Ever have one of those days?…

...when you suddenly realize that your life has changed forever? Maybe it happens in a second...maybe a day...maybe longer. Somehow, we've found ourselves smack in the middle of one of those!

Eight months ago... I had never heard of Reeces Rainbow. Adoption was not on our radar screen at all. I did not know that children with Down Syndrome in the Eastern European countries are sent to mental institutions at the age of 4. And I knew of no one that had adopted a child with Down Syndrome.

But, even back then...the change was starting, little did I know. It all started out so innocently, but the Lord knew exactly what He was doing...

One night, when my friend Laura was over she showed me one of her friends' blogs. She said you have to see my friend Jill's blog. She and her husband have several children - both biological and adopted. Three of their girls have Down Syndrome - one is biological and 2 are adopted. Laura knew it would be encouraging to me to see another family who homeschool a child with Down Syndrome. (for anyone new to our life, our little Annie is our biological 3 yr. old, chromosomally enhanced bundle of joy... and stubborness...and affection...and independence... and personality...and the list goes on) So, anyway I kept going back to Jills' blog. I was just amazed that someone would actually adopt that many children with Down Syndrome! I just couldn't imagine it.

Now Jill also had a link on her blog to the Reeces Rainbow Christmas Angel Tree Project. They had a page full of beautiful little orphan children with Down Syndrome from all over the world. At the bottom of that page there was a picture of a little girl...the first time I saw her, I gasped, at least in my mind. She could have been Annie's twin sister! I could not get over the resemblance. Well, it didn't take long to decide that this was the little girl we would sponsor. So, my older 3 boys and I pooled some money together and donated it to her adoption fund. Then we started praying for her to find a forever family.

Now, mind you, adoption was not on my mind yet at all...But, obviously it was certainly on the Lord's mind. For, as the weeks progressed, I found myself going back again and again to that picture of a little girl I didn't know, living in an orphanage half-way around the world. The boys and I prayed for her fervently to be adopted. Every time I looked at her, my heart pulled. I imagined my sweet, little, innocent Annie languishing in a mental institution and my heart began to break for this little girl...named Norah.

I'm not sure when or how it happened but all of a sudden I started picturing Norah in our family...I envisioned her living in our house, playing with Annie and our boys, sitting with us at the table, crawling up the steps beside Annie to go up to their room to play...At first I was sort of startled by these thoughts. But, I began praying, asking the Lord for confirmation and guidance. If this was from Him, he needed to make it very clear to me and give me a verse to base all of my thoughts and dreams on. He did. One day in my quiet time He very clearly gave me Romans 11:29, "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable." I talked to my friend Laura again, (who, by the way, recently adopted the most handsome little baby you've ever seen), about everything I was thinking and praying - wondering if I was crazy to be thinking all this. Of course, she said absolutely not and prayed me on...

So, I told the Lord if this was definitely from Him, then He was going to have to make it clear to my husband too. I guess it was Thanksgiving and we were driving to our in-laws for the holiday. I very hesitantly brought it up to my dear hubby. Obviously, the Lord had been working on his heart too! He didn't hesitate and said he thought we should pursue it! He said something like, we could just talk about our faith, talk about how we love Jesus, talk about serving Jesus or we could just live it out! I am definitely married to the most amazing man.