So there's this kid and he lives on the other side of the world and he doesn't look like me and he doesn't share my genes and he doesn't speak my language and he doesn't even know who I am but miraculously...
HE IS MY SON
Adoption is complicated.
It is beautiful and inspirational and blessed but it begins with such loss. We hear the stories of abandonment at birth or even later and it is unimaginable to us but it is not our reality, until...
until you have held that child who cries when you leave because she is not sure you will come back...
until you have parented through that loss that sometimes threatens to consume you...
until you have seen the fear in your child's eyes as her past disrupts her present...
until the faces of those left behind call you back...
We are being called back and the journey to our son has taken years.
This child has been on my heart ever since our Maggie came home but it was not time, so I advocated and spent many evenings trying to find out more about this precious little boy who was our Maggie's foster brother.
His file was on and off the shared list. His file was with even with Lifeline for a while but it was not time so I kept advocating and I kept praying and as time went by my prayers for him began to involve our family, but...
this child is blind - a need we had not parented before...
this child is a teenager already - we have parented those before and yeah...
this child is musical - what - I do like to sing - just ask the kids - hehe...
this child is a million miles away but yet still deeply in my heart.
I began to picture him in our home, at our church (praise band maybe), at soccer and school and JuJu's and and and...
However, it was just not time.
When the Lord finally open the door for us to be able to bring another child home, both Hubby and I felt very strongly that He wanted us to begin the paper work and let Him do the rest, so we did.
I have to say, there was such peace about starting the process and totally turning it all over to Him. He doesn't make mistakes but I sure do! There have been many times that we thought we had all the answers, that we thought we knew what was best for our family, only to find out later that we were clueless and we didn't want to mess this up!
So, as we followed His lead, months went by...
our home study was done, our fingerprinting was done and our dossier was almost done and this child remained on my heart and as much as I had been praying, so had Hubby.
We prayed over many precious children but this one kept us up a night and it was one night, late, at our neighborhood dock that the Lord spoke loud and clear to Hubby's heart.
That dock has provided a place of respite for Hubby, a place of peace for him to go and pray and think and listen, cause in this house...
well, you understand
*wink*
So that night, Hubby was listening and what he heard brought him to his knees.
As he watched this child's video and read what was written about him - again...
it was different...
Hubby looked at this child's picture and saw his son!
He then heart the Lord whisper to his heart, "That is your son! Go and bring him home!"
Wow, right!
So what was my reaction when he tearfully called to tell me??
"What took you so long! I knew it all along!"
Yeah, I know...
*grin*
So, without further ado, I would like to introduce you to our son!
Song is his name and he will age out very soon! We have to be in China before his birthday in January!
Sooooo, we will need some help!
We have self funded up to this point but will need some help to fund the rest in a short amount of time. I have set up a You Caring Site for donations and fund raising, here
Our church has also set up an account for adopting families. You can mail tax refundable donations there with our name in the subject line. Just contact me for details or...
You can give through the Easy Tithe app on your phone! You don't even need to download the app.
You can just click here: https://app.easytithe.com/g3/h/ and select 'Adoption Fund' from the dropdown menu and in additional info memo, put in “Hamlin Adoption”
We also currently have a fundraiser going through The Apparent Project in Haiti.
Just read their mission statement:
"Our focus is to “make the needs of Haiti known,” to support opportunities for Haitians to provide for themselves and their families, empowering them to rise out of poverty… to be able to keep their families together… to avoid relinquishing their children to orphanages… providing educational opportunities for both parents & their children."
Pretty cool! They help us to bring out 8th child home and we help them by providing jobs for Haitian families to be able to KEEP their precious ones! You can read more about this wonderful organization here
So, right now, we are selling these beautiful cereal box beaded bracelets. Each one comes with a tag that tells you all about the person who made your bracelet and what their hopes for the future are! How cool is that! Keep the tag, put it on your fridge and then you can commit to praying for that family!
We also have Christmas Ornaments that are made from recycled oil drums! They are gorgeous!
Each bracelet and each ornament is only $10 (not including shipping), five to our adoption fundraiser and five to Apparent Project!
Please share and please let me know if you would like to purchase any. You can reply here, message me on FB or email me at 5puppies@comcast.net.
Sing a Song of hope!
Please join us in praying as this precious child prepares to leave all that he has ever known to come home...
a home that will seem foreign and strange but one that the Lord has gently prepared, just for him!
Thanks y'all! I will post more later but gotta go and get stuff done, cause...
we have a son!
