One In a Million Blessings

Monday, March 19, 2012

Intorducing Elijah Samuel


"For this child I prayed." (1 Samuel 1:27)




About a year ago, Tobin and I started getting the 'urge' to begin the process for a second adoption. After spending much time in prayer, we felt convicted to sell our home and move to more modest accommodations. We believe that we should live debt free and we are committed to my continued ability to stay at home working with our child(ren). 

We sold our home IN ONE DAY (more on that later!)...we definitely felt like that was God confirming our decision to adopt! We knew we would be able to use the money we made from the sell of our house to finance our next adoption.  After visiting with the orphanage in Taiwan, we followed their advice and took the next steps by spending nearly $2,000 to complete a home study and I-600A (international adoption paperwork). 

Shortly after completing the necessary paperwork and sending it to Taiwan, we received a letter stating that the orphanage would no longer be offering second adoptions, as they are choosing to focus solely on childless couples.  This fogged our vision.  We believed ourselves to be working within the framework of God’s plan for our lives and started down the path to another adoption through significant life changes and financial commitments. We were devastated. We prayed together that God would show us the direction He wanted us to take.

The very next day, we received an email about a little baby in Ghana, who at the time was named Samuel. 

At this point I must back-track a bit and tell you a short story. While we were in the process of getting our home study complete (that would put us in November of 2011), I received information about a little baby in Taiwan who was up for adoption, and had been born with Amniotic Band Syndrome. I had never heard of this syndrome before, but felt very strongly that I needed to research it heavily. So, I spent the next month studying this syndrome. I spent hours on the phone with various pediatricians, specialists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, neurosurgeons, ect. until I became somewhat of an expert on ABS. We prayed and prayed about this sweet little baby in Taiwan who was waiting to find his forever family. It is hard to explain, but we just didn't get a peace in our hearts about this baby. It was actually a horrible thing to have to come to terms with...saying 'no' to a sweet baby because you just don't think he's yours. I didn't understand what was happening. I prayed that God would give us a peace about this little guy. The disability didn't phase us a bit, but something just wasn't right. So we continued on with our home study and prayed that God would find a family for the sweet baby that they nicknamed "Rocky". (Side note - two days later he was matched with a family!!)

OK, flash-forward again to the email we received about the baby boy in Ghana (this was about mid-January). Well, guess what...he, too, had Amniotic Band Syndrome!!! I can't even begin to tell you the feelings that rushed over me as I read about this baby. Within minutes it was absolutely evident to us that God had this baby in mind for our family all along, and this was all part of his plan. I didn't have to take time to research this syndrome, I knew exactly what it was and exactly what we would be dealing with. We immediately contacted the orphanage and asked them (ok, begged them) to consider us as his forever family.  The rest is history. We are now adopting him, and have named him Elijah Samuel. Elijah has stolen our hearts, and we so desperately feel that he is part of our family already.

Insert cool info here...remember how I told you that we sold our house in ONE DAY?! Well, that day just so happened to be the day that Elijah was born! HOW COOL IS THAT?! 

The cost to adopt from Ghana is much higher than in Taiwan, and though we planned to have enough money to fund an entire adoption from the sell of our house, we do not have near enough at this point. We will continue to do fundraising, but we must send a large upfront payment within the next few weeks.  If we do not have the money to send we cannot move forward in the adoption process. 

Here's where it gets tricky. We are humbly asking for prayer and financial support to help us make our family complete. We never thought we would be the family asking others for help in bringing their baby home, but it appears that that is where God has led us. We know that Eli is our baby, and we know that our God is a HUGE God, and He is capable of moving mountains. So, we are taking a gigantic leap of faith and asking those who feel led to do so to help us out in any way possible. 

Because Eli was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, he needs to be home as soon as possible in order to have doctors attend to his medical needs. (He does not have a left foot, and was born without the middle three fingers on each hand.) See attached pic...HE'S BEAUTIFUL!!!


We have set up a paypal link where people can make donations, which is below. We understand and respect that not everyone will feel called to support our adoption financially, but we beg each of you please keep us in your prayers as we continue on this journey. We are excited to see what God has in store for us as a family of four!!!!

Eli & His Beautiful Nanny

Thank you for taking the time to read this! We'd love to keep you updated if you so choose for us to do so. 
God bless!!
Shannon