How it all began...
Our journey began even before we were married when God laid on both of our hearts the possibility of adopting a child. We discussed that we would be open to adoption if God would so lead. The longer we were married, the more the subject of adoption was impressed in our minds. After our second daughter, Cherith, was born, we strongly felt God's leading to begin the adoption process and submitted our application to Bethany Christian Services in May of 2009. We hoped to adopt a Chinese baby girl. Through a series of many events over the course of a year, God had changed our minds, not about adoption, but about how He wanted to use our family through adoption. He began right away, but slowly, opening our minds to children with special needs. I constantly gravitated to the site of available "Waiting Children" who were more difficult to find homes for. And then one day, while I was browsing those files, I found her! She was a little five year old girl who would most likely need a wheelchair by her teenage years. I said to myself, "She's the one!", but I also grappled with issues like, "Am I ready to be a mommy to a little girl with special needs?", "Am I ready to be a mommy to a five year old girl with special needs?" God, in His still, small voice answered, "This is My will for you." I wrestled all afternoon, with excitement and, yes, I admit, anxiety. I couldn't even wait until after supper to mention to John that I had found a little girl I was ready to bring home tomorrow. I waited for John to comment on her age and her disability, but instead he wholeheartedly agreed! God's peace was the underlying factor in this decision, and it has never left us since. Yes, we've been tempted to doubt, and there have even been hard moments when we are tempted to quit. But we have seen God direct and provide which grows our faith all the more.
Victoria...
Although we can't give you our little girl's current name on this site (remember, no identifying information), we can tell you that her name will be Victoria Faith Isenberg. "Victoria" is for the victory that we/she can have in Jesus Christ, and "Faith" is significant for our "faith journey" - faith that God will be true to His word when we trust Him and submit to His will.
The "paperwork pregnancy"...
After we found Victoria, we hurriedly finished our home study and began our dossier. A home study is a means for the United States to decide whether you are suitable to adopt, and the dossier is a means for the foreign country, in our case Bulgaria, to decide the same thing. Needless to say that I had a steep learning curve in finding my way around the Cities to locate many different offices and obtain various paperwork. One day I calculated that the girls and I had spent about 6 hours in the car!. The girls went through countless boxes of graham crackers this summer while we waited! They were troopers! We submitted our dossier in early July and began waiting--waiting for any news: "Can we have her?", "When will we know?", "Will we see her?", "When?"; but mostly we waited on and rested in God's timing.
Our referral...
Last week, on Tuesday, September 21, we got a call, our referral for Victoria. I have read and heard so many people's stories of the special moment when they got "their call". I was in the grocery store check out, and I silenced it! :) (I hadn't recognized the number!) Oh dear, not very special... but I did call back. We found out that we will be sent her official referral as soon as it has been translated, and they want us to be in Bulgaria by October 10! So now we're hurriedly and excitedly make preparations to depart on October 9 to meet our little girl and will return October 16. The hardest part will be leaving Victoria there. The country requires two trips to complete adoptions--each about 4 months apart. But as in everything else, we have to remind ourselves that God is in this, that this is His work, and that it will be done in His timing.
I realize that this an epistle of a post (my next ones will not be nearly this long), but there has been so much to relate. I hope that you will enjoy reading our story in the next months as much as I will in sharing it.
