Dave sez,
Hi! We are Cathy and Dave. When we were without hope, Justin found us. He introduced us to Ethan, telling us, This is Ethan, my brother! Ethan introduced us to Masha - who will be home soon as Isabella (Bella). He whispered to us, Masha...sister? This is our journey. Building a family through adoption.
We started our journey in an independent, open adoption program. The reality is that an independent adoption takes a while. We were one of fifty couple waiting to be match with a Birth Mom. A Birth Mom that would look at our profile in a binder of fifty and say, I want them to give my child the opportunities that I can not. The maximum waiting time in an independent adoption is anywhere between zero and four years. In any adoption program, we would be waiting for someone to reach a crisis in their life and look to us.
After a year or so of waiting, we shifted to an international adoption through China; and then Vietnam. Vietnam, like Russia, ended it's international adoption program with the United States.
Next, we looked at our local County foster-to-adopt program. We could have stuck with this option. There is nothing wrong with this type of adoption program. We decided against it because it was mostly fostering children in crisis conditions. A family in crisis, where the children enter foster care until the family unit could be restored. Or, the child is placed for adoption. We had no desire to come between a child and his or her parents. We also did not want to be in the middle of a crisis. That's an individual choice. It's not an easy decision to make. But we focused on what we wanted. Cathy and I wanted children. At the time we wanted a newborn or an infant.
We tried another program here in town.
We had been trying to adopt for over six years, without success. I know I had lost hope.
If the story of our journey is about anything it is about patience and faith. We didn't want to wait four years in one program to be matched with a Birth Mom. So...we waited nearly seven until the right boy came along and found us and restored both our hope and our faith. We knew that a child would be a blessing and a gift. We prayed. As we started to lose hope, we prayed more and harder. I yelled at the ceiling. What do you want from me? That's what I yelled. What do you want from me? Because I wondered if I was supposed to be a Dad. I'd spent a lot of time over the years wondering what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I asked our pastor that same question. What does God want from me? He smiled. He told me that God loved me and wanted me to have what I wanted. What do you want? the pastor asked me. I blinked. Wait. What? I thought I said that. I thought that's what I was asking and praying.
Okay.
Let me be more clear.
I want to be a Dad. I want You make me a Dad.
I do not believe in coincidence. I do not believe that when I started to focus myself that way, that when I posted my desire on Facebook in December of 2010, that it just happened that Justin found us.
Just like now, as we wait for our invitation to travel to Kiev to bring Masha home, and we see the images and stories of Kiev, torn in half, burning and soaked in blood.
I am afraid. Cathy is scared.
But our daughter is still there.
As scared as I am, I believe down to my toes that no matter what is going on - no matter what happens - God will see us through this journey.
What other choice do we have? Give in to our fear and doubt; or believe that some how, some way things will all work out and we will be a family of five. And if things work out, then how? How in the world will Cathy and I go from here to there and back again with our little girl through the fire and blood?
Believe me, there are much more important people on this planet. I'm not fool to believe that I am any one special. I don't believe that my challenges amount to a hill of beans. But as Leslie Nielsen said to Priscilla Presley, This is our hill! These are our beans!
We have to bring our daughter home to complete our family. We have to because her place is here. With the rest of us.
I'm praying that we have a safe journey. I hope you will join me in that prayer. For Masha's sake. Maybe some peace will come to Kiev, too.
