Well, we are still overwhelmed with joy as we think about the way that God has chosen to answer our prayers with our sweet little Hannah.
As many of you know, last April our home study provider emailed pictures of two small, very malnurished babies. They were about two months old at the time and had been found by the police and taken in to an orphanage. They were then taken to see a doctor in Ethiopia. The doctor’s diagnosis was that they were both very anemic, malnurished and that the little girl had Down’s Syndrome. The last diagnosis was based on physical appearances alone since there is no way of doing chromosomal testing in Ethiopia. He stated on her medical record that she had a large abdomen, large tongue and a very high pallet, which are all characteristics of Down’s. Our home study provider told us that these babies would be a very hard placement because they had to stay together (they are twins) and she had this diagnosis.
Scott and I both prayed and sought wisdom from many different people. We found it very interesting that anyone we spoke to about this that had not personally been around a child with Down’s was very leery of the thought of us adopting them but anyone we spoke to that had been around a child with Down’s could not have encouraged us more to adopt them. They would go on and on talking about the joys of these precious children and that we would not regret this decision.
After much prayer, we decided to accept the referral for these two babies in June of 2010. We, along with many others, continued to pray that if it pleased God, He would either heal her of this or that she would not have Down’s at all.
Each month, we would continue to receive updates and pictures of our babies and every month, she began looking a little less like she had Down’s Syndrome.
We were able to finally bring our little ones home three weeks ago!! They have been such a huge blessing to our family already!! We were very excited to hear this past Tuesday that Hannah does not have any form of Down’s Syndrome! We would have been perfectly happy and content to love and raise her if she had this condition but we now see this as God’s blessing upon blessings to have answered our prayers!!!
When thinking back upon our adoption process, there were many times when we were so down and frustated. We felt like our hearts were bursting open with love for a child/ children that we had not yet met. A very good friend of mine assured me one night (after another dissapointment) that the same God that placed each one of my biological children in my womb was the same God that had already chosen our adopted children as well as the perfect timing that they would become a part of our family.
If our twin babies would have been on the waiting list as “healthy babies” they would have most likely been chosen immediately by another family and probably would never have even been on the waiting list at all. These were indeed the ones that our great God had chosen for our family.
We have learned so much through this entire process. God is indeed in control of all things and His timing is indeed perfect! We give Him all praise for the work that He has done and is still doing in our lives. We know that we still have very much to learn but we are in awe of His great love towards two very sinful, very undeserving people as ourselves. His love is great and His mercy endures forever!!!
AMAZING to think about God’s sovereignty in having a doctor think she has Downs so she’d be on the waiting list so your family would bring them home…and that He would increase your faith in trusting Him either way. I love it!