"Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." Psalm 127:3-5

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Our Adoption Story...Let The Journey Begin

"Faith
Sees the Invisible
Believes the Unbelievable
Receives the Impossible."
~Corrie Ten Boom

While our journey of adopting Rose appears to be just beginning, its roots go back many years, and the above words are the banner over our story.  Adoption has been on our hearts since childhood, and we always knew that God would grow our family through adoption (though we never could have predicted just how He would do it!)  In 2006 and 2007 we welcomed our fist two biological children.  Then, in 2010, we came across Reece's Rainbow--an organization that advocates for, and raises awareness about children with Down Syndrome, and other special needs, around the world.  They also serve as a non-profit adoption grant foundation, which helps families raise the necessary funds to adopt internationally.  During the past eight years, our hearts have been drawn to so many of the sweet faces on the Reece's Rainbow website.  Each child has taught us something new, and brought us to new levels of trust and relationship with our Father in Heaven.  But we never got the green light to move forward with the adoption of any of those children.  We began the process in earnest, but each time the Lord brought us to the place of having to let go of our little ones, and wait for His perfect timing.

In 2012, we adopted our third child, an 8 year old little boy with cerebral palsy, from a disrupted adoption.  He came to us in the most unexpected way, and at the most unexpected time in our lives.  (That story will have to be it's own post, but the short version is that we received a phone call about him one day, and picked him up the very next day.  We didn't even have a home study yet!) In 2013 and 2014, we were then blessed by two more biological sons.  Our hands and hearts have been so very full with these precious five children that the Lord has entrusted to us.  But we knew in the back of our minds that God had one more little one for our family.  A very special little one, who just so happens to rock that extra chromosome!

In 2013, God spoke to us of a daughter named Rose.  During the pregnancies of our last two children, we waited anxiously to see if perhaps the little baby growing inside could be our little Rose.  When they turned out to be our precious little boys, we were left wondering if or when we would ever meet our Rose.  Fast forward about five years, to the early morning hours of February 15, 2018--Ashley's birthday--when the Lord prompted a visit to the Reece's Rainbow website once more.  Over the years, it had become extremely difficult to look at all the little faces pictured on their website,  and not be able to bring one of those children out of orphanhood, and into our family to be loved and nurtured.  So it had been quite a long time since we had seen the children that were listed on their website.  While scrolling through the pictures on February 15, up comes a precious little girl named Rose!  Could this be our Rose?!?  Over the next days and weeks, we prayed, we talked, we wrestled with the questions, and we talked to our other children.  When we first approached our three oldest children, we were unsure what their reactions would be.  We were blown away, and so incredibly humbled by their responses.  They all recognized that this would not be an easy undertaking, but that if God is asking us to do it, there is no question as to what we should do.  They were excited about the prospect of having a little sister, and were in total agreement that we should move forward.  Within two weeks, we received the green light we had been waiting for all these years.  God flung the doors wide open, paved a way to get to our Rose, cleared every hurdle, and granted us the most inexplicable peace as we committed to adopting her.  We have been so amazed at how such beautiful peace has rested upon this adoption journey.  At one point we were told that Rose was most likely on the lower end of functioning, delayed beyond other children with Down Syndrome.  But even in the face of that possibility, we knew that God was asking us to say Yes to even "the least of these."  Our children have rallied around us, and we are all working as team to bring Rose home.

It is by faith that we see the invisible blessings and joys of raising a child with Down Syndrome.  It is by faith that we believe the unbelievable, that somehow God will make a way for us to complete this adoption, as a family.  It is by faith that we will receive the impossible, a love that many will never know, second only to the love of our heavenly Father.  God has given us the eyes to see the beauty of Down Syndrome, not just the hardships.  While we know this will not be an easy journey, it is so often the case that the hardest things in life are the most beautiful when following in the Lord's footsteps.  We know beyond any shadow of doubt, that we are walking in the middle of God's will for our family.  We will keep our eyes upon Him, stay in His peace that surpasses all understanding, not only during this adoption journey itself, but far beyond that as we raise this precious girl in the years to come.

With much Love,
The Hadsell Family 

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