Laney’s agency originally told us that she would be home by Christmas 2006. Now it was Spring 2007 and still no Laney – and no real news either. Then we received the news that our agency had decided to pull out immediately and stop working on adoptions. Naturally, everyone panicked and for several days we thought Laney was not coming home. When I got the email from our agency I turned to my husband and said “That’s it. We just lost Laney.” My husband, being much more practical and balanced than I am, encouraged me not to give up hope and once I got over my initial panic I agreed with him.
I got on the phone and started calling every agency I could find with a Liberia program and started asking for help. I also found some information on how to process the adoption on my own with the help of a few remaining agency staff who lived there in Liberia. Laney’s case started inching forward but it was slow going. Every few weeks something would happen that made us think we would not be able to go further. The thing that kept me going, though, was the thought of Laney sitting there in her orphanage waiting for me to come get her. We had sent her letters and pictures and she knew she had a family that would come some day to “carry her to America” as the Liberians would say. I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t knock on every door and pry open every window trying to get her here. It was very possible that Laney wasn’t going to come home, but it wouldn’t be because I didn’t try hard enough.
During this period of searching for help and trying to get things done on my own, I talked to a small adoption agency that is based here in Texas where we live. I asked the director for help and while she couldn’t do anything in an official capacity, she did tell me that she could help me understand the process and what needed to be completed in order to get my daughter home. While talking to this agency director I mentioned that we might be interested in adopting again in the future and she said “Well, I do have this one little boy…” Enter Miles. When the pictures appeared in my inbox and I saw that tiny little pixy-child (he was 5 but smaller than most 2 year olds) with his smile and expressive eyes, I knew that he was ours. My poor husband looked at me like I was nuts, but soon he too had a peace that God was calling us to be this child’s parents.
So now we had two children in Liberia and we needed to get those kids home! Miles adoption was being handled by this very competent agency and was completed in record time. Laney’s took forever and it seemed that I had to fight tooth and nail for every document, every INS approval, every embassy appointment. I found that I had to daily give Laney back to God. To tell Him that I trusted Him to take care of her even if I never got to meet her, never held her, never told her I loved her. Some days I was in tears, begging Him to give me my daughter. Others I was more peaceful, just trying to trust that it would all come together. We waited and waited and waited for news.
To be continued…
Related Blogs:
Things We Wish We’d Done While Waiting
Adjusting to the Silent Wait
Biblical Encouragement for Those In Waiting