The Gift...

I have to say that one of the most memorable parts of this journey was when we got to tell our older boys that Norah had found a forever family. We had prayed for her so often to find a family and they were so excited to have that news. We told them, "You know the family that is going to adopt Norah!" They excitedly listed all their guesses. We said, "No, it's us! We are going to be her family!" They were so surprised and of course I was crying be then. They asked all sorts of questions, like what her real name was and what we would call her and where would she sleep, etc...

A couple weeks before Christmas we received some devastating news...After some further checking on Norah's situation, it was thought that this little girl the Lord had borne in our hearts was now, not available for adoption. I was crushed and cried out to the Lord. Why would He ask us to make this leap of faith and then leave us hanging? A period of several weeks of waiting ensued...during this time I asked the Lord again to give me specific scripture to help me sort out all that was happening.

It was time to decorate the tree. Every year I buy the children a little ornament to put on the tree. (I used to buy those cute little Hallmark ornaments, but at $10 or $15 a kid, with 5 kids, that adds up pretty quickly! Sorry Hallmark, now I go to Target or Wal-mart and by the multipack of ornaments for $6.99. Last year was Scooby Doo, one year was Batman, etc...) Anyway, this year was just little christmas momentos, wreaths, angels, etc... I let all the children pick an ornament to put on the tree. There was one left...it was a tiny little package, a christmas gift. I thought about putting it on the tree with Norah's name on it but I was just too afraid. I knew that next year when I unpacked the Christmas stuff it would be too painful to look at it so I put it back in the box. But then, all day long, it was like the Lord kept telling me over and over again, "Go put that ornament on the tree!" I kept ignoring Him. Real smart, huh. Finally, though, I relented and marched in there and hung up that little gift on the tree and cried.

Well, that night, the Lord and I were having it out in my bedroom closet. I was crying out to Him and reading some scripture. I don't remember how it happened but He led me to Isaiah 45:1-3. I kept reading over verse 3, "I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places."- it jumped off the page to me. And then it was just like He said to me, "Karen, Norah is my gift to you this Christmas!" Well, I wish I could say I went to bed that night full of faith and hope. But, actually, I was full of fear and maybe a little hope that wasn't there before. But, at least I think He was planting a seed of faith in me by that verse.

Well, Christmas came and we still had no word on the status of our little girl across the world. And to top it off, we all had the stomach flu - the worst kind. My parents came up for the holiday. They got a motel room, never came over(at our insistence) for fear of the dreaded plague, spent 2 days going out to restaurants and Wal-mart. We exchanged gifts via grocery bags, outside the front door and then they went home. So, Christmas day came and after opening gifts between bouts of nausea, the phone rang. It was the director of our adoption agency. She was so excited, she had wonderful news...our little girl was indeed available after all and we could proceed with our adoption! There had been some confusion at the orphanage between her and another child. So, the Lord was right on time with delivering our Christmas "gift"to us!


In case you hadn't noticed, that verse has become the bedrock of our adoption. As the months progress and potential pitfalls attempt to discourage us, we come back to that promise again and again.