When we first accepted our kids referrals, I did a quick post about it because what followed our referral was a whirlwind of paperwork and phone calls.
I want to rewind a little and tell the story of how God led us to our kids.
I am going to start with Boaz.
A little over a year ago, we were waiting for a referral from Ethiopia.
I passed some of the time by watching waiting children websites.
It was from waiting children's websites that I learned about D.R.C.
At the time it was a pretty new program and moving really fast.
Parents were getting children home in less than 6 months! What a dream!
While surfing the web one day I found All Blessings adoption agency.
I took a look at their waiting kids and there was little Boaz(he had a different name at the time).
He was absolutely beautiful! Those big ole eyes stole my heart. His features were so sweet and delicate. Being crazy as I am, I e-mailed the address underneath the picture.
Obviously I knew that there was not way we could have him. We were adopting from a different country and I was sure he would file a family FAST! The coordinator(who is now our coordinator) got back to me and told me that there may be a possibility that we could get around some of the Congolese requirements that we could not meet as a couple. She gave me a fee schedule which was just crazy and I let it go. No way could we adopt from two different countries with two different fee schedules!
That night I showed Gavin his picture and told him that Boaz just looked like our son.
He told me that he can't possibly look like our son because we were adopting from Ethiopia.
Gavin is very logical.
Of course he was right so I went to bed dreaming of a little chocolate colored boy with big eyes and curly soft hair.
Months went by and I checked his picture a couple of times a month to see if he had found a family yet. It just broke my heart that he could not find a home. He was PERFECT! After about six months, things started to unravel with our Ethiopian adoption...you all know that awful story. When we pulled out of our Ethiopian adoption, the first thing I did was check All Blessings waiting children's page. There he was! That sweet little boy that stole my heart so many months ago!
Of course, just because his picture was still up, did not mean he was available. Adoption agencies are famous for being slow to update their information. We chose to pick an agency based on ethics before asking about Boaz. I did not want to know that he was available if he was with an agency that we did not feel was ethical. So we took a week and did our research.
In the end...we could not have picked a more honest and trustworthy agency than All Blessings.
We signed on with them and let them know we wanted a waiting child ages 0-5.
When we opened our e-mail the next morning, there he was.
He had grown in the last 6 months but was still the same little boy who I had fallen asleep dreaming about.
Now he is officially Boaz Edward Pehl.
His names means "In Him is strength."
My first born son.
Gorgeous, Rachel. So proud of you and your first born. :)
ReplyDeleteThose eyes! He is beautiful. I love that you dreamed any prayed for him for so many months, God's provision is perfect!
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