Grace on March 2nd

Once, there was a couple who adopted a sweet, beautiful little girl from China.  They longed for her to have a sister...so they began the process again.  After crossing the land of paperwork for a year, they waited with great excitement for a phone call to come, telling them of another little girl.  They waited and waited and waited.  Two long years...and then they received news..but it was not the kind they were expecting.  The woman had been diagnosed with stage two breast cancer.  Their dreams of adopting were placed on the back burner as this couple braced themselves for a year of surgeries and treatments.  The woman DID get better...but she was told by China that she was no longer allowed to adopt the little girl she had dreamed about.  The couple tried to relinquish their desire for another child..but it was always there.

During this time of waiting, the couple opened their arms and home to a 16-year-old refugee from Burma.  She touched their lives in new and beautiful ways..and she wouldn't have entered their lives if they hadn't been waiting.  As they experienced life with both their girls, their desire to adopt intensified.  After many months of searching, this couple finally found an agency and country that was willing to work with the woman's cancer diagnosis.  In November of 2010, over 4 years after they had begun the adoption process, their paperwork was finally in Ethiopia.  Then...inexplicably...things slowed down for them again.   It wouldn't be until late into the following year...but finally, they were matched with a child. 

A little girl...with turned out feet. 

Here is the rest of their story in their own words, from their blog post:

We prayed fervently that God would fulfill our dreams of adopting again.  He answered this prayer with the referral of our beautiful daughter, Melat.  After meeting her in December, we were reminded yet again that God is so good and His plans are much better than ours.  As we say with all our daughters, we could have never dreamed of better children then the ones God has blessed us with.  God knew well before we ever meet what our family would be and He had his hands on our children, taking care of them in ways we never imagined before bringing them into our lives.

We are thrilled to report that on February 24 ^th we will be heading to Ethiopia to bring home our sweet Melat.  The wait the past couple of months has been the most difficult in all the years we have waited.    To hold your child and then have to leave her behind is unspeakable to us and we honestly don't know, other than by God's grace, how we did it.  Melat will be home with her forever family on March 2^nd, 2012.  It's been a long wait but God had a plan and we waited for Him to unite us with Melat.

Oh sweet grace.  The prayer that Anthony and I began praying last July has been answered: "Please let Melat be referred to a family who loves Jesus and who can best meet her needs."

Oh sweet joy.  God allowed us to find out what happened to our Melat....even though this dear family knows nothing about us.

Two families...two stories..each set out on their journey, longings laid open before God.  And God heard every anguished tear of both families.  And God took two families, rerouted their paths in ways they did not expect...and gave them both "immeasureably more than all they asked for or imagined."

In exactly one week,  on March 2nd, we will be flying to Ethiopia to meet Elora, our beautiful baby girl.  And on March 2nd, Melat will finally be flying home...to be with her Forever Family.

"Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus.."