I just got the most amazing news a couple of days ago! I just found out that my BFF, Shana, and her husband, Ron, have travel dates to meet their soon to be son! I'm so excited for them! They are adopting from a neighboring country from our little dude!
I wanted to share their story with you because it truly is an amazing one and I'm so blessed to be able to say that I was a part of their adoption story. I honestly can not put it in better words so I have copy and pasted their blog to mine. After her introduction, there is a texting conversation that I had with Shana on a chilly Wed. night. God was all in this conversation, y'all. You don't want to miss this! It's lengthy, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy! :-)
Shana's view:
I wanted to share their story with you because it truly is an amazing one and I'm so blessed to be able to say that I was a part of their adoption story. I honestly can not put it in better words so I have copy and pasted their blog to mine. After her introduction, there is a texting conversation that I had with Shana on a chilly Wed. night. God was all in this conversation, y'all. You don't want to miss this! It's lengthy, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy! :-)
Shana's view:
"How in the
world did we get to this point? How did
we realize this is the path that God placed us on? How did we know we were supposed to adopt a
child with Down syndrome? Well my blog
friends…. We’ve been asked these questions quite a few times over the past few
weeks. I keep giving the same
response…even to the social worker…. It’s a God thing. J I
knew when it was occurring that is was God and I knew without a shadow of a
doubt that I would not remember it exactly as it occurred. So, I wrote it all down immediately so I
could always remember the day God called me.
The day that I heard Him speak directly to my heart and I chose to
listen. It was a choice, ya know. God speaks to us all the time and we can
choose to listen and obey or we can choose to block it out, excuse it away, turn
a deaf ear. This day, I chose to obey
and I am so thankful I did and that my wonderful spouse chose to obey too. It’s raw and honest and it is
exact. A little long but it is something
that I cannot wait to share with you. On
Tuesday November 8th I finally was able to sit down and read a blog
that my best friend Maria had asked me to read.
She asked me to read this because I planned on going with her and her
husband Chris when they were in country to pick up their son (Finn). See, Maria and Chris are also adopting a
child with Down syndrome. J
Maria and I had talked daily about their adoption process over the
previous months as they embarked upon their God called journey. In all honesty…there were times I would tell
people about their adoption journey and say, “I am so thrilled for them!! They
are truly precious people! I have always wanted to adopt but could never adopt a child with
Ds. I cannot make a lifetime commitment
like that!”
When will I ever learn not to let God hear me say I will never do something!!??
So, as I sat down to look over the pictures in this blog I was excited to see what the country would be like that I would be visiting soon. I sat down at 8:30 p.m. on the 8th of November and did not physically move (yes it was a miracle that ALL of my children were in bed and asleep by this time…God is amazing…He was preparing EVERYTHING so I could clearly hear Him). I sat and cried, laughed, got angry, rejoiced, prayed, and praised as I read this blog http://homeiswhereitsat.blogspot.com/ from start to the current date. That’s approximately 11 months worth of blogging and trust me when I say…Ashley is a blogger…She blogs almost daily, my friends! Anyway… It was 1:30 a.m. on the 9th when I finally finished catching up. I had work
However, as I prayed, this is what kept going on over and over in my mind http://homeiswhereitsat.blogspot.com/2011/11/break-in-monotony.html
In a video on this days post, at the immediate beginning, you can hear what I heard. Or maybe only I can hear it…because God meant for me to hear it. The cry of a child. That cry was all I could hear all night long. There were more children there. It wasn’t just Ashley and Jake’s sweet story of Carter taking his first steps….there is more to that video and more to this world. They are waiting….millions of babies waiting….
Before I knew it the alarm went off and I rushed out of bed to start my morning. My heart and mind were still running crazy. I did my usual morning routine and finally arrived in my work parking lot. I couldn’t even get out of the van. I grabbed my phone and texted the person I text everyday and the one person I knew who is physically on this earth that could explain what was going on in my heart, mind, and soul. My best friend Maria. And here is the text trail because I could never explain it again:
11/9/11
Me: 8:10 am = After reading that entire blog of Ashley’s last night….Maria, I cannot express the emotions I have inside. Please pray for me as I am feeling and thinking things that I never thought I would. I am terrified. I cannot even imagine putting a voice to some of the thoughts that are heavy on my heart right now. I know if I did I’d just sob….Could God be leading me?? Please, Maria, please pray. I don’t even know if I can share these thoughts and feelings with Ronnie as none of this makes sense and not one bit of it is logical.
Maria: 8:14 am = Of course I’ll pray for you!! What are you feeling?
Me: 8:21 am = I am not even sure I can put words to it! I cannot get their voices out of my mind. The voices of those children in the background of Ashley’s videos of Carter. Hearing them. I am overwhelmed with emotions. I feel like we are so blessed and how can I not run there and rescue. I have never felt this overwhelmed with love for children I do not personally know. I am not sure I can even bring myself to even say it. For every reason to even stop on the brink of adoption I can think of a thousand reasons not to. Would God seriously consider me worthy enough?? Certainly not. What about Jordan, Logan, and Lucas??? Girl, I cannot even continue or I’m going to be bawling here at work. What the heck??? One freakin’ blog??? Seriously???
Maria: 8:26 am = Girl, you are exactly where I was the day I started texting you about all of this! There are 1000’s of reasons not too. I block those reasons out on a daily basis and just try to always remember the one real reason that I should….and that’s to take care of the widows and the orphans as God tells me to…
Me: 8:26 am = I am a mess…lol…sitting here at work looking at the website. Trying to hide all of this because I can’t not tell Ronnie if he asks but I am terrified to tell him just the same. Seriously, Maria….could God have placed this on my heart?? I want to cry, puke, get on a plane, scream, tell everyone, you name it….this is insane.
Maria: 8:36 am = I totally get it!! It was so hard to tell Chris. I told you first!! J Just pray about it and find where you fit in His plan! And I’ll pray hard! It makes sense, BFF. We are His followers…It’s what He has called His followers to do. How can we not be moved? I have been blessed with 2 beautiful, healthy daughters. It’s just time to pay His blessings forward if that makes sense.
Me: 8:37 am = I am so blessed to have you. So very blessed. I will certainly be praying and thank you for your prayers too. I have said nothing to anyone (they’ll think I’m crazy). I’m saying this to you as if you haven’t already thought it but… Committing to this means my job (and money would have to be over), which means all the nicey nice things I “want” would be gone. My plans of Ronnie and I traveling for the most part would be gone….why would anyone be willing to toss those “awesome” things aside? I’ve got kids….why would I want more? Money…how will we get that much money? Where will we find time off work to travel to another country? Can I handle a commitment like this? Am I just sleep deprived because I was up till 1 am? Lol…girl, this is totally unexpected and not, so not, in my plans.
Maria: 8:43 am = I still worry about all of those things…Mostly the money part…but I can’t NOT do it. I can’t stand before God and explain that I didn’t adopt because I wanted to go to
Me: 8:45 am = None of this makes sense right now. We are insanely busy and I cannot imagine adding more to our plate…But I can see so much that can be set aside as well…ya know….Girl, I’m sick to my stomach…I cannot imagine that God would place me here….I don’t deserve a child and responsibility like this. You are correct…no better investment in the world than a child! Thank you for offering to watch my baby! Lol….so many parts of me wants this but so many parts of me is terrified to want it. Does that even make sense??? This is seriously craziness!!!!
Maria: 8:50 am = Makes perfect sense! I still think your exact thoughts every day. We go tomorrow to get a lot of documents notarized. Moving on ahead! J
Me: 8:51 am = That doesn’t help me!!! LOL!!! How do you know what you are doing is right??? Girl, you know me…I’m a control freak!! This is so out of control! That is so awesome!! So glad y’all are moving forward!! (Easy to be excited for you because it’s YOU, not me…lol) and you are so capable!
Maria: 8:53 am = I know it’s right because of the signs God has given me along the way. Scripturally, it’s definitely right. It’s just so deep in my heart that I can’t deny it. I also see how Satan is fighting against us and that makes it even more obvious that we are in God’s will.
Me: 8:54 am = This is crazy…Lol…You couldn’t be more correct. Oh goodness…. Pray, pray, pray…Do you realize the obstacles we have to work around to make this happen?
Maria: 8:56 am = Different regions work differently….and sometimes they will waive things for special needs.
Me: 8:57 am = Truly the $ part doesn’t stress me out too much. It’s all the other things…I cannot handle (and do not handle rejection well).
Maria: 8:59 am = Yeah, rejections stinks!! But if you get rejected, perhaps God wants you involved in another way….
Me: 9:01 am = True. I am not sure I can handle heartbreak…..lol…. Praying, praying, praying,…and waiting and I don’t wait well. How did you know when was a good time to tell Chris?
Maria: 9:05 am = I started just talking about the adoptions that I knew about that were happening to Chris. Started easing him into it that way. He put up a lot of resistance because he knew what I was doing. And then I just couldn’t hold it in any longer and I told him that he needed to pray that God would change my heart. It was HARD to talk about though. It became a burden and I literally just couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Me: 9:06 am = Well, that gives me hope. I agree. It will certainly be hard!!
Me: 9:34 am = I just sent ron an email asking for uninterrupted time to share my heart with him and asked him to pray before we could talk. Seriously, how can something be such a huge burden in such a short amount of time???
Maria: 9:36 am = Totally hit me the same way.
Me: 9:47 am = Pray now! We are talking.
Maria: 9:48 am = U got it!
Me: 10:17 am = Oh my goodness….So I’m bawling up a storm. God is good. Ronnie is completely open!!! Same reservations but willing!!! J
Maria: 10:40 am = Praise God!! I’d say that went very well!! Now you have a huge obstacle out of the way and can just relax and pray!!
Me: 10:41 am = It did!!!! He looked at me and said, “Why would you be afraid to ask me?” Lol… I couldn’t even answer. He does prefer to try the
Maria: 10:45 am = Nothing wrong with that! One less orphan is what matters! Wow!! So proud of y’all!! Are you thinking special needs? Our hubbies can really surprise us, can’t they? You were concerned for no reason at all! Hahahaha
Me: 11:17 am = They do! We are very blessed. Maria, this is what is so insane…I have GOT to learn to quit telling God I would/could NEVER do something. When you decided to adopt a Ds child I told Ron, “I am so happy for her but I could never make that commitment.” Maria, that is what is killing me about this whole thing…THAT is the burden that God placed on my heart with a vengeance last night. The “I will adopt but not “THAT” type of child…” We will be seeking a child who has Ds. Ronnie just confirmed it…. <3
Maria: 11:20 am = Tears!! Really. Tears. They will have each other and so will we.
Me: 11:23 am = Awwww!!! You are SO right!!! Ok…now I’m crying again… God KNOWS all of this and He always has!!
Maria: 11:25 am = What did Ron say to confirm?!
Me: 11:41 am = He and I have always talked about adopting. From the time we got married. We’ve always continued to talk about it. But NEVER special needs. Then when u started your process with Finn we briefly talked about a child with HIV. He didn’t seem to mind too much but wasn’t excited or moved about it either. So, sitting in the office I said, “So you understand what I’m asking, right?” and he said, “yes! And I couldn’t imaging adopting a more loving child. If I could imagine myself adopting a child with special needs that is exactly what I would imagine. They are always so happy, understanding, and loving. Even though I know it won’t always be that way…” Lol… I didn’t even have to speak it! I’m scared…I’m already falling in love with a child that I don’t even know yet and what it if doesn’t happen? I just caught myself picturing him (yes, a boy for us too…unless God changes that!) hanging out with
Maria: 12:15 pm = I can’t wait to share this with Chris!
Me: 12:18 pm = I won’t be saying anything public (and have asked Ron not to as well). Looking into countries and their regulations and what potential we have in them.
Maria: 12:21 pm = Totally understand! Through RR, Marianne was awesome about emailing us back about country stuff…Andrea is the director and she’s prob who I would start with. She is always on yahoo messenger for questions too which is nice.
Me: 12:52 pm = LOL!!!! Seriously too funny. I had not read your text. Went to gas station to get Ron a soda. Came back and got straight on the computer and was pulling up information on country requirements. As I was sitting here looking through all of this I thought, ”I’m going to text Maria and ask for who she obtained all her info from!” Picked up my phone and I see your text with the information already given!!” God knows our every need long before we ever speak it…or think it! I love you!!
Maria: 1:08 pm = Yea!! Lol!! Just had to read everything to Chris. It’s just amazing! Love you!!
Me: 1:11 pm = That is how I told Ronnie! Lol!! When he called me into his office I immediately started crying and said, I cannot even speak this burden to you. You are better off just reading it.” I handed him my phone and he read our texts.
Maria: 1:18 pm = Awwww!! Bless your hearts! Well, Chris is thrilled!!
Me: 1:19 pm = Thank you!! See what an inspiration y’all are!! <3
Maria: 1:20 pm = Seriously, I was wondering
yesterday if anyone would follow in our footsteps like we are doing with the
Colemans. J
Me: 1:21 pm = It appears like God intends for this to be for this to be contagious and that is wonderful!!
Maria: 1:25 pm = Yep!! Yay!! Wow. I’m flabbergasted.
Me: 1:25 pm = Why?
Maria: 1:27 pm = because y’all have just jumped on the crazy train with us. LOL.
Me: 1:28 pm = LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes we certainly have and yes, I agree. I keep sitting here thinking, did this really all just take place???” No better companions!!! <3
Maria: 1:30 pm = Absolutely!! I’m thrilled! I really am glad it’s you.
Me: 1:32 pm = I NEVER EVER thought I’d join you on this journey in any way. Other than taking care of your babies and supporting you through it all….I am praising God that I get to have you support me through it as well!! HE CHOSE ME, MARIA!!!! I am so very, very unworthy!!! Sorry I am insanely erratic….
Maria: 1:39 pm = I can’t think of anyone more perfect than you and Ron"
So there you have it! God took care of business in less than 24 hours time, thanks to their obedience to follow and serve Him! This little boy is going to be blessed beyond measure and I can not wait to see this little sweetie in their arms!
Ron and Shana received travel dates a few days ago! They need to be in country at the beginning of June but there is only one problem. They are $5000 short of being able to make that first trip. They have saved, gathered, and raised a great amount of money but their adoption will total around $37,000... that's around $10,000 more than ours!
Please, pray about where you fit into the orphan crisis. Yes, it's a crisis. There are over 143 million orphans in this world. 143 million children who don't have families... Who are waiting for food... waiting for a clean diaper... waiting for just a kind word... a glance... waiting to be the center of some one's universe. Can that person be you? Can you give? Can you pray? Can you encourage? Can you equip?
James 1:27- Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
You belong somewhere... please pray and find your place!
The Pardue's need you. If you are able, please consider donating.
We are so thankful for the support you have given us. We can't do it without you! It doesn't end here for us, though...we are also praying for God to reveal to us how He will continue to use us in the orphan crisis. There's many, many more children who need homes. We are in this together!
Stay tuned for more families and more children who need help! God bless all of you!
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