I've always wanted a multiracial family. As long as I can remember. I just have. After several years of marriage and no children, we made plans while living in Oregon to go to China to find our baby. Things didn't come together as we hoped and a few more years passed... until shortly after we moved to the island. A friend asked, "How long have you been married?" (7.5 years at the time) "Oh, have you met Sally?"
Sally became our adoption angel and we embarked on an incredible journey of adoption. A journey that has changed and expanded and brought healing and joy to our hearts.
We set out to bring a little Chinese baby home... but two years later, our sweet Indonesian-Chinese-Egyptian baby came to us. We witnessed countless miracles, set in place by a loving God that brought Naomi half-way across the world and into our arms. My heart exploded with joy. I didn't know I could love like this.
A year and a half passed and we began to feel an urgent need to find our next daughter. We dusted off our paperwork (that had been 90% complete and just sitting for the last 9 months) and quickly completed and submitted all the remaining files to activate our profile. After setting everything in place and doing all that we could to find this child, we left it in the Lord's hands. I would have vivid dreams at night and remember every detail the next morning. My over-active brain would then carefully analyze and over-analyze every possibility that came... it was driving me crazy. And then one day, the Lord spoke very clearly to my mind. "Let your mind be at peace. You cannot, at this time, understand everything that has been set in motion for this to take place."
And so I did. And the miracles began to unfold... again.
When we received our first email from Kalea's birthparents, I felt peace. (No over-analyzing or second-guessing myself... simply peace... ok, and a whole lot of excitement!) Little did we know that the week we were quickly completing our paperwork, our daughter's birthmother was discovering she was pregnant and they were beginning their own journey towards adoption.
Kalea made her debut 3 weeks (and 12 hours) early. Our Filipino-Caucasian belle. Her eyes sparkle and she fills our world with light.
The bond that I have with my girls is spirit to spirit. I did not give birth to them, but they have been woven into my heart in such a way that I feel like they have always been a part of me. We were meant to be together - to be a family. For always.
In February of 2012 we embarked on a third domestic adoption. The timing was right. But we were not in the right place. The door seemed to shut every which way we turned. And then in October, we found "Mayzee". It was not a path we were expecting (at least, not at this time), but God calmed my fears and whispered to our hearts that we had found her!
And so here we are. It has been a stressful journey filled with delays and heartache and miracles and a new understanding of hope.
Looking back, if I could rewind 15 years and start over again... I wouldn't change a thing. Not the timing, the heartache, or anything else about the way our family has been brought together. It is a complete miracle to me. And surely the most transforming miracle in my life.
-stacey
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