"We have a referral for your family, it's a set of siblings, two girls ages one and three." Y,all, I can't even handle this. Let me back up a bit. From the beginning we always discussed two and dreamed about how special siblings would be to journey through life together as best buddies. We were approved for up to two children in our home study for siblings ages 0-3 however the likelihood of this situation was probably about one in a million. Other than twins, sibling groups this young is a rarity so we always assumed a babe around one is what our referral would look like. Luke has been saying for years now that two girls would be his dream. God has, through His sovereignty, been up to something for 20 months that we can't even fathom although we know in our heart of hearts that these plans of His have been carved out since the beginning of time.
"Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast heart, for his wondrous works to the children of men. And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds in songs of joy." -Psalm 107:21-22
We have always said that no matter what we were doing when we received the joyous news we would meet up and open the email to see pictures and information about our child. We both raced home and luckily I didn't have to leave a patient sitting in the dental chair mouth wide open but nothing was stopping this mama :). We spent some time praying for the next few moments while their pictures were just a click away. Seeing their precious smiling faces left us both crying tears of joy and at that moment we knew that those were our girls. I can't stop staring, dreaming and thinking about those sweet hearts.
I have never had and felt so many emotions at once. After gazing at them forever we began reading through their histories and what led them to the orphanage. This led to tears of complete brokenness, sadness and such hurt and pain for our now babes. They've experienced more pain and loss in their short lives than I have in my nearly 30 years.
We can NOT wait to bring them into our family and these last few days have been a whirlwind. Sharing our news with friends and family of a day that not only us, but so many of our people have longed for and prayed for forever alongside of us, has been pure delight. We've had so many tell us how lucky our girls will be to have us as mom and dad but we are the lucky ones. God blew us away but giving us a referral but TWO?! Oh what grace.
What's next
We received our referral on Tuesday and accepted it on Wednesday. We now have quite bit of acceptance paperwork to fill out along with updating of our dossier. We have had several ask why the girls won't be coming home for several months but basically to sum it up there is a lot of paperwork and government approvals that need to be processed. Investigations will occur and court hearings will commence. There are a lot of new processes that have been put in place to protect the orphan and ensure ethical adoptions. While it can be frustrating to continue to wait we have to respect the process.
One area where we have been completely dependent on our Lord is fundraising. He completely surpassed any doubts we ever had about how and if the funds would come. We have had garage sales, sold shirts, collected donations and benefited from Noonday trunk shows. It has been humbling and for lack of words promise-filled to see it all come to fruition through the blessings of His people. We had raised nearly enough funds for our adoption and since the chances were near to none of a sibling group we obviously weren't going to raise funds for another child in the unlikely chance that we received more than one. While we don't have to pay double the costs for everything, we do have a good amount of additional money we need to raise and pay in the next 7 days. Once again we have put our trust in our Lord and know that he will provide. The short term costs we have to pay are such a small amount compared to the lifetime of joy we will experience with these two little babes.
Ways to help
- Youcaring
We have had an account set up on youcaring for several years now. If you have a desire to donate you will find information on the link below:
- T-shirts
We are on our second batch of our beloved "Loved" tees. We have a few small shirts left and a good amount of medium-XXL, email Jen.schwoch@gmail.com if you would like to purchase one
- Pray
This one sounds so broad but our hope and desire is to continue to give praise and glory to a God who has done and will do far more than we could ever imagine.
-pray in the next week of complete surrender in our fundraising that we put our faith fully in Him and trust a loving God and that he Has gone before us
-pray for our girls that they not only are physically well but that God reveal His great love and adoration to them and that He prepares them to become Schwochs
-pray that God would heal any emotional wounds that our girls may have
-pray for the precious orphanage workers that will be entrusted with caring for our children during the important and formative stages of their lives
-pray for some big decisions we have coming up with living and that we seek Him for clarity and wisdom.
-pray for our patience and strength to continue as we see God work in His perfect timing
-pray that God would see the creation of our family through with His steadfast love and that he would move mountains to unite our forever family
-pray for our adoption agency that they would continue to act ethically and act with the orphans' best interest in mind
-pray for the officials in U.S. and in Ethiopia who will handle our case and ask God to touch their hearts through God's love and purpose in adoption
It is such a delight to share our news. If you would like to hear more about our adoption let us know.
All our love.
-Jen & Luke Schwoch
Celebratory dinner, we are PARENTS!
Oh my goodness Jen and Luke!! I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU!! What a miracle and what a blessing! Sisters are awesome. :) your faith and hope in God are inspiring. Love and hugs and smiles to you. Your family is in my prayers!!
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