Those Eyes

"For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless." 
- Psalms 141:8

If asked, I could not tell you exactly why I decided to log-on to an orphan advocacy website the Tuesday evening of March 20th especially when I never paid any serious attention to them up to now and probably not visited one in the previous 6 months. There was no reason to since we had been patiently waiting on our agency to match us in the conventional way when they received a child who matched our profile. Why then would tonight be different? I have thought about it a great deal over the last few months. Perhaps it was due to my excitement building as we were drawing closer to our second adoption and I wanted to see the profiles of the children who were available and needing a family to take them in. It may have been because our dear friends where in China at that very time adopting their little boy and we were praying for them daily and hanging on every bit of news they were sharing with family and friends through their journey. In some strange way, when I am reading and researching about China and specifically the orphans in China, it makes me feel closer to Katie-Kay. Strange I know, but somehow it connects me and God has used this to show me how I can specially pray for immediate needs concerning the orphans in China. My conclusion, as you will see unfold in our upcoming post, can be nothing short of a super-natural miracle from God. I believe God used all of the reasons and many others I am positive I'm unaware of this side of heaven. I have hesitated and apologized in the past for over spiritualizing situations and events in my life but the older I become and the more I grow in my faith in the Lord, the more I believe just the opposite. God is sovereign and incomprehensible and by his providence and grace, He directs our steps and gives us the desires of our hearts - this is the answer I was seeking and the reason why He alone is God and worthy of all of our praise, honor and worship. 

Once I was on this website, I filled out the parameters of the child I knew would fit our profile. Things like sex of the child, age range, country, ect…. Then when I hit "enter", this picture (above) of these gorgeous eyes appeared as our number one relevant match. To say my heart skipped a beat would be an understatement. I was totally captivated and my first reaction was to ask Katherine to come look and we quickly agreed it could not hurt to complete and submit the simple online inquiry to find out more of her status. She seemed like a match straight from heaven; this had to be some sort of mistake, she must already have a family pursuing her and her profile was accidentally left up on the website. Surely the agency we were making the inquiry too will realize their oversight when they receive our inquiry and delete it from their site. How could this beautiful child remain on a public orphan's advocacy website more than 2 minutes, it made no sense to me. As we prayed before we went to bed that night, I felt a peace in my heart as we ask God to watch over this child and make her transition into the family HE had chosen for her as smooth and seamless as possible and that her family would teach her about Jesus so that one day she could trust Him as her personal Lord and Savior. 

I went to sleep intrigued but realistic of what the response might come in the morning. Those eyes were never more than a few minutes from my conscience thoughts as we waited to hear the next day as the website promised a next day reply. Would we have a chance to see more than just those big beautiful eyes, would we have an opportunity to review her file, what part of China is she from and the biggest question we held in our hearts, is this Katie-Kay, our daughter? What we could not have possible known that night was the incredible journey God was inviting us on.  How He was going to stretch us, challenge us and deepen our love and faith in Him. We were entering into uncharted adoption territory and God would have to show us the way - His way.  

David

"The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." - Proverbs 16:9