple families giving to our adoption during that time as well. It was encouragement that we needed, although we still weren't sure how all of this would work out.
When we got back, we got a call from the adoption agency that said that they wanted to sign the papers that week. They would take the 5,275 dollars we had so far, and then we'd sign another addendum to our agreement that would allow us to pay the rest in the next 5 months. We had our official "placement date" on April 11!