Where to begin...

Friends,

We serve a God who often works in ways we don’t expect and who rarely takes the safe route. Such is the case with our crazy story.

Adoption has been something that we have wanted since 2010 when we worked with an orphange in Haiti. In December of 2013 we stepped out in faith and prayerfully began asking God to lead us in the direction we felt called and how to proceed.

In the Summer of 2014 a picture from around the world caught our eye and stole our hearts.

“He looks like Gus!” we exclaimed, noting how the little boy from China reminded us of our then three-year-old son. The boys were even the same age. “He could be his twin.” His name was Garrick, and it would be on our lips often.

We talked about how much we would love to adopt internationally but felt we would never have the money to do it. Garrick’s story had ignited something in us. I kept coming back to his picture, rereading his story, praying for him to have a family. Secretly hiding him in my heart. I couldn’t get him out of my mind.

The logistics of international adoption seemed daunting, but after more prayer and more discussion, Steven and I agreed we didn’t want to be afraid anymore. We could at least look into what an international adoption would require.

We contacted Show Hope, the organization that had posted the prayer request for Garrick, and were put in touch with the adoption agency they work with. Our first question was about the little boy we had fallen in love with. Could he be adopted?

We learned that since his story had gone public there had been a lot of interest in him. His adoption file wasn’t available yet, but our names were added to a list of interested parents.

There were forms to fill out if we were truly interested in adopting. We had little hope that Garrick would be ours, but maybe there was another child out there who could be. We sent in the forms about our family, our health, our finances, and what medical conditions we could handle. (We knew my training as a nurse would be a benefit to a child with special needs and that God was calling us in that direction.)

Then we waited.

For nearly a year, Garrick was never far from my mind. I prayed constantly for this little boy around the world and for the forever family he would be a part of. I scoured Show Hope’s Facebook page for updates on him. I read everything I could find for information on adopting from China, including blogs of families with children who had the same medical condition that Garrick has.

And then at a most unexpected time, we got a call from the adoption agency. After months of hearing nothing, the phone call came just as I was recovering from a stomach virus and a back injury. God doesn’t always do things on our schedule!

The director of the adoption agency left a message on a Friday afternoon stating simply that she would like to talk and would call back on Monday. I almost fell over.

“Could this be about Garrick?” I wondered.

I shared the message with Steven and he helped me keep a level head.

It’s probably not about Garrick, we agreed. Other families want him. The agency probably just wants to know if we want them to keep our information since it has been so long.

But we held on to the hope that we had been matched to him.

Monday arrived. And Steven and I had decided to take the kids to the zoo. We were waiting in line to ride the train--my son’s favorite activity--when the call came.

“I just got Garrick’s file,” the director explained. “Are you still interested?”

The answer leapt out of my mouth faster than my brain could process what I was actually saying.

“Yes!” I told her.

Within minutes I was poring over pictures, background history, medical reports, and a video of this little boy playing with trains. “Trains are our life right now!” I thought to myself. (Gus has been obsessed with them since he was two.) I read Garrick’s birthday and noticed that he and Gus are exactly a month apart. They really could be twins. I broke down and knew immediately in my heart that I was looking at a little boy who could be my son. And in that instant, I wanted desperately to be his Mommy.

It wasn’t until later that evening when the kids were in bed that Steven and I were able to sit and talk. And the reality was so much harsher than we had expected. While adopting Garrick was something we both knew we wanted, it just didn’t seem possible. Adoption is expensive, and we had lost a lot of money since I had injured my back. The timing just wasn’t right.

Devastation set in. All I could do was pray.

“God, I know you are all-knowing, all-powerful, and I know you are sovereign. I know you do big things. I know you are good. You just gave me the desire of my heart and now it’s taken away. Help me grieve. Help me have joy in my grief, and help me bear this loss.”

The next evening we talked about it again. And we agreed that the amount of money we would have to come up with seemed overwhelming. But we decided to talk to the director of the adoption agency and find out what we would need to do to bring Garrick home.

We learned about all the financial options that were available to us, and suddenly the impossible didn’t seem so out of reach. It wouldn’t be easy. We would have to save every penny, apply for every grant, apply for a tax deduction, and fundraise our hearts out.

And that’s just what we decided to do.

The next two days were spent filling out forms, signing our life away so that we could gain another. I talked for hours with our insurance provider to find out exactly what was covered under our plan. An appointment was set with our pediatrician.

We learned that Garrick had been diagnosed with Thalassemia, a blood disorder that affects his body from producing enough hemoglobin. Garrick goes to the local hospital on a regular basis to have his blood levels checked and receives blood transfusions to help manage his condition. This is a very treatable condition here in the U.S. But over in China the blood supply is very low and orphans are not a major priority, therefore they often do not get transfusions as often as needed. Once children age out of the orphanage at age 12, they no longer have access to healthcare. A diagnosis like his is a death sentence in China.

But not here! We soon learned that the Children's Hospital of Atlanta (just 30 minutes from us) houses a clinic dedicated to treating children with Garrick’s same condition. Families travel from all over the United States to Atlanta to be cared for at this facility that is considered the best in the world for the treatment of Thalassemia. We were amazed. We are hoping to adopt a child with special needs, and we just so happen to live a half-hour from the hospital that can provide him the best care in the world. This was not luck. This was God showing up again.

We want to invite you to be a part of our story, and this is one of the ways you can help. Not every family has been called to adopt, but we have all been called to love and care for orphans in some way. We can care for Garrick's medical needs. We can provide him the love of a forever family. But we need help getting him home!

We serve a big God. We serve a wonderful God. We serve an all-powerful, all-knowing God who does BIG things, unexpected things.

This road our family is on will be rough. We need prayer for the journey. We need financial support, because we can’t do it alone. We need you to share our story.

Will you join us?

-Steven and Christa

https://www.youcaring.com/manage-fundraiser.aspx?frid=330417#fundraiser-details