Our Adoption Story---Part Four

(I'm in the process of sharing the story of our adoption from Kazakhstan. Parts 1, 2 & 3 can be found by scrolling downward.)


This story picks up with me in tears (again) at an adoption information meeting. If I arrived with any doubts in my heart as to whether this prompting to adopt were from God, then holding photos of adoptive children (who had been born in the exact same city where we had lived for nearly 2 years) completely erased them. I KNEW that night that we were meant to adopt and that we were to apply for Kazakhstan. But knowing God was asking us to do this was not the same as understanding it.


We went home and began to pray.


It's hard enough to find words to describe something as mystical and personal as prayer. But to adequately describe what it was like for us to wrestle with God about something so huge----impossible. We had so many fears, questions and concerns---and we needed answers before we could move forward. Notice that I said "needed." Not wanted. In our minds there were two ENORMOUS obstacles that we couldn't see past.


So...believing that this idea originated with God, we turned to him and asked about the mountains that stood in our way. To our astonishment, He answered. Not audibly, like a person next to you. No, it was much cooler than that. It was a voice spoken directly into our hearts -- and it shook us up. The conversation went something like this:


Blake and Paula: God, You know this costs a lot of money and we don't have it.

God: Trust me. I will provide.


B+P: Okay. (The Mountain-Mover seemed to have that one covered.)


Blake and Paula: God, there's one other thing. Remember that Blake can't re-enter Kazakhstan. (Side note: it's an interesting thing to feel the need to remind God of something.)

[Now the reason for Blake's inability to re-enter is another story for another time--better told face to face. But suffice to say, when we left Kazakhstan in 2001, Blake's visa difficulties were such that he would not be able to return.]

God's reply: I'll take care of that. Trust me.

The Mountain-Mover didn't seem to think these obstacles were anything to worry about. We weren't fully convinced yet, so we decided to help God move one of the mountains ourselves. We decided to pray about adopting from the very large former Soviet country just north of Kazakhstan. That prayer went something like this:

Blake and Paula: Lord, what about Rrrrr.... Rrrr... Rrr.

No, we didn't stutter. No, we didn't forget the country name. The word Russia simply could not be formed. Neither of us could get it out of our mouths. Inexplicable.

We were convinced. We were to adopt from Kazakhstan.

We couldn't imagine HOW he would move those mountains, but we had heard him say he would. And that was enough.