There are days my heart hurts...days when I wish we were already there! Days when I know that with 370,000 orphans in Guatemala alone, how can anyone really be effective. I woke up this morning heavy with the cry of let us be Your hands and feet.
When I was 14, I knew that I had been called to work with children, especially orphans. I had read the story of George Mueller and I could feel God speaking into my life at the time. I marveled at George Mueller's faith and compassion. I wanted this kind of faith, compassion, and heart. I didn't hear an audible voice saying, "GO!" I didn't have an angel appear. No one spoke to me in the Spirit. I can't explain the deep moving that I felt in my life and the dreams that I have had since. I CAN say that God placed a desire, a calling, and a burden to walk in the realm of orphan care.
I began by majoring in education in college. I wanted to be where I could help children. Through my first teaching position, I met a little girl named Annie. Annie was something to behold. She came to school with her head shaved, skinny, and dirty. I would talk to her everyday and my heart hurt for her. Annie loved to talk and she loved stickers. If she got a sticker in school she would wear it for days. Everyday it would get yuckier and yuckier, but she would proudly display her prize. I asked another teacher about her hair and she explained the lice problem in the home. She was the first abused and neglected child that I had ever seen that hadn't already been removed from the situation. About half way through the school year they removed Annie and her siblings from the home. My heart hurt, but I was relieved that somehow she was getting the care she needed and deserved.
That summer we begin feeling the urge to become foster parents. They were social orphan's and that was exactly what my hearts desire was. By faith we signed up not knowing if we would even be excepted because I was battling a muscle disease that made them question my abilities due to stress. They excepted us and we began our journey in foster care.
In the spring of 1996, I got a call about a brother and sister that needed a new placement in foster care. Their situation was not working out in their best interest, could we take them. It was Annie and her brother they were placing in our home. I could not believe it. We fostered them for 4 months before they went home. I feel this was God's way of showing me He would use us in ways I hadn't even imagined.
Through foster care we fostered five kids and Ricky was one of them. He became legally ours in January 1998, and we began to feel our burden for foster care lift. We decided to not accept any more children and give our selves time to seek His direction. During this time, Toby preached at a church and there was a lady there that had just gotten back from China with a little girl. Wow, a new concept began to be birthed in our hearts.
In the next few years, we brought home four more children through the miracle of adoption from around the world. I have had people ask how did we know where to go and how many we would adopt? We never began the adoption process with out prayer and fasting. I would feel the burden of adoption began before we ever applied. It usually began with me through dreams. I have dreamed about each child we have adopted before they every came into our lives. Our last child came into our home in August of 2010 and immediately we began to feel the adoption burden begin to lift, but my burden for orphan care did not.
In Jan. of 2012, we began to feel a call to learn the Spanish language. I started having dreams and in my dreams I was speaking fluent Spanish. We felt an urgency to get this done and the fastest way was to attended a language school. We started praying and decided that Guatemala was a good fit for us. After contacting the missionary and getting approval, he began to tell us about the orphanage they were starting to build. An orphanage? Music to my soul! I became so excited in my spirit knowing that we would be able to help in some way in this endeavor.
Now I completely understand what God was doing when I was 14. The call is still as fresh as ever. I look back on life and see His hand guiding me. I understand that through every class I taught, ever child we fostered, every adoption we completed He was teaching, leading, guiding, and preparing us for this time in our lives.
Thankful He chose us!!!!!
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