In June of
2000 our family started looking into adopting from Guatemala. As
we researched many agencies and called references we had narrowed our decision
down to an out of state agency that we had found on the Internet or a local
agency right here in St. Louis which was CHI.
We were getting ready to leave on our family
vacation which was going to be spent at a Christian Family Camp in Michigan
when we were trying to decide between the two agencies as we wanted to get our
paperwork and the adoption rolling. The main differences between the agencies
were that the out of state agency had "waiting newborns" which we
were shown pictures of and could basically take our pick of or CHI which we
would go on the waiting list knowing that it would probably be several months
before we would get a referral. We left on vacation just praying that somehow
by the end of the week and before we came back home we would know without a
doubt which agency we were supposed to go with. We were asking God to show us
clearly and just give us an overwhelming peace about our decision.
The week was going great and we kept talking about
our feelings and which agency we thought we should go with. On June 22nd, we
attended a session and the speaker spoke on how we in our human selfishness
want to give God a list of what we would like to do for him and sign our name,
when really all God wants is a blank piece of paper from us with our name on
the bottom and he can fill in the blanks so much better than we ever could as
he knows what is best for us! Boy, did that speak to our hearts! As we left to
go back to our cabins we talked about it and overwhelmingly knew that God was
telling us to go with CHI as he could fill in that blank with the baby girl
that was meant for us much better than looking at some pictures and picking
out the "cutest" baby and claiming her as ours. That evening we told
the Lord "Yes, Lord, we will sign the blank piece of paper with CHI and
allow you to fill in the blank with the baby you have chosen for us." As
soon as we got home, we called CHI, set up a meeting and the ball started
rolling. By the end of August our dossier was complete and turned in as we
patiently waited for the referral to come.
Several months went by as we waited and at
times questioned did we make the right choice. On January 12, 2001, we got a
call from Michelle from CHI letting us know we had a baby girl who was seven
months old. Our first response was "Why is she already seven months
old?" and then we found out her mother had tried to raise her but because
of poverty was unable to. We were fine with that as we had stated on our
paperwork we would accept a little girl one year or younger . We were so
excited we finally had our referral. Shortly after the phone call and finding
out her birth date which was June 22, 2000, we put it all together as I had
journaled all my feelings through out the process and figured out that her
birth date was the same day that we had said "Yes, Lord, you pick out our
little girl -you know who needs us and who we need". Isn't his timing
awesome? He is just waiting for us to turn our lives over to him and let him
work out the details instead of us trying to take it all in our own hands.
During the months we were waiting to travel we
received pictures of Kara and were just thrilled. We knew she was the perfect
baby for us! Our family traveled at the end of April to bring Kara home and
have never doubted that God's plan was perfect!
Kara is a blessing from God and fits into our
family perfectly! She has two brothers who love her with all their heart and
can't imagine life without her! We are so pleased with CHI, the entire process
and our trip to Guatemala that we have turned our dossier in to bring home a
little sister for her and her brothers and are again "on the list"
patiently waiting for the call.
As the months drag on and it seems like your
referral will never come, just be patient and believe that the perfect child
is waiting just for you and in His time you will receive the call!
Linda and Alan Martinson
