SARAH...

is some one that I just met in person last week but feel like I've known for a long time. I've been following her blog for a couple of months now but yesterday I took the time to play "catch up" & read all the entries from the beginning of her blog to where I started reading it a couple of months ago. I feel like I know her even better now. I also want to thank her for her openess & honesty. Many people are afraid that others will percieve them as weak or "messed up" if they show their true selves. I so appreciate your "real ness" as well as it's "about Jesus, not me" attitude. I appreciate you taking the time to openly thank Him for the little things as well as the big things. I appreciate how you openly share your struggles as well as your victories. I appreciate how you so amazingly communicate your love about Jesus, your husband, & your children. Thank you so much!!! I thank God for allowing our paths to cross.

I don't know if you know my entire adoption story...it's pretty "lengthy" but I wanted to share with you something that you may not know...something I feel connected us before we ever met.

In March we were getting closer to "the light at the end of the tunnel" in our adoption paper work for the girls. I started feeling that we were not "finished yet" with regards to adopting. I didn't say anything to Randy about it at this point because I knew where he was with that at the time so I just kept quiet & prayed about it. By May the feeling had gotten so intense that it was starting to affect my thoughts & sleep. I felt like God was directing me back to the Three Angels web site & that he was telling me "You are finally going to get your baby boy." So I went back to the site & looked at all the pictures that I was so familiar with. Daniel was the youngest boy available at the time. I had always thought he was a cutie pie & had "looked" at him when God was directing us to adopt Shakira. I stared at his birthday & thought aloud, "Is this the one Lord?" I didn't know for sure but thought that him having a September birthday was one thing leaning toward the yes column. Phoebe, Samara, & Shakira's birthday's are in September.

So I started to pray about adopting Daniel. I still didn't have a "positive" for him but was feeling very "positive" for adopting a third child although it didn't really make sense to me to adopt 3 at a time. I then checked into to seeing if we would even be allowed to adopt a 3rd child. I found out it was "possible" although it was very unusual to adopt 3 children at the same time with out any of them being siblings. I finally told Randy & asked him to pray with me about Daniel. He prayed for a week & at the end of the week on Friday May 11th he said, "I do not think that God is leading us to adopt another child at this time." I said, "Okay." Although deep down in my heart of hearts I knew it wasn't "over" yet. I didn't know if Randy was going to have to meet Daniel in person on our July trip & fall in love with him before we started the process or if God would provide another child before our trip. I knew it was possible that another baby boy could come to the orphanage before our trip but I felt like I was running out of time for "that option" because I felt like we would be submitting all of our paper work for all 3 at the same time & in order for that to happen there had to be "something" happening soon. So I kept praying for the Lord's will to be done & if we were not to adopt Daniel that He would make it clear to us & that He would send the right family for Daniel soon.

Fast forward to May 28th. I am reading You You's blog & see Caleb's picture. All though he was beautiful that's not what spoke to my heart. It was his name. The same name that Randy had picked out 6 years ago if we were to ever have a baby boy. My heart literally skipped a beat when I read the name. I looked up to the ceiling & asked God, "Okay, is this a sign?" I chuckled & then started praying. I was hesitant to mention it to Randy because it had just been 17 days prior since he had said, "I do not feel like God is calling us to adopt another child at this time." But I knew I had to tell him so I did. His response was not what I expected. The name got his attention as well & we decided to pray about it. On June 13th we got approval to adopt him & I made a public announcement about him on my blog on June 15th. Yesterday when I was reading all of your blog entries, I noticed that on June 18th you mentioned adopting a little boy from Haiti & on June 23rd you announced that it was Daniel. I'm so glad & thankful that God answered both of our prayers & that we get to experience this journey together!!!

Thank you for being a mighty servant of the Lord!