On February 23rd, 2009, I posted what was the start of our journey toward adoption…at least I posted and shared publicly for the first time. “This is Hope…continued” was the first blog post introducing Aleks. A few days later on February 27th, 2009 I posted “Updates”, which made it more clear…we are walking a journey toward adopting Aleks.
Okay…I have been asked over and over to share more of the story of how Alex has come into our life. Here is part 1…
After Cindy had Rachel 11 1/2 years ago we talked about adoption on an off a number of times. Over the last few years that desire to adopt has grown…but we never really thought the other one was serious. During 2008, that desire for a son grew to the point I could not deny it any longer. At the beginning of October, when I was getting ready to leave for a Men’s Retreat, I could no longer hold it in. That night before I left, I dumped all that had been building within me on Cindy. (Yes, I laugh about this too…now that I think back on it.) I left for Frontier Ranch, to spend four days with my best friend, my brother-in-law and a bunch of other men who were seeking after God’s heart. While in the mountains I was unplugging from everyday life and seeking God’s will, and part of that was asking about this strong desire for a son. Where was it coming from and what was I to do with it? I returned from that retreat with no more answers than when I left. Yes, I was a bit frustrated and confused.
During this time we had been praying for a young boy Erick, in Guatemala. At 13, he doesn’t know how long he has yet to live. He has been battling sclerosis of the liver for a number of years. He had been examined a number of times by doctors who simply said that Erick needs a liver transplant….but he is not eligible for a transplant. How can you tell a young boy and his parents you can be healed…but your not eligible? In essence…sorry, your going to die because your poor! That’s just unacceptable and tore my heart out. We began to pray more diligently but also we began to work to find a solution. The doctors said Erick’s only hope was to be adopted and taken to a country where he could get the medical treatment he needed. Was this true? Could adoption save Erick? We began to ask more questions and pursue answers. Through this process, God was opening our hearts to adopting. We accepted the fact that if we adopted Erick we would spend the next number of years caring for Erick and working toward providing him a better life. We then found that Erick’s parents said they would give him up for adoption if we would be the family to adopt him…and Erick agreed to this as well. WOW! Empowered with this responsibility and focus, we moved forward with trying to use all of the contacts we knew to get Erick to the states. Our core goal was and is….Erick’s complete healing. If this required or allowed us the privilege of adopting him…great! As we moved forward it seemed we hit wall after wall. The US government is steadfast that all adoptions from Guatemala are closed due to the Hague treaty. It was also made very clear to us that adoption IS NOT for those children who have families…it is for those who don’t have families. What were we to do? We have a young boy who needs us and a family who was counting on us. I can’t imagine the pain Erick’s parents must have felt as they discussed and made the decision to give him up for adoption…to give him up so that he can live. It almost sounds like a story from Bible…
(stay tuned for more…)
No comments:
Post a Comment