Making History

I am sitting here trying to figure out how to blog about our process of adopting Nansik.  I am struggling to know how to put it all into words.  How does one talk about all God does in ones life!I could start this story years ago when I first felt God laying a burden on my heart to adopt children that needed a home.  I could tell you about how I always knew God would bring a child to us to adopt, and how surprised I was when He brought us to a country where it was illegal for us to adopt.Or, I could fast forward to where God brought me to my knees in tears because I felt such a burden for orphans and felt helpless to do anything about it.  I turned to my husband during this time and found he did not feel the same way and I knew that anyone who looked at our bank account or saw how crazy our lives already were would advise me that I had enough on my plate.  It was then that I handed this burden back over to God.  I told Him I would adopt, but He would have to place the child in our laps, change my husband’s heart, and open all the doors.Last July, God placed a very special girl in our lap.  A girl that I had been praying for from the first time I saw her pregnant mother making a living in a brothel.  I started praying even harder for her on the day I saw her abandoned at 6 months by that mother.  I brought her home at the age of 18 months, after a year of trying to bring her home.  She was finally sick enough for the brothel owner to give up all hopes of selling her.  So a very sick little girl was place in our laps and I did not know what the next step would be.  I didn’t know if the brothel owner would try to get her back when she was well, all I knew was that God had placed her in my lap like I had asked and I trusted He would open the next door.It only took a few days for John to change his attitude of “What!  What do you mean you brought a baby home?” to completely falling in love with Nansik!  I think it took the rest of the family a few hours!  God totally turned his heart away from looking at our finances and obstacles to looking at God’s Grace and His love for this helpless little girl.Now all that was left.......a lot of doors!  Anyone who has been in Nigeria can tell you horror stories of ex-patriots who have tried to adopt and failed.  We have heard them all.  We have been discouraged from getting attached to Nansik and told that we will never be able to take her out of the country.  Here is what we had going for us.  I am very stubborn and John loves to accomplish what people tell us is impossible.  The harder it looks, the more fun it is for John.  The best thing going for us, we knew God had brought Nansik to us, so we knew He had a plan!We started talking to lawyers, commissioners, social workers and everyone who might have a clue as to how we could get custody of Nansik.  Most were dead ends, but then we met a lawyer all the way from Lagos who specialized in international adoptions.  She flew up to Jos and listened to our case and studied the local law.  She convinced the Commissioner that it was in Nansik’s best interest to wave the requirement for us to be Nigerian citizens to become guardians of Nansik.  We will still need to be in the country for 5 years before we can officially adopt, but the lawyer has set everything in motion for that to happen.  We went to court and petitioned the court for guardianship and permission to travel outside Nigeria and we won!  We are the first international couple to ever received a guardianship order of a Nigerian child!  God is so good!We then watched as God opened one door after another to get her birth certificate and passport and finally her US visa.  Soon we will be off to America with our newest daughter, Nansik.   We still have unopened doors ahead of us, but our God is big.  He has taken us one step at a time.  He has used His people to bless us with the funds to pay for the adoption process, he has brought the right contacts in our lives for each step of the way and all I can say is that my God is trustworthy and delights in giving His children the desires of their heart when those desires are from Him!