While I was living there, several of my friends and I met another foreigner one Sunday (which can be pretty exciting when you are living in another country!). He was there with his wife and daughter, and the beautiful little Chinese girl they were adopting. We talked for awhile. The man was Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman. He was a humble and kind man, and he shared with us about how one day at the dinner table, his daughter had said that she thought God had wanted them to adopt. That was the beginning of their adoption story, and it really stuck with me.
During my year in China, I also traveled to Thailand, where I visited an orphanage. Several years later I also had the opportunity to visit an orphanage in Romania. All I can remember about those experiences is that my heart broke for the children, but I could not picture myself ever having the courage to take care of one of them. I had other plans for my life, and did not realize at the time how God was using these encounters to change my heart.
Within a year of returning home from China, I married my best friend. As we thought about having children, I could not escape the desire in my heart to one day return to China. I knew I wanted to adopt a girl from China, but John did not feel that desire at the time. I began to pray. Not that my will would be done, but that if this desire was from the Lord, that John would want to lead his family into adoption.
In 2004, we gave birth to Esther, and in 2010 to Anita, our sweet and precious girls! The desire to adopt still grew stronger, and I shared that desire with Esther. She began praying as well. Her prayers were usually something like, "Lord, we need to bring an orphan home. So when Daddy gets done with work, I pray there would be an orphan standing there and he would bring the child home!" (I am pretty sure it should be that simple in this world.)
Over the years, the Lord has used some really amazing stories and circumstances in our lives to speak to us about adoption. Fully trusting in God to direct our hearts, John began to talk and pray more about adoption. I was careful not to say too much or "persuade" him (yes, I actually did that!). It had to be the Father's plan, not mine.
Last fall, John came to me one day and said definitively, "We are supposed to adopt." Yup, there were tears. (Mostly mine.) Since that day, we have embarked on the adoption process with all of it's excitement, doubts, fears, and many "ups and downs." The amazing thing to me is that when I start to panic or worry about some aspect of this process, John has been the solid and encouraging one. So thankful for God's work in our lives! Since that time, John has also expressed that he would like us to be open to a sibling group. Wow! Sibling groups are not common in Chinese adoption, but we are open to it. And, we are both certain that God has called us to adopt a girl (or girls).
Thank you for your prayers and love. We are beyond blessed to be on this journey, and to share it with you!
With love,
Dawn Marie
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