Memorial Box Monday: A Precious Baby Girl

Memorial Box Monday is a time to reflect on God's faithfulness in our life. A time when His love, goodness, and grace is remembered and shared with others. To God be the glory! Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity (rt. side of blog) started MBM and you can read all about it at her blog. You can also read or share your stories by linking up with Linny.

I have been praying about what to share today. What keeps coming to mind is the story of how our third child became our daughter. So today I am sharing how God answered our prayers in a unique way.

While in the Air Force Joel was given orders to Clark Air Force Base in The Philippines, so Joel, myself, and our two small children drove across the country to CA where we got on a plane and flew to The Philippine Islands. We had talked about adoption long before heading overseas, but when we knew we were going there we were very excited because right away we believed God was going to add to our family through adoption of a child while we were living in The Philippines.

We had only been there a few months when we began to look into the process of adoption. In this third world country there are few guidelines, and we quickly learned that it would be necessary for us to look for our own child to adopt. There were few orphanages ~ most of the babies for adoption had military fathers and Filipino mothers and they were often left at the clinics where they had been born and placed for adoption into American families when possible. It was a frustrating process and I was impatient to get on with it!

Joel worked with a Sgt. who was planning to adopt a son. One night we saw them at the fair on base, and they had with them a tiny little baby girl they had named Janet. We spoke briefly about how sick Janet had been when they brought her home and how they had nursed her back to health. We also shared how we were hoping to adopt a daughter ourselves, and then we moved on. I went home that night so envious that this family was not only hoping to adopt a son, but already had found a daughter to bring into their family. I remember praying to God for a little girl like Janet to bring home.

Shortly after seeing them at the fair, we ran into them again, but I was so upset about our own "lengthy" journey to adopt that I would not even look at the little girl or visit with the family. Pretty much, I was having a pity party for myself! Joel was also struggling and I remember him saying to me, "Why do they already have a child and we don't!" We were very naive about how long it could really take to go through the adoption process.

The next day Joel came home from work and told me that he had visited with this same Sgt. at work, and that he had told him Janet was not their daughter, but their foster daughter, and he wondered if we would be interesting in adopting her. We were stunned, and so excited. We set up a time for them to come by our home along with the social worker that they were working with. Little "Janet" was so precious and as soon as I held her in my arms I knew she was an answer to our prayers! It was only a week later that our precious N. ( we changed her name) came home to live with us forever. She was just 4 months old.

Her foster mom had made her a few dresses, nighties, and booties that we kept as keepsakes. So I will be adding a pair of pink baby booties to our Memorial Box as a reminder of God's answer to a young Lt's prayers, and one impatient mother's prayers (even in the midst of a pity party) ~ and the joy we have received from our wonderful daughter. God did bless us with a child not only "just like Janet", BUT Janet herself! WOW!

N. is 35 now and has a beautiful family of her own. She has graced our home with her love, kindness, and inner and outer beauty. We have been forever blessed.