On to the next question

First of all just look at this picture and compare it to the picture of Eden on the sidebar. Notice the chubby little cheeks and the developing roll? She is changing daily and is becoming harder and harder to keep up with - she is a mover and a shaker. Secondly, Riley came home yesterday!!! This is wonderful news!! I haven't gotten too much detail yet. I just know they took the picc line out before she came home and did one final CAT scan. We are going into Mom's tomorrow and are hoping to stop by and see Riley - I will maybe even post a picture of her in her recovery. Sweet little thing!!

So, I kind of gave the first step two days ago of how we came to embark on adopting Eden. I will try to give the next step today.

For review - I first had to engage in the reality of the enormity of loss that happens in order for us to have the opportunity to give new life to a child. I knew that after allowing myself to feel the pain that I could no longer walk away from it and let someone else tackle the compounding problem of orphaned children. I wasn't sure how it would look for us. I just knew that as people who profess to love Jesus we are mandated to care for orphans. That meant we had to be active in caring - there was no way we could stare at the magnitude of need and say it was someone else's responsibility. It was now my responsibility.

The next step was finding out what our part was in this whole big picture. There are so many amazing ways to help. Sponsoring a child so they can remain in their native land, support people who work hands on with orphaned children, help financially support the maintenance of an orphanage, etc. ect. I was pretty sure ours would be some of the above but also would include adding another little person to our family. Shortly after Tristan was born I began wrestling with God about adoption. Was this for our family? Was this something He desired for us to do? But how? We have three little boys and people would think we were crazy? I told God He would have to make it really clear to me - Mark was okay adopting and he was okay waiting. I was a little more uptight.

Now.....some people will think I am crazy but I am okay with that. I know that God spoke very clearly to me. Over the next two weeks after saying, "God, you will have to make it exceedingly clear" He gave me three dreams. In every dream I saw the same little girl, she was our daughter and she was a lighter skinned African child. I finally told Mark about my dreams and said, "What do you think?" It was one of those "duh" moments - you asked God to show you and I think He did. For some reason God tends to reveal things to me in dreams. I don't know if it is because I am not a good listener while awake or what? This week I had a dream that Shane broke his arm - I'll be honest. I have been a little more paranoid about his safety. Sometimes the dreams are kind of funny - like the dream that Joy, Sharon and I were all pregnant. Joy thought that was pretty funny - turns out it came true.

When people ask how we came to the decision to adopt I never know quite how to answer. It wasn't a decision that we made lightly. We did a lot of research but after seeing the little girl in my dreams we realized Ethiopia made the most sense. Someone asked me a few months ago if Eden was the girl in my dreams. And my answer at this point would have to be yes!! She has the same little button nose, the exact skin tones and the hair.

Now, do I think adoption is the answer to the crisis? Well....no. I think there are a lot of things that need to be hammered out in order for the cycle to slow down. There are some amazing things out there that are making a huge difference for especially women in impoverished countries. One thing that I really like and have done some research on is the whole concept of micro-financing. Amazing!!! Giving them the ability to change their lives long-term. I do recognize that adoption is one of the pieces though in helping with orphan care. There is a story that goes like this: A little boy is walking along a beach and happens upon thousands of star fish that have been washed out of the water. He begins throwing them back in one by one. An older man walks by and asks why he is even bothering to try. He told him he wasn't making a difference. So, the little boy picked up a star fish and threw it into the ocean. He turned to the man and said, "It made a difference for that one." Obviously it is easy to see the point of the story.

Eden will no longer be an orphan. She has been given a name and has found a family. She will not have to wonder what she will do when she is too old to be in the orphanage. She will never have to prostitute herself for survival. She will not contract AIDS as a result from the prostitution. She will not birth a child and leave them motherless because she is too impoverished to get help for an illness. She will not perpetuate what happened to her. By following God's heart for us a difference has been made in the life of our beautiful daughter Eden!!

I will sign off for today but either later today or tomorrow I am going to let you know of some significant need right now at Toukoul orphanage - the orphanage that cared for Eden until we arrived. Who knows - maybe one of you will be traveling there soon.