Adoption Celebration

This Sunday  morning is one of our biggest as a church.   Community of Cultures is always a packed out house.  It is the highlight of our year as we celebrate the different cultures of our church people.  

Then Sunday evening, will be a big celebration for our family.  Its hard to believe it has been seven years since we adopted Erika.

I'm excited about this time being a special time with our family here in Belize.  Those who have walked with us day by day.  Those who have prayed with us and believed with us.  It is a celebration for everyone of answered prayers.  The people coming to this party deeply love our girls.  I will miss our parents, siblings and especially Josh and Tori.

So, I wanted to share what I will be saying about our journey, before we pray over the girls on Sunday.  It will be a dedication of sorts.

Kailey Isabel means "laurel", "crown", "princess" and "devoted to God".  She is truly a beautiful princess who lives her life for the Lord.

Aviya Hope means "my father is God" and "expectation" or "firm assurance".  Aviya knows who she is in Christ and is a girl full of joy and hope.  She chose to change her name and we love it!

This is what I will be sharing::

I want to thank each of you for coming tonight.  You were invited because you have been a support to Lee and I, our girls, our family.  We rejoice in the adoption.  We invited you to rejoice and celebrate with us, but also to pray over the children the Lord has blessed us with.

Ephesians 1:4-5 New King James Version (NKJV)

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

GOD LOVES ADOPTION.  I love adoption.  Since I was very small, I always wanted to adopt.  My older sister was adopted.

In 2007, we met a beautiful 14 month old little girl that was in foster care and needed a family.  The moment I met her I knew I was her mom.  The journey to adoption took almost two years, but I “adopted” her the moment I first held her.  I felt that our family was complete.  

During that journey, was when the Lord called our family to move to Belize.  

In 2013, we were at Marla’s with a mission team.  We came to Belize with no intention of growing our family anymore.  BUT GOD.  When Kailey’s name was mentioned, the Holy Spirit came over me, Tori and Lee, like a wind.  I barely knew who she was, but I will never question that God spoke in that moment that she was my daughter.  One other thing is that before we even moved here, when Tori was 11, God had given her a vision in worship one day.  It was of a girl who was about her age, who needed a home.  The Lord told Tori that she needed to share her room, share her clothes and that the Lord would use this girl.  When God spoke to us that day at Marla’s, I remembered Tori’s vision that she had written down and we went back and looked.   I never knew it would take 4 ½ years to complete the adoption.  But the journey is a celebration of the faithfulness of the God we serve.  When God speaks something, He will bring it to completion.

The journey of adoption has been just as much about what God has done in Lee and I, as what He has done in the lives of our girls.

Faith is easy when everything is going great.  But when it is hard, we want to give up.

Do we trust what God said or not?

It took a year for Kailey to be able to move into our home.  We would sometimes have her on weekends, sometimes not.  The waiting was hard.  I still do not understand all the reasons.  But Kailey was older, so the transition was harder for her.  We are so excited in what the Lord has done in Kailey and how she has longed to be adopted by us.  We love her very deeply.

Last year, in 2016, we were at a Marlas fundraiser.  Shelly Usher spoke of her journey of adoption and one of the things she said, was that we needed to ask ourselves, “do we have room for one more?”  Also on that night, for the first time, Aviya stood out to me.  Her smile, her energy, her joy as she danced to “When Jesus Says Yes”...The Lord has used that song repeatedly along our journey to adopt Aviya.  The next day at church, again Aviya came over and randomly started talking to me.  She did not know that Kailey had once lived at Marla’s or that we had adopted Erika.  She was so curious and wanted to know the scoop.  My heart was so drawn to her...

A couple weeks later, we went to Texas for our regular one month itinerary.  Every single day, God whispered Aviya’s name in my ear...and Lee’s ear.  Everywhere we went, I felt the Lord say that the next time, we would have Aviya with us.  He told me over and over again, YOU HAVE ROOM FOR ONE MORE.  Room in the van, room in your house, room in your heart.  He would not let it go.  

God is never early.  Literally every deadline, we have needed with these girls has been right on time.  God has intervened and we have seen miracle after miracle.

Sometimes along the journey, it would be so discouraging.  Dealing with the system.  Questioning why they would allow certain things.  But then looking back, I can truly see that the Lord has always had our girls’ best interest at heart.  Visitation that allowed closure where needed.  

No child wants to need to be adopted.  But God loves those children so much that He will move the heart of a family...that was only going to have two children...to adopt.

This is our journey.  Many of you know the stories, but I wanted to share:)