In 2002 my husband, Mark, and I set off on the adventure of adoption. We wanted desperately to adopt a 10 year old girl from Kazakhstan. We first discovered Annalise’s photo on an internet site with photos of children from around the world who needed forever families.

God’s hands were already on the process, even before it began, because I had specifically searched for a child who was closer to our own biological children’s ages. We were thinking of a child that would have been maybe three years old or younger. Annalise was 9 years old at the time, yet God had this “older child” come up in my search for 2-3 year olds. After going to bed that night that I saw her online, I could not get her out of my mind, so the next day I requested a video from her adoption agency.

The video was eye opening and heart-wrenching! The only things this little girl wanted were a bucket of raspberries for Christmas and a mother who would love her. Our hearts ached for her!

Mark and I married during Mark’s last semester of college. We found out we were pregnant with Kaitlyn when we had been married a little over a month. When Kaitlyn was 6 months old, we found out that we were expecting our son, Ethan. Mark had started a new career right out of college, which requires years to build up a client base, so we pinched many pennies. We had only been married for 5 years, and had no savings, when God sent Annalise into our family’s picture. We were unsure as to how we could afford the price tag of $27,000 for a Kazakhstan adoption. After praying, we felt the Lord’s gentle guidance and decided that it was the Lord’s Will to take a leap of faith. So, we started our home study.

Upon making this gigantic decision, we humbly shared our plans, as well as our needs, with our friends, family and Sunday school. We shared our hearts and our financial need, without being specific. During this time, we prayed fervently and we asked others for prayer. Our specific prayer was for doors to be opened or shut according to God’s perfect Will. We sincerely desired God’s plans to come about for us and for that little girl who was thousands of miles away.

The Lord constantly proved His faithfulness by providing the money needed for each home study payment, agency payment, passport fee and INS fees. One day we desperately needed $200 for a home study payment, which was due that afternoon. When we opened the front door, there was a check for $200 from our neighbors! Again, when it was time to travel, we had no money for airline tickets to fly over to Kazakhstan, to meet and pick up our little girl who was waiting for us. My parents were provided by God with extra tithe and offering money to be able to pay for those plane tickets. God worked again and again like this! It was amazing to see God working through others during this time! It was surreal and most definitely supernatural!

The Saturday before we left for Kazakhstan, our Sunday school class gathered at a member’s house for a get-together. After laying hands on us and praying for our journey, they handed us an envelope for our trip with a lot of extra cash. At that time, we did not really see a need for this money since everything was already provided for financially for the entire trip. However, the Lord can see much farther down the road than we can! We ended up with an unexpected stay in Kazakhstan of 36 days due to some problems with our newly adopted daughter’s visa. If it were not for this extra money that we received, we would have had no extra cash for food and lodging for us in Kazakhstan, our two biological children and our new addition. We would have been in a strange country, with no interpreter, knowing only a few words of Russian, in below zero weather with no lodging and no food. God saw the need even before we did and met it before we even left our comfort zone, setting out to venture out into the unknown! He provided for us and saw us through!

God provided us through each step of this adoption! The money was not there a day later than when we needed it throughout the process! And when we did need it sooner, He provided then, too! His perfect Will was carried out through willing vessels that trusted in God, prayed and waited for God’s timing! Now, we have four beautiful children, Annalise, Kaitlyn, Ethan and Julia, with more to come through adoption (and thorough birth, if God allows) in the very near future!

Annalise, our adopted daughter from Kazakhstan, asked Jesus to be her personal Savior shortly after learning English! She, now, wants to go back to Kazakhstan someday as a missionary to the orphans. If we had not been willing vessels; if we had not asked for and obeyed God’s perfect Will and had not taken leaps of faith; if we had trusted in our own power, instead of His; if we had not waited on HIS timing; if we had not prayed and asked for prayer, our Annalise might not be the young woman of God that she is today! And the most exciting thing is that only God can see what our prayers, trust in God and obedience meant for the people that Annalise will touch down the road!