January 6 or 7, 2014: First/Second time to see Nadia and Nancy -wrote the note

It was early in the morning.  Marc had to work, and I had gotten up with him around 4 am to make his lunch and tell him goodbye.

I was laying on the living room floor, iPad in hand, checking out facebook, which was my usual 4:52 am habit while Marc finished getting ready and lifting weights.

I saw that my friend, Jenny, had made a new post.  I clicked on it.

To see what I read, click here:  Josiah and Jenny January 1, 2014

By this point, my heart had begun to soften, just as I had been praying it would.  I began to realize that God could very possibly be calling us to special needs adoption.  I decided to click through the pictures on the list and pray for each child, all the while wondering if God was possibly calling us to be the parents of one of them.  

I started at the bottom and clicked on Nadia and Nancy first.   I said a prayer, but was not moved for even a second at their pictures or their description.  I moved to the next set of children, and on, and on, and on, and prayed for each child, read each description.  

When I was finished, I prayed specifically that if it was God's Will for us to pursue special needs adoption that he would soften my hard heart.  When I finished praying, for some reason I cannot explain except to say that it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I clicked on the link to Nadia and Nancy again.  

My heart welled up and overflowed.  I was breathless at their pictures, intrigued by their description, moved to tears when I noticed the red sentence at the top of the page that said, "Urgent:  Nadia and Nancy have been transferred."  I knew what that meant.  

It was as if I had looked at them through a dark curtain the first time, and this time the curtain was drawn away and I saw the beautiful hand of God in their faces, in their eyes, in their smiles. 

I was captivated.  

I grabbed a piece of blue, lined paper from the kitchen and quickly jotted a note:  

Ten Reasons We Should Adopt Nadia and Nancy Now.  

I don't remember if I showed their picture to Marc before he left for work, but I do know that before he came home that night, I had taped that note to the door so that he would see it upon entering the house.  

He read it, chuckled, and then did something intriguing:  he hung it on the fridge.  It stayed there for more than a month.  

Ezekiel 36:26  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.