We have truly seen the hand of God
at work in our lives. In 2002, after only two years of marriage,
Jeff and I learned that having biological children would be
nearly impossible. The day we received this news we felt that
our lives would never be complete; little did we know that God
had a much bigger plan.
During the summer of 2004 God began
preparing our hearts for international adoption. It seemed that
everywhere we looked we saw couples in different stages of the
adoption process.
Each
time we talked to one of these couples God dealt with our hearts
and gradually opened both of our hearts to adoption. By the fall
of 2004 Jeff and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that our
first child was waiting for us in Russia. We had no idea how we
could afford to adopt internationally but we believed that God
would provide a way. Although we were scared to death about the
financial aspect of adoption we stepped out in faith and began
our adoption journey. Many times throughout the adoption process
God showed us that His hand was on our journey as He blessed our
finances.
Jeff and I had decided when we began
the adoption process that we would be open to a child of either
gender that was under the age of two. Although I knew I could
love a son as much as a daughter, in my heart I dreamed of
having a daughter. I never fully verbalized my desire to have a
daughter but God knew my heart. I also longed to have a tiny
baby so that I could rock her to sleep, hear her first words,
see her first step, etc.
We
fully expected to become parents to a boy since more people seem
to request girls.
On August 18, 2005 we were notified
by our social worker that we had a daughter waiting for us in
Tver, Russia. I could hardly believe the words I was hearing?a
daughter!!! The initial information we received was that the
referral was for a little girl who was nearly 2-years-old. We
were also told that she had been classified as special needs.
When we learned why she was classified as special needs we knew
immediately it was something we could handle and we immediately
told our agency we would like to travel to Russia to meet this
little girl. My heart was floating for a week because God had
seen the secret desire of my heart, a precious little girl. The
following week we received a surprise phone call from our social
worker. They had received additional information about our
daughter. Somehow a mistake had been made and we found out that
our soon to be daughter was actually only 10-months-old and she
only weighed 9 pounds. Once again God saw the desire of my
heart. I was going to be the mom to a tiny baby girl. I wouldn?t
miss any of her ?firsts?.
In September 2005 we traveled to
Russia to meet our precious daughter. When we arrived in Tver we
learned that our daughter?s given Russian name was Natalia?which
is very similar to my name!! We spent two wonderful afternoons
at the baby home getting to know our daughter. We fell in love
immediately and couldn?t wait for our final trip to Russia to
make her our
daughter forever. On November 11, 2005 we were legally declared
the parents of Alexandra Natalia and we were allowed to pick her
up from the baby home the following day.
Since that day in November our life
has been filled with so much joy because of Alexandra. We have
rocked her to sleep, we have heard her first words and seen her
take her first steps?all of the things we longed to do as first
time parents!
In 2002 we had no idea why God would
allow us to experience the pain of infertility but today we
understand that without infertility we would have never explored
international adoption and we would have never found our
beautiful Alexandra. We feel so blessed that we were chosen to
become parents through international adoption; it has been the
journey of a lifetime. Thank you so much for helping us make our
dreams and the dreams of so many others come true!!
--Natalie Morris, MO
(Jeff and Natalie Morris adopted
Alexandra Natalia Morris from Tver, Russia in November 2005)
Don?t forget your gift of $10 can provide
a gift for an orphan.
2007 Children's Hope International.
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