Comments (24)

By Dave ©, March 10, 2010 8:36 pm

We are incredibly grateful that most of you have been journeying with us for the past several years. As Betty likes to say, we have become family!

Yet we also know that there are many new visitors. So for those of you who are newer to the site or perhaps missed this the first time around, here is a video that summarizes our adoption story, which was the catalyst for this site.

Without getting too preachy here, I want to encourage you to throw your burdens on God and let Him do miracles in your life. He won’t let you down! He won’t leave you! He won’t let you go!

Comments (7)

By Lana, January 10, 2010 6:25 pm

Three years ago today, Dave, Carmen and I boarded a plane in Guatemala and flew home.

We didn’t choose international adoption because we wanted to “save” a child. We wanted more children in our family. But, the day we brought Carmen home, I remember thinking that she had just been given a huge gift. She landed on U.S. soil, became a U.S. citizen and started the adventure of a lifetime.

We were given an even bigger gift. We just didn’t know it yet.

I wonder what Carmen was thinking. We looked different, smelled different, sounded different and were complete strangers to her. She went from the Land of Eternal Spring’s balmy weather to freezing cold.

Yet, she soaked up our attention and love. She stared with huge eyes at everything around her. I loved seeing her world open up right in front of her eyes.

Three years ago today was one of the best days of my life. I hope it was one of the best days of Carmen’s life.

Carmen, thank you for giving us such a huge gift these past three years. No one else in this world could have changed us like you have. You’ve never spoken a single word yet your life is a testimony. You are the best example of God’s love that I can think of. We love you despite your complete inability to do anything for us and that is exactly how God loves us.

We love you!

Comments (10)

By Lana, August 7, 2009 9:22 am

About two months ago, my friend Jamie and her husband Danny brought home their lovely little girl, Karen Vi. They adopted Karen from China. Yesterday, Karen was diagnosed with LCH Histiocytosis, a disease in which there are too many white blood cells. The disease is affecting Karen’s skin, spleen and colon. She will start six weeks of chemo treatments and then will receive treatments for a year.

Jamie was my best friend in high school and my maid of honor in our wedding. Jamie and Danny also have a little boy named Caleb who is almost two years old.

Please pray for this family and especially for this sweet little girl!

Here is a picture of Jamie and Karen Vi.

Comments (4)

By Dave ©, May 29, 2009 9:12 am

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!

To see other questions we may address in the future or to ask your own question, please visit the “You Ask, We Answer” introduction post.

Comments (8)

By Lana, March 4, 2009 7:18 am

Dave and I rarely talk about money with other people so this post is a bit out-of-character. However, we want to give God credit for the work He did/is doing in Carmen’s life.

Carmen’s adoption process cost roughly $28,000. When we started the adoption process in January 2006, we did not have $28,000 sitting around. We had purchased a home recently and spent everything we had on a down payment. So, there we were, starting an expensive international adoption with no apparent way to pay for it. I remember feeling stressed about the whole situation and thinking that we were dumb as dirt to jump into this. But, we felt God’s leading so we forged ahead.

We talked about getting a loan or doing some fund raising to pay for the adoption. We started feeling that we shouldn’t do either but should simply wait on God because He had something else in mind.

And, wow, did He ever!

In March 2006, Dave (who was contracting at the time) was unexpectedly paid for some extra work he had done previously. His contract stated that he would be paid for 40 hrs/week but he actually worked a LOT more during the previous months. $12,000. Later in the year, after Dave transitioned from contracting to a full-time position with the same company, Dave asked someone in his HR department if the company offered adoption benefits. It didn’t. However, the HR representative did mention that they were thinking about adding that benefit in 2007, which would at least be nice for the next adoption. Wouldn’t you know it, his company did implement adoption benefits beginning in 2007 but…decided to make the benefits retroactive to the fourth quarter of 2006 so that we would receive the benefit for Carmen’s adoption, which was finalized in December 2006. $5,000. Finally, since Carmen’s adoption was finalized before the end of the year, we were able to immediately file for the adoption tax credit for both the IRS and Maryland in February 2007. $11,000.

$12,000 + 5,000 + 11,000 = $28,000

Sometimes I think God likes to show off. He could have provided half the money and we would have found a way to pay the rest. Or He could have provided more than we needed. But, no, He provided exactly what we needed.

Whenever I start having thoughts that we sure could use that $28,000, I remind myself that it was never our money to begin with. God specifically provided it for a little girl named Carmen. And I think He provided it to give us yet one more proof that He took care of us then, is taking care of us now and will continue taking care of us into the future.