When we decided that our adoption of these boys was neither the right situation or timing for us or for them, we already had them in our home. We visited our social worker one day and let her know what was going on. She directed us to check out an amazing orphanage/school run by a church out of Texas. We immediately visited there and got right in with the director. (An amazing feat in Zambia!) It is called Tree of Life Children's Village.
Check it out! Tree of Life...
What an amazing place-seriously hope you took time to see pictures of the houses they live in, the education they receive, and the whole philosophy the organization has. So cool. Back to the story. After meeting with the director, Mickey and I took a few days to pray about whether it would be the right fit for the boys. We loved it, but at the same time, we had this tugging at our hearts-these two needed a family. I am not saying at all that this place wouldn't have worked for J and E; I think it definitely would have been great for them. But I just felt God telling me to find a family for them. How in the world was I to do that though? Social welfare made it seem like we were it and they didn't even want us to have them! This is where God busted out of the box I started to put Him in...why I do that, I don't know. God does not belong in any box. He can not be confined to a box even if we try to put Him there. And why was I even thinking "I" needed to find a family? God already had! A few days after praying and trying to discern God's will while caring for all 4 kids (it was crazy!), we got a phone call. It was the director at Tree of Life. He told us he and his wife had dinner with some American missionary friends that they hadn't seen in OVER A YEAR. I have to emphasize that part. This dinner was planned before the director talked to us and heard our story. At dinner, he felt prompted to share with these American missionary friends about us. About a couple that stopped at Tree of Life, trying to decide if that would a good fit for two sibling orphaned boys. This is when the magic happened. This couple, their jaws dropped, and they couldn't believe their ears. For over a year, they had waited patiently to adopt a sibling set of boys, ages 4-9. They were on the list with social welfare, but not once did they get a phone call about J and E. (This is sooooo the Zambian government by the way-Ugghhhh.) Anyways, God did this without the help of social welfare of course and showed us our role in helping these boys. Now, long story short, we met up with this couple that week. We continued to meet up with them the following weeks before social welfare made us bring back the boys to their original orphanage. Not something we wanted to do and one of the hardest things we have ever done, but we knew we had to obey social welfare so they would not get angry and take it out on this new family. Isn't this the case in a lot of situations in our lives? Some times, things get worse before they get better and if we just stay the course, we get to experience the better. Social welfare did play some games for a while as usual and the boys spent a little bit of time back at their old orphanage, but in June, this other family was able to pick them up. We keep in touch with this family and learned recently, that things are going well. The boys are even starting in on a school routine and are happy and healthy.
Can I just get an
AMEN,
HALLELUJAH,
PRAISE THE LORD?
I know too that these boys have a long ways to go and much healing needs to happen in their little hearts, but I am confident they are right where they need to be for that to happen. This family will be in Zambia for at least 3 more years, and possibly more after that. This was one thing that was clear to us about these boys; they needed to be in their home country to begin the healing process. We weren't going to be able to allow them that. This family has already adopted a sibling set of girls from Zambia too that were in about the exact situation J and E were in. They had great experience under their belts. While it still hurts to think about all that happened in our adoption journey, and Mickey and I are still sorting all that out, I couldn't ask for a better outcome. So many lessons have been learned and if I needed to go through all of this, then so it is. We are thankful that God allowed us to play a part in finding these boys their forever home. Please pray for them when you think about it, we do...they will always have a huge part of my heart.
A Picture of the Family with the Boys!
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