*Application Sent - It's Officially Vietnam

We officially applied to Faith International Adoption today – filling out a 4 page questionnaire that was pretty simple, signing a fee schedule, and mailing a $2000 check. We wrote in it that we were choosing the Vietnam program, and want a Female infant. But we also noted we were open to other children, twins…. I know the Lord has a plan and a child out there for us, and I guess I feel that maybe if we keep our options open, He will have an easier job leading us, and we in finding the right child. I don’t want a perfect child, and I don’t want the baby that’s going to get adopted easily (well I do, but....). I want to help an orphan, and take him or her as my own. But, I’m also not sure I’m ready for an older child – as Koen is still only 13 mo, or a child with major special needs.

Lord, we pray that You would guide us to our child/ren, and prepare us for the road ahead, his or her personality and any struggles we may have in raising the child. Thank you for adoption and your wonderful example of adopting us as your own.

I finished reading “Don’t Cry, It’s Only Thunder” in only a few days. It was a very good, true story novel about an American soldier who served in Vietnam during the war, and helped 2 nuns and their orphans find and maintain an orphanage that eventually housed over 100 in 1970. It’s hard to not know the end though – what became of them after Paul Hensler left Vietnam. One girl, Thom, that particularly took to Paul, died by the VietCong late in the book. I sobbed and sobbed. Thom was a beautiful picture of unconditional love even though she was so scarred by what she had seen and experienced. I’ve thought about naming our daughter after her.