Your story

Dear Callyrosy-posy (as your older sister Lilah likes to call you)

Someday, you are going to ask me, "Why did you decide to adopt me?"  And I will cuddle you close (if you are still at an age where you will let me) and I will tell you that it is because my life was awaiting you...the same way it was awaiting Lilah and Arabelle and Esme.  And you will roll your eyes and tell me, "That's not what I meant and That's what you always say."  And then I will tell you, "It's not a matter of why we decided to adopt you...but more a matter of when."  And you will roll your eyes some more...but you will cuddle in close for YOUR story...which is an amazing story.

You were born on June 16, 2009 and your mom gave you the name "Melat" which means "treasure left on earth by God."  But right now, in your beautiful birth country, there is rampant poverty and disease...and it has had devastating effects on families...On your family...on your mother.  And I will tell you that I don't know much, but I do know that your mother was very sick, very poor, and very alone.  And that she made a really brave and really hard decision:  She sought advice and was told that you needed to be in a safe place where you wouldn't be subject to extreme hunger or danger.  So she placed you in the care of others with the faith that you would survive and thrive, even if she wouldn't.

In the meantime, God was starting to stir something that had always been laying inside my heart and your Daddy's.  I would tuck your sisters in bed at night, and as I would pray for them, a thought would pop into my head and wouldn't go away.  What would happen if I lived somewhere where I had no money, no family to support me, and I got sick?  What would happen to my daughters?  I would plead with God - beg - for them to be safe and loved by a mother and father with the same love that I have for them."  And this thought kept growing more and more persistent.  It pushed its way into each moment of the day.  Until we finally decided we had to do something about it.

And that's where your story gets even more spine tingling.  It's a story you've heard over and over, but I will never, ever get tired of telling it.  Our forever friends were traveling to Ethiopia to meet their daughter for the first time....and when they were at the orphanage...they spied you.  You, with your sweet smile and big eyes.  And you captured their heart...and they came home and told us about you.  And their story captured our heart.  And we began to wonder if you would be our little girl....but we couldn't DO anything about our wondering.

According to adoption law, we couldn't ask our caseworker about you.  We knew that the director of the orphanage really wanted to find a family for you, but our paperwork said that we wanted a child up to age two...and you were definitely over two!   All we could do was pray...I wanted you soo much, but I knew that God might have a different plan for you.  I prayed that somehow, God would allow you to be referred to us despite the age requirements.

And then...a mere 5 days after our paperwork made it to Ethiopia, we got THE phone call.  The one I had been praying, hoping and waiting for...it was our referral...and it was YOU.

"So...see?"  I will tell you as you begin to get bored of your story and push me away from all that cuddling.  It was Never a Matter of Why... Why is easy: it's because we were missing YOU from our lives.  For your story...it's ALWAYS a Matter of When.  When your mother needed somebody else to love you the way that she loved you.  When I needed my 4th little girl to love to pieces.  When we both needed each other to fill the missing piece of our family hearts that God so designed to be there.