Weekly Prayer Story May 13, 2012
GOD ANSWERS PRAYER
I have looked forward to motherhood since I was a little girl. Adopting a child is something I began to think about in high school when God blessed our family through adoption with my two little brothers, one of whom was born in the US, and one in South Korea. Witnessing firsthand the joy of adoption, I imagined myself one day parenting either by adoption or foster care. When I met and married my husband Ryne, he was open to adoption being a part of our future, but we both wanted to have children biologically first.
After trying unsuccessfully to conceive for months, we learned that I have endometriosis and pregnancy is unlikely for us without advanced medical intervention. While this was difficult to process, we truly believed that God was sovereign over our infertility and He had a plan to use it for good. Very quickly, God led us to pursue adoption instead of continuing infertility treatment.
We felt called to adopt internationally and initially chose Ethiopia because of the great need there for adoptive families. We sent in our application in July 2010 and our home study was completed quickly, but then we began to hit delays. Our US Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) approval was delayed several months because my fingerprints, needed for a background check, were rejected multiple times. They are poor quality as a result of frequent hand washing at my job as a nurse. This caused a significant delay in completing our dossier and kept us from being placed on the wait list for a child referral. While we anxiously awaited USCIS approval, news came of major slowdowns in the Ethiopian adoption process. The timeline we had initially anticipated became uncertain and ultimately we were faced with the very real possibility it could take years to bring our child home. After an already long wait to become parents, being faced with more delays was heartbreaking.
By spring 2011, Ryne and I felt that for us, the door to adopting from Ethiopia was closing, but we had no idea what our next step should be. We began seeking other adoption possibilities and even visited our infertility specialist again to discuss treatment options. We earnestly sought the Lord’s guidance, and He began to teach us total reliance on Him and gave us a desire to see Him glorified in our situation. I learned that God cares just as much about the process as He does the outcome because He had much to teach me through the waiting.
Just as our USCIS approval finally arrived, God opened the door to change our application to South Korea, a program that had been closed to us at the time we first applied to adopt. We learned Korea had a real need for families open to adopting boys with minor health concerns. It was amazingly easy to change our paperwork from Ethiopia to Korea, and we felt strongly that God had intended this for us all along -- in His perfect timing. We were especially excited that our child would have an uncle who shares his Korean heritage! (And my brother Daniel, now 10, is thrilled, as are the rest of both our families.)
In July 2011, less than four months later, we were matched with our darling little boy, born on October 30, 2010, with a minor heart murmur that has since disappeared. We absolutely believe that God’s plan from the start was to use the delay in our Ethiopia paperwork to lead us to Korea at exactly the right time to be matched with exactly the child He desires for us to parent.
But alas, our adoption delays were not over yet. Immediately after being matched with our son, the wait time from match to travel home doubled because the Korean government instituted a decreasing quota of children allowed to travel home with their adoptive families each year. We had initially hoped to bring our baby home by Christmas 2011, but adoption travel for 2011 closed in October. In January we were extremely disappointed to hear that Korea was delaying the start of travel submissions for 2012 for unknown reasons for an unknown length of time. Until they resumed processing, no children were allowed to leave the country for adoption.
Throughout this time I was submitting weekly requests to the Prayer Team at The Fellowship. We were so blessed to have our families, friends, and LIFE Group praying faithfully with us as well. We were thrilled in March when processing finally resumed, but we were still far down on the list of families waiting to be submitted for travel. I began asking the Prayer Team to pray specifically that I would be able to go to Korea in July to take custody of our son and wait there with him until his final travel approval, which likely wouldn’t be until 2-3 months later.
Then suddenly, two weeks ago, we were delighted to learn that our son’s travel approval is miraculously being fast-tracked! The approval process has already been started, which puts him at least two months ahead of where he should be in line. We will travel in early June to Korea where I will remain with him until he has final approval for travel -- likely sometime in July! We are blown away by our God! There is no explanation for this speed-up other than His hand at work. I had been praying to be able to be in Korea with our son in July, but God has made it possible for him to actually come home that month!
Throughout this journey God has shown us His faithfulness. He has continued to teach us to trust in His sovereignty and perfect timing. On this Mother’s Day I am incredibly thankful to finally be so close to becoming this precious boy’s mother, and I can say confidently that the Lord’s plans are infinitely better than my own!
Erin Pearson, Blaine’s Mommy-To-Be
Psalm 113:9 “He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.”