SAYING YES TO GOD’S CALLING

One day, I had a conversation with my husband’s sister where she described a recent dream. She saw my husband holding a dark-skinned little girl and calling him Daddy. This really moved me.

A couple of days later, I was scrolling on YouTube, and saw a video of two little boys from the Philippines singing a beautiful worship song together. Once again, I became emotional, and God gave me a vision. He put it on my heart that there was a little girl with chunky cheeks and big brown eyes who needed us. He told me we needed to bring her home to our family.

I walked out to the backyard to share this with Stan. Tears flowed from my eyes, and I became convinced that the Lord was showing us what we needed to do. Stan was in law enforcement, and I was a stay-at-home mom. We had always said we would adopt, but we were living on one income with four biological children at home. Because life happens, adoption had fallen to the back burner. We did not know anything about how to adopt internationally or how to care for a child who had special needs. We were walking blindly through faith in obedience to Christ.

In 2016, we brought our daughter, Mika Ella, home. With having cognitive delays, being non-verbal, and having bilateral clubbed feet, she had significant special needs. But we quickly bonded with her.

We had seen exactly what the orphan crisis was. So many children will never have a family, and that hit us so hard. We left knowing we would adopt again, and set ourselves a schedule and timeline to save money to adopt a second child.

In January of 2018, I saw a picture of a frail little girl tied to a crib. She was blind, looked near death, and desperately needed a family. For two weeks, I did not share that with anyone because I was still internally processing it. My flesh felt afraid to take on the challenge of a child with those complex needs. I did not feel I was capable. The Lord had other plans and told me, “You will bring this little girl home.”

It was then I shared this with my husband, and he was shocked. We had initially planned to wait another nine months to adopt again. Taken aback at first, when I showed him the photo, he said, “The Lord will need to burden my heart like He has done with yours.” He gave it 24 hours before walking in the door and said, “Let’s bring her home.”

Other than knowing we would be offering her unconditional love, nourishment, and security, we did not feel equipped to manage. But we both believed the Lord wanted us to completely trust in Him.

Due to her severe decline, we were able to expedite her adoption. We had to fundraise quickly and in just 13 weeks, the Lord provided what we needed. Within six months of seeing Isabelle’s photo, we were on an airplane to China to bring her home.

In July of 2018, in a hotel in China, we met Isabelle for the first time. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw.

She was five and half years old, but only weighed 19 pounds. Severely malnourished, blind, and non-verbal, she had never walked or crawled. She was a shell of a baby. My husband quickly scooped her up and held her in a loving embrace. We could not believe the dire state she was in. Her hands had bite marks all over, from trying to self-soothe. Her physical state was devastating but she was so beautiful because she was our daughter.

Caring for Isabelle’s needs and trying to help her stretched our family thin, but God said to trust Him and rely on Him for each step. Our adoption journey is really a testament to obeying Christ.

The orphan crisis is overwhelming but even if it is not adoption that you are actively pursuing, you can still bring glory to Christ. The joy and peace God gives us is immeasurable. Any normal person walking this type of journey would feel crushed without God.

Mika Ella is doing amazingly well. She is so smart, she homeschools, and her smile radiates happiness. Isabelle is peaceful and brings us so much joy. She has transformed our family’s heart.

It has been the hardest six years of our life, but God gives us immeasurable peace and joy. His provision in all areas has blessed us because we said “yes” to His calling.

For more information on international adoption or to follow our story, check out The Felts Family on You Tube.