The next question we’ve decided to address in our “You Ask, We Answer series” is from Sarah M, who asked:
Lana – You mentioned praying for Dave’s heart to change re: adoption. Can you share any specifics of how you prayed? How long did you pray before Dave got on board? Dave: Can you share your experience of feeling your heart change about this?
First Dave’s response:
Hopefully, the short film above adequately portrays the experience that changed my perspective about adoption so I’m not going to add much writing. I will add just one thing I wrote in my journal on June 26, 2005, after I had been in Peru for just a few days. Here is what I wrote:
We handed out some toys and the kids thought it was Christmas. One girl held her stuffed animal as if it were a little baby. She cuddled it closely, held it out in front of her and stared at it, then crushed it against her chest again as she gently rocked it back and forth. I took several pictures but they simply could not capture the moment. God just might be using this experience to soften my heart about adoption. These kids are precious and beautiful.
Now Lana’s response:
In 1999, a year after Dave and I were married, I asked him to meet with a lady at our church who ran an adoption program. The lady was adopted into the U.S. from Russia many years ago and started her own program to match Russian orphans with families here. I was so excited! Dave was not. He went to the meeting but afterward pretty much said no way. Fast forward a few years, a few miscarriages and finally Lauren. After Lauren was born, I really wanted to pursue adoption but Dave was still hesitant. I think he was hesitant because he had seen several adoptions that had not worked out very well. After Dave’s trip to Peru, I started praying that if God wanted us to adopt, that He would change Dave’s heart. I decided I wasn’t going to mention anything about adoption so that Dave would not feel any pressure from me. About 6 months after the trip, Dave said that he felt that we should move forward with adopting. I was SO excited!
We’ve posted a few of the highlights at Sandy Cove but I wanted to share my thoughts from this past weekend.
1) We should move to the water! Beach, lake, river, whatever. Dave and I both love the water. We would even settle for a very rainy place!
2) We don’t have enough fun and need to be more purposeful about having fun. It’s easy to get caught up in caring for Carmen and not do much else. We need to find ways to make things happen. We can pick places like Sandy Cove that work for our family.
3) We truly had a wonderful time at Sandy Cove. Huge thanks to Dave’s brother and mom for making it happen. (And thanks to my friend Cristie who watched Lauren so I could pack for the trip!) Great food, nice rooms, friendly staff, fun activities- mini golf, pools, shuffle board, water rides, giant swing, zip line, moon bounce, etc, and beautiful location on the Chesapeake Bay. I grew up going to Pine Cove, a similar camp in Texas, and I hope Dave and I can take our kids to Sandy Cove for many years to come.
4) This is a hard one. I so, so, so wish that Carmen was a healthy little girl. Watching all the kids at the camp running around and playing made me wish it all the more. I wish that Lauren and Carmen could play together. Tay Sachs is horrible. HORRIBLE!
5) I am determined to lose 10 lbs. so I don’t have to photoshop myself thinner! Ha, ha!!!!
Another highlight of the weekend at Sandy Cove was a show put on by Kevin Ridgeway and Kristen Johnson, who are friends of my brother. They performed all sorts of tricks but none compared to Kristen’s water cell escape, which was performed in full view of everyone!
Neither of these videos are from our show but both are similar. If you have a slower Internet connection, you may want to watch the first one below.
The following video is in HD so watch this one if you have a faster connection or you are willing to wait a bit till the video streams:
Let’s just say that Lauren was a bit enamored by Kristen and called her “Magic Girl”. Kevin and Kristen hung out for the weekend and Lauren was always on high alert when they entered the room, sat at the table next to us, or walked by!
One of the activities at Sandy Cove this weekend was a wave cutter, an inflatable boat pulled by a speed boat. Lauren decided that she wanted to give it a try. Dave was under strict orders to hold onto Lauren, no matter what! All went well until the wave cutter flipped (an expected part of the ride). When it flipped, both Lauren and Nancy (the little girl in front of Lauren) grabbed onto Dave’s neck and hung on for dear life! Lauren did not like being dumped into the lake! Lauren and Nancy rode in the speed boat back to the dock. Lauren did say that she had fun and thought it was really funny that Uncle Wes had seaweed on his head when he came up out of the water.
The speed boat pulling the wave cutter
Lauren is 4th from the right, in front of Dave. Notice that Dave is holding onto Lauren! Lauren’s cousins are in front of her. Uncle Wes is on the end.
This weekend we went to Sandy Cove, a Christian conference center and family camp. Dave’s brother and family and mom and dad were all there. One of Carmen’s nurses also came along to help with Carmen at night. We had a wonderful weekend!
Stay tuned for pictures and video from this weekend!
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