And now for the rest of the story...

Now for the story behind UnAbandoned 7/19.  All of us have a story, but mine, as well of many of you reading this, centers on an adoption experience.  If you are like me then maybe you have also experienced a second adoption.  We will talk about this more in a moment, but right now I want to share with you my story which begins long before my birth…

Mine begins with a young teenage girl, who I hope will not mind me sharing her story (or at least what I think I know of it) because it truly is beautiful and I commend her for her faith.  The beginning is familiar to far too many girls. Hers begins in the beautiful country of Venezuela. She didn’t always have the strongest father figure in her life, and when a young man came along with smooth words she gave in to his leading. Shortly before her fifteenth birthday she learned of her pregnancy, and upon telling the father of her child this he left the scene. There she was. Alone on a scary path that (if she is anything like me) she probably wasn’t really sure how she got on.  Fortunately she was blessed with a mother who had a strong faith in the Lord, and a desire for her daughter to have a future based on more than raising a baby she couldn’t truly care for. With her daughter’s best interests in mind, they moved in with a friend of hers and her son who lived in the capitol city of Venezuela. So began a search for adoptive parents.  Somewhere along this journey the young girl came in contact with the Father, and experienced her first adoption. She was adopted by the King and became His.  No more loneliness. No more need to be ashamed. She was made clean, and redeemed. After this experience the need to find godly adoptive parents became even more crucial, and she shared this with a local pastor.

Serving in the same city was a missionary family from the United States.  They had two teenage daughters, but wanted more…Funny thing. Out of the whole story, this is probably the part that is most mysterious.  I never really learned why the couple wanted to adopt—and I never asked. I was just so glad they did, I never questioned it! They were looking to adopt a baby boy, and had begun the necessary paperwork and investigation into doing so.  Through a work than can only be described as divine, they were connected with the same pastor who knew of a young girl looking for a godly family to adopt her unborn child.  The young girl was due roughly a month later (maybe a little more), and the couple agreed to seriously commit the matter to prayer.

Two weeks following their meeting with the pastor they received a phone call from him saying that the girl had had the baby, a girl, earlier than anticipated. In her bravery, she did not want to see the child, because she knew if she saw it she wouldn’t be able to part with it.  I have not yet experienced the joy of having a child, but I can’t imagine going through the 9 months of waiting and growing close to the child inside of you and then having to distance yourself from it completely, forever. What strength that must have taken.

Here is where I entered the scene. Now I was alone. I was helpless. I was completely innocent of the circumstances surrounding my birth. I didn’t know it then, but looking back this must have been the darkest point in my story. I didn’t have a hope or a prayer, and time was running out for me to be “claimed.”

Now comes my favorite part.

This is the climax where the hero/heroine come in and save the day.  But not all heroes wear capes. If you are an adoptive parent this is the point in your story where you came in with all of your anticipation, excitement, and nervousness--not as a wannabe hero, but just looking for somebody to love.  And as the adoptee, this is the point where we are pretty much the innocent bystander looking for somebody to save us. My heroes came just in the nick of time. They came into the nursery where I laid, and the medical staff asked them “Who was going to take the baby?”  It was time for the mother and baby to be discharged, and I had nowhere to go.  They saw the need. I stole their heart (as children do). They made me theirs.

And now for the rest of the story.

The young girl left the hospital that day feeling sad and discouraged at the loss of her precious one.  But God works in mysterious ways.  Remember the friend and her son that she and her mother went to stay with in the city? Well, the son turned out to be her Boaz.  He stayed with her during her pregnancy and they became close friends.  He accepted her for who she was, where she was in one of the most difficult times of her life.  A few years later they married, and now have a beautiful family together. God showed her what a real love relationship was meant to be like, and twenty-one years later He allowed her to finally met the one she had given up so difficultly.

The family took me home and was never the same! We moved back to the US and I was able to grow up in a loving Christian home, receive a solid education, and receive the best physical and emotional care possible just as the girl had wanted. Most importantly they led me to receive my second adoption, by the same Father that took in the young girl. He also made me His, and I will never be the same.

 I have gone over this story so many times in my mind, and not a single birthday has passed where I didn’t think it.  I have been so blessed. Many adoptees will never know the back story behind their birthday that I have now become fairly familiar with. Many had to wait longer than two days for their heroes to rush in and save the day.  They can still remember the agony and longing of wanting someone to say, “You are mine.”  And so very many are still waiting…wondering…wanting.

Some will argue that adopting a child will not feel the same as having your own, and I would have to agree to a certain point.  My husband and I can’t wait to have our own children, but we have also dreamed and prayed about the day when we can be the heroes. The day when we can give a child a name, a home, and unconditional love.  I don’t about how it is for my parents, and I know many families have adopted and experienced various struggles and difficulties, but for me I don’t think I could love my family any more if I was biologically related to them.  I’m pretty sure they feel the same way. If adopting is something that you are considering or struggling with, I would say you can neither give nor receive a greater gift.  You may not think you have much to offer, but what you have is so much more than what that child does. If you are on a waitlist to adopt a child, or going through all of the red tape involved, don’t give up!  Some things are worth the wait, and “unabandoning” someone is definitely worth it. You will never be the same.

Yesterday I celebrated my twenty-third birthday…

..Tomorrow I will celebrate the twenty-third anniversary of being unabandoned. So. Thankful.

“I have called you by name, you are mine.”
-Isaiah 43:1-