4 weeks ago, today, we stepped into a little building in upcountry Burundi and fell completely in love. We had prayed for just over 12 years for the child or children God had ordained for our family. We had waited with our agency for almost 5 years. About a month after we signed our contract with our agency, I, Deidra, had a dream that we were matched with twins. I keep that dream mostly to myself, but knew from that moment we would, at some point, update to be open to siblings. God is so good! We prayed for God to prepare us for the boys and for God to prepare the boys for us and wow did He answer our prayers. We are a family! They are ours and we are theirs! Not one of us has questioned it. Through all the bumps along the way, God has always come through. The struggles with our agency haven’t disappeared because our boys are home. We have some hard conversations ahead, but it feels great to be fighting those battles from this side. Fighting for other families as we hold our boys in our arms. We are exactly where God would have us as a family. We continue to be blown away at how he has graciously woven us all together. Adoption classes prepare you that it won’t be a fairy tale and to let go of your expectations. We are not naive to the fact that we will have struggles, but we are as close to fairy tale as you can get. We are better than fairy tale, we are a family exactly as God designed us to be. So much has happened in 4 weeks since we first laid eyes on our sweet twin boys. We picked the boys up on October 20th. Once we heard the shelter was at risk of being shut down and that they would have to move children, we knew we needed to arrive before either of those things happened. God's hand was in so much as the shelter gained favor with the government officials and was granted more time to complete the list of requirements to stay open, but they still didn't have the money to do it. On November 1st, all of the children and staff were moved to their new building. It was a hard time for them to adjust to a new place. The night they moved in there was no power and it had to be scary, but God. Since the day we picked up our boys the shelter has moved into the new buildings, but through generous donations MANY needs have been met to ensure this shelter stays open and operating. There is something so incredibly special about our boys Burundian home. The shelter struggled to provide food on a regular basis to the children, electricity was come and go, and water was received from a community pump. Despite all of that all of the children in this facility are clean, happy and healthy. God is watching over all of them. But it’s love that is causing them to thrive. And the staff who is regularly to never paid, loves the children as if they were their own. There’s no substitute for love and compassion. God is Love. As humans we need love to thrive. While our boys might not of had three meals every day. They were not regularly seen by a doctor or provided with medical items needed. They were loved and that has made all the difference in their ability to thrive. The staff continues to love the children going through changes and God continues to provide to meet their needs. Through donations, Beds have been purchased for the new building. solar panels have been purchased and installed to provide electricity. Fresh water via a well is being worked on currently. And because of God’s beautiful family that shows gracious love, food will be coming on regular intervals for the next year to the shelter. All in four weeks… our God is so big. Also in four weeks the boys have bonded fully to their mama, papa, sister, and brother. Attaching is going fabulously well too. The boys actions and attitudes show to us that they feel safe and loved. And that they feel secure with their new family and in their new environment. We couldn’t ask for more. So many things that we had prepared and prayed for just have simply vanished because God has answered prayers. Don’t get us wrong, they are four year olds and we all know four year olds have strong opinions, but the day to day things we face right now are simply toddlers woes. We love celebrating our boys Burundian family. Every night at bedtime we “read” their Burundi family book. It’s an album with pictures and they love to tell us who everyone is and tell us stories. We currently don’t understand what they’re saying but we will continue listening every night in hopes that they remember their stories and when we do understand what they’re sharing we can experience them together. Another one of God's gifts to us is that we are connected with many families who are bringing children home from the same shelter. Many of those kids came to the shelter at the exact same time as our boys and they are family. God has brought us together so that we can continue to build connections and friendships between these children. God orchestrated the timeline so that we would travel with the only other family traveling from Indiana. We were able to support one another in country build a friendship that has a bonded us as family. Our boys are absolutely in love with the young lady who came home with her forever family. We are overjoyed at the blessing of this connection. We are settling into routines. Life is moving forward. We are learning and growing as a family. We laugh, we play, we sing, we dance, we bug one another, and we love it all.
0 Comments
|
Donate to our Adoption!Click to set custom HTML
AuthorMy name is Deidra Miller. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Dusty, for 17 years. We have two biological children and our family is growing again. We prayed for 2,786 days and God answered our prayers. More days (almost 4 years) have been added as we wait for God's perfect plan for our family. We can't wait to meet our beautiful twin boys! Archives
October 2022
Categories |