Our Story

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Early in the year 2010 Brian and I began praying about this desire that we had for our faith in God to be more real. We didn't want to just say we believed in God, we wanted to live like it. We prayed that God would draw us closer to Him as we longed to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength." We prayed for the Lord to do anything He had to do to get us to a place where we were abiding in Him, where He was our everything. We knew that loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength would require us to be living sacrifices and to "deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow" Jesus. We were willing to follow Him anywhere.

In April 2010 John Bentley, founder of Harmony Outreach, came to our church because he felt called by God to be there. He had contacted our very small church, around 15-25 adults, months prior to coming there in April to see if he could speak there. Our pastor informed him that we were very small, and John responded that it didn't matter to him. He knew God had called him and he wanted to come anyway. Up to the point that John contacted our church we had not heard of Harmony Outreach. They are an organization which takes in orphans with special needs in China. They sponsor surgeries for these orphans who have heart disease, cleft palates, and spina bifida among other things. When John came he told us again that he didn't know why God had called him here but he felt in his spirit that this was a divine appointment. He spoke a little about what he did with Harmony, but ultimately he came to share a message about living radically for Christ and what that looked like in his life. It was exactly what Brian and I had been praying about. We weren't sure where God was taking us yet but we knew we were on the right track and He had brought this opportunity to us, so we immediately began sponsoring an orphan through Harmony. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10)

It didn't take us long to leap from sponsoring an orphan to considering adopting one. As we looked around our home and saw all the room we had, we felt the Lord press upon us to fill those empty spaces. We especially felt that way about our kitchen table. It seats twelve because we have all our extended family over once a month just to hang out; grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. We usually have anywhere between ten and twenty for these get togethers. We felt sure that God was telling us to fill these chairs with children. Then I was reading my bible and came across these verses which confirmed exactly what God had been speaking to us, "...'When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14:12-14) It is the most amazing feeling when the Lord speaks to you about something ahead of time and then it is confirmed later by scripture! Even though we felt led to adopt we continued to pray and seek the Lord.

By this time we had been talking about adoption for several weeks. Our children, Paige, 9, and Paris, 8, fully assured us that they wanted to adopt almost before we came to the conclusion ourselves. As many of us so often do when the Lord calls us to do something we began to tell the Lord how we were going to fulfill His calling. We initially decided we were going to adopt a girl because all of our experience raising children has been with girls. We also decided on someone with only minor special needs because we didn't know if we were capable of handling anything more severe. Once we made that decision we contacted Harmony Outreach about a little girl we were considering for adoption. They informed us that she already had her forever family. Door shut. I am so grateful that the Lord is "...'He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens'..." (Rev 3:7) Jesus said, "'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.'" (Matthew 7:7-8) We knocked but the door didn't open because we were knocking on the wrong door. "Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Pro 3:5-6)

We decided to regroup and continue to pray and seek the Lord. We prayed for several more weeks, praying for forever families for each of the children at Harmony, and we still felt more and more led to adopt. The more I looked at the picture of the children at Harmony the more my heart went out to Josiah. I cried more over him than any of the other children, wondering if there was a forever family out there willing to adopt him. The more I thought about him the more I felt God tugging on my heart. Then I clearly heard God speak, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" It was a question He asked Isaiah the prophet when no one else was willing to do what God was asking. Isaiah responded, "Here am I! Send me." And those were the very words that rang in my heart when I heard God asking me if I would be willing to go to "the least of these." Jesus will one day say, "'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; i was thirsty and you gave Me drink; i was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:34-40)

Though these were the words that rang in my heart when I thought of Josiah, I was not at all sure that Brian would be on board since we had previously discussed adopting a girl with minor special needs. Josiah has either nerver damage or missing bones rendering his arms completely useless. We don't have any idea if it is even possible to repair his arms so they may be of some use. At this point I decided I was just going to seek the Lord and pray for Brian's heart to be turned toward Josiah. I didn't want to say anything to Brian until I felt the Lord prompt me to speak to him. That day Paige approached me and said that she wanted to adopt Josiah. I told her that God was placing Josiah on my heart as well but that I felt we should just pray before we mentioned anything to her dad. Later that evening we sat down for dinner and adoption was the topic of conversation. It was the one that been dominating all of our conversations. Brian began asking us who we thought we should adopt and none of us really spoke up at the time. I knew what God had spoken to me but I was waiting for Him. Then Brian told us who he wanted to adopt, "What do you think about adopting Josiah?" I wouldn't have been surprised if my jaw had hit the table. It appeared that God had been speaking to Brian about Josiah as well. The words God had spoken to him were that some people view Josiah as a special needs child (seeing him as being defined by his needs) and some people view Josiah as a child with special needs (seeing him as a child with special needs but not being defined by them) but that Brian saw him as just special. With the limited information that we had about Josiah, we all somehow knew that he was special. He was so full of joy despite his limitations. He seemed like he was determined to overcome as we read on his profile that he used his legs and feet more like arms and hands. We were simply amazed at him. God gave us eyes to see Josiah as a child in desperate need of the love of a family, to see his special needs as secondary to that, and to think less and less about his limitations. We knew his sweet spirit, ingenuity, and perseverance would be engrained on all the hearts of our extended family. We took all of this as confirmation that the Lord wanted us to adopted Josiah.

We knew this would be a huge committment on our parts to adopt someone with Josiah's needs, so we didn't take it lightly and just jump right in, we continued to pray. We worried that if we weren't the right family for Josiah that we would hinder him from becoming everything that God wanted him to be. We wanted to make sure that we were truly the family for Josiah. We decided that we needed more information about him so we contacted the orphanage director. When we didn't get an immediate repsonse from her we decided to leave it in God's hands. We knew that if God wanted us to adopt Josiah then He would get us the information we needed.

An entire week went by and still no one had contacted us. We were starting to wonder if this is what God wanted after all, but that day we recieved the monthly newsletter from the orphanage. On the entire back page of this newletter was an article about Josiah. God had gotten us information about Josiah in an amazing and unexpected way. We realized that a week is not enough time to develop and entire newsletter and send it out in the mail. God had anticipated our need for information about Josiah ahead of time. Jesus says in Matthew 6:8, "'For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.'" We later found out how amazing this information really was because the orphanage director had been away and unable to check her email. While she is located in China, it is the branch of the organization located in the United States that is in charge of the newsletters and they had not been in contact with the orphanage director for that week either. The article was written by Linda Huckaba, the Director of Operations for Harmony Outreach. She had just taken her first trip to China in April 2010 to visit the orphanage and she was very struck with Josiah. In April was also the first time Brian and I actually heard of Harmony Outreach and became involved in sponsoring an orphan. From the time that she visited Harmony House in April, again the very time that we got involved and John came to our church for reasons he didn't know why, she and her entire office staff began to pray specifically for Josiah. I can only imagine that their prayers affected our decision in who we were going to adopt. Her desire to see Josiah have a forever family is what prompted her to write the article in the newsletter, at the very time we decided to adopt Josiah, and little did she know that God had already answered that prayer through our family. This is what her article said:

On the floor of Harmony House - our orphanage we were entering on the other side of the world - sits a three-year-old, lost from view by the group of children staring at the arriving foreigners. He waits patiently as I greet children I've previously known only by their pictures. As children press forward, leaving him behind, my eyes fall on Josiah. I call out, "Josiah," and he flashes me a smile that can only be reflective of the light of heaven. 

Josiah remains seated because he cannot arise to meet me, but his beaming face is more welcoming than all the others. As I make my way toward him, his gaze holds me as surely as his arms would if he could only move them. I sit on the couch and lift him to sit beside me. Patting my chest I say, "Lin-da." Touching his I say, "Jo-si-ah."  This three-year-old, -accustomed to being called Yang Henghai- listens intently as I once again identify myself. Then he proudly proclaims, "Leen-da!" It becomes a game which he loves, and the other children, gathered around watching, are introduced to me by one of their own.

As must surely be the case in any orphanage, each child seeks attention. A couple of kids pick up the chant, "Leen-da." Others shyly stand back just watching. Two even recoil when my eyes meet theirs in greeting, beginning to cry and flee to the safety of the nearest nanny's arms. But Josiah is unperturbed. Eager to impress me with his abilities, he manuevers his little body, onto the floor and toward a small toy. He deftly picks it up with his toes and throws it to me. It is a game, and I fetch and return it to him. Unfazed when another child grabs his toy, he substitutes another to continue the game.

Who is this child with useless arms and hands who so captivated my heart over the next few days, his sweet little round face, and sparkling eyes so full of hope? We know he was born August 11, 2006, and came to us ten months later from Hengyang Orphanage in Hunan Province. We can only surmise that he was abandoned because of his malformed little body.

And what of his future? We know God says He has plans for each one of us - plans for good and not for evil, plans for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Does that include Josiah, with his strong legs but with feet malformed so that he can only stand on the tops of his feet and ankles? Josiah, with his useless arms and hands who uses his feet to feed himself and wave goodbye? Yes! Especially Josiah!

Will you be God's instrument to further Josiah's hope and future? He is ready for his forever family. Were my husband and I not in our late 60's, we would certainly now be filling out paperwork to adopt him. Please contact us if God is speaking to you to provide a loving home for our sweet Josiah. He will teach you more than you can ever teach him.

Again we heard God speaking through this newsletter, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" We contacted the woman who wrote this article. She wasn't in, but the woman who was gave us the name of an adoption agency to contact because we still had to find out if Josiah's file was even available on the list of children that could be considered for adoption. Once we contacted the adoption agency we spoke with the woman in charge of the China program (each country has their own regulations on what they expect of adoptive parents, so the adoption agencies have specialists for each country). When I told her we were interested in Josiah from Harmony House and told her his special needs, she exclaimed, "Oh, I think I've met him! I visited Harmony House last year and I remember that he was just a joy to be around and he had a beautiful smile." There are a billion people in China and 300 million in the U.S. and we end up talking to a woman who has actually met Josiah. She visited lots of orphanages and saw many children and yet she remembered Josiah specifically.

We clearly saw God's hand in all of this, yet still we did not fill out the application to begin the process. We found out after speaking to the adoption agency that the cost for adoption is significant. At this point we prayed and determined that we were going to wait upon God alone for the finances to begin the adoption of Josiah. We did not want to ask anyone for money as we believed that if God was calling us to do this that He would be more than willing to supply our every need. "Those who wait on the Lord will not be ashamed."

So for seven weeks we waited, and waited, and waited. During this time we questioned God over and over about whether or not He wanted us to do this and again wondered if God was really in this adoption. Many times we had decided that God must not be in this adoption because He just was not providing and many times we had decided that we were no longer going to pursue this adoption. Yet every time we made that decision, even though we hadn't told anyone, we would recieve pictures or stories about Josiah through Harmony. This happened at least three or four times. One of those times within an hour of having decided that we were done, John Bentley, the Executive Director of Harmony, sent us the link to a woman's blog who had just been to Harmony during an adoption of her own. She had taken a picture of the children, including Josiah, and had written about him on her blog. This is what she wrote:

The children captured my heart immediately. Many of them already have forever families working to bring them home. Harmony House has seen around 40 children adopted over the years. Their sweet faces and eyes work into your very soul. One 3 year old boy is an example of how God's love is making a difference in this orphanage. He has no use of his arms and his feet turn in making them unfit to walk. Yet, the boy is full of joy. His smile lights up the room and he captivated my son, Alex. 

It was as if God was telling us to hang in there a little longer. Don't give up yet. Josiah will be worth the wait. At this time I was reading George Mueller and he repeatedly said that the only reason that God was not providing for him at that time was to try his faith and patience. He kept using the verse, "Let patience have it's perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4). Over and over it was impressed upon me through the word that I needed to have patience to wait upon the Lord. I repeatedly used, "those who wait upon the Lord will not be ashamed" during my prayers remind myself of what His word said. One day, after about five weeks of waiting, I felt I was past the point of being able to wait any longer and on the verge of tears wondering if this was ever going to happen, when I heard a a still small voice say, "Just hold on a little longer." Later that day in my reading I came across these verses, "For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise: 'For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.' Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:36-38) In my mind it was an echo of the still small voice I had heard earlier. Endure so that you may receive the promise. Just hold on a little longer, I am coming quickly. It was another encouragement to wait upon the Lord.

That week Harmony contacted us to see how things were progressing and we asked that they pray for us as we were still waiting on the Lord to provide. About a week later we received an email from Harmony Outreach that they had sent to everyone on their list of  prayer partners, seeking urgent prayer. Attached to that email was this:

"...A family has come forward saying they believe God would have them adopt our sweet little Josiah - an answer to our own prayers. However, the expense is more than they can handle alone, and they are asking for prayers that God would open doors and show them how to proceed with this desire He has laid on their hearts. ...Please join your faith with ours that God will bring these adoptions to pass."

We were surprised to find that our prayer request was among those that were on that list of prayers, as we thought they were only going to keep it among those at their office. We had been praying that the Lord would put our need on the heart of His people. We knew He was going to use others to advocate for and supply our lack. "For I do not mean that others should be eased, and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack - that there may be an equality. As it is written, 'He who gathered much had nothing left over; and he who gathered little had no lack.'" (2 Corinthians 8:13-15)

The following week we received and email from a woman named Jacqui who wanted to encourage us in the adoption process as she had adopted from China three times and personally knew Josiah. She told us how amazing he was. She and a friend had gone on a missions trip to China and after seeing Josiah it had been laid on both their hearts to specifically pray for a family for him. Everyone that she knew who had met him had fallen in love with him and were completely taken by him.

Brian wrote back and told her a little about our family, but more importantly that we were specifically waiting on the Lord in this whole process and that we weren't going to take a single step unless He went before us. She then wrote back to us saying that she was bursting at the seams to share some news with us but it was too good to write in an email and had to be shared over the phone. We were so hopeful that this was what we had been waiting for, that God was finally moving in this adoption process. We sat down, prayed, and then gave her a call. First she told us that everything that her and her friend had been praying for specifically in regards to what the Lord laid on their hearts for a family for Josiah had been confirmed in what we had told her about our family. Then she said that knowing we were waiting on the Lord for every step was a confirmation to her that the Lord was in this because He had given her a verse. "And He said to them, 'Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.'" (Luke 9:3) She felt God was confirming to her that He was sending us out to do His work and that He would provide for it. As proof that God was providing, she told us that the friend who had been praying with her for Josiah made a donation to Harmony Outreach on our behalf. We were overjoyed and praised God for His help thanking Him that He was mindful of us. All we had to do was contact Harmony and they would cut us a check for the donation. Within one week of God reassuring me that He would come and He would not tarry He showed up in a mighty way! When we called Harmony they said that not only one person donated but there were three different donations!!! Praise God, He is mighty!!! It was the final confirmation we needed to finally being this process and know that the Lord is going to provide. We will continue to seek God for His help, leading, and guidance through this whole process as we have no human prospect of fulfilling the requirements of this adoption. We know that the Lord owns all the gold and silver and that nothing is impossible with God. If this work is of the Lord then He will provide for it in a mighty way. It is our hope that God would be entirely glorified in this situation since there is nothing we can do to move this work forward in our own strength. We are left in the capable hands of our mighty God and we know that He will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Rachel