not mere coincidence.....

At first this post may not sound like it is going to make sense and you may wonder where the story is going, but hang in there because at the end it will all come full circle.....I think !  

The thursday before Christmas, Mason and I were doing some last minute errands downtown when we got a call from Carrie, our wonderful social worker. At this point in time we were anxiously waiting to hear back about our acceptance from the orphanage regarding Judith and kerby for our family. Carrie asked me to pull over and said that there had been a little "curve" in the road. Long story short, our social worker informed us that they just found out that Judith and Kerby have a little brother  who is 23 months old. He was airlifted out from Haiti the week after the earthquake and they were trying to locate him and find out if he had a family etc. Our social worker wanted to know what our thoughts were if he was in foster care and didn't have a family. Would we be willing to adopt him too and possibly fly to get him in the next couple weeks? WOW. That was a lot more than a curve, that was like a 90 degree angle in the road at 100 mph !!!!  

We were not getting answers as to where the younger brother was so I began searching articles and everything I could find on the internet. I found the brother--- he was part of a group of 12 children that got airlifted out but didn't have adoptive families, known as the "BRESMA 12 or Pittsburgh 12".  He has been living in an orphanage in Pittsburgh for the last year but was adopted by a family in Colorado and moved there within the last few weeks. ---I can tell you more about that amazing story later :) Judith and Kerby (and the younger brother) lived in an orphanage called BRESMA before the earthquake. Their dad took them in and out frequently (putting them in when he couldn't feed them or care for them etc.) the dad had taken judith and kerby out of the orphanage the week of the earthquake. After the earthequake all of the children from BRESMA were airlifted to the US because their orphanage was destroyed. A couple weeks after the quake then Judith and Kerby were put into GLA orphanage (where we are adopting from). That is how they were separated.  

Back in January 2010 about 3 week after the quake, I called a lady, named Virginia,  in town that a "friend of a friend' told me adopted from Haiti right after the quake. One of the things she mentioned during our conversation  was that she used an adoption agency from Kentucky. I never talked to her again, out of sight out of mind thing. Well when I was online looking for the younger brother, I came across an article that said that the BRESMA orphanage used an agency from Kentucky and "light bulbs went off". I wondered if  Virginia's daughter, who I had not thought much about since talking to her for a few minutes over a year ago,  might be from the BRESMA orphanage and if it was possible she would know the brother or even Judith and Kerby. I called her again and she said "yes, I know Judith & Kerby's brother. He was on the plane coming home after the quake with my daughter. He was very sick and near death"......I sent her pictures of Judith and Kerby and she showed them to her daughter. She emailed me back and said her daughter was "over the moon" because Judith was friends with her while they were in the BRESMA orphanage together. She used to have to do Judith's hair because her hair was short and they didn't have mirrors and if Judith did it, it was just "terrible". She said she didn't know Kerby well, because he was "a boy".   

Yesterday I got to meet and have coffee with Virginia. I had the best time and LOVED hearing her story. When she saw some of the other pictures I had of Judith and Kerby, she said she remembered them from her visits to the orphanage. She said Kerby was always smiling and was a active boy. I asked her if that was code for "ADHD" tendencies, and she laughed and said no, just a health boy who liked to do boy things.  She said she felt confident in saying he would probably like sports here in the US.  She said she remembered Judith to be quiet, reserved, and shy.  Virginia also has a connection to Freddy's parents and asked me if they had contacted me yet. I didn't want to ask too much more information and decided it was best to let that information come out as the brothers parents would like it too. We were both really excited that the kids would have a connection and found it quite amazing that the dots were connected. She also informed me that what makes it even more amazing is that she had to switch agencies 4 times during her adoption process, so for me to remember the Kentucky one is certainly not an accident.  We have plans to keep in touch and I really enjoyed my time with her.

So amazingly, her daughter Lulun was adopted from BRESMA orphanage using an agency from Kentucky, and our kids are being adopted from GLA orphanage using an agency in Portland........and they both ended up in not only the Pacific Northwest, or state of Oregon, but in little ole McMinnville. It is not like Mcminnville is Seattle even. Truly amazing and certainly not a coincidence.  God has been working like this for the last year in the amazing way He is orchestrating this journey. The only words I have to describe it is just true AWE. I feel like I am in a "lazy river" pool and just laying back and being moved along by the current.....just a willing participant but I am certainly not steering the ship.  

We have signed release papers so that the younger brothers family can receive our contact information which the hope is that we can have a relationship with them and keep a relationship between the kids.  I will update as soon as we hear anything.  When we finally get to meet Judith and Kerby I would love to get to tell them that we have a relationship with the brothers family and that they are going to get to see Freddy again !  What an answer to pray that will be.

 God just continues to be faithful and continues to work in amazing ways !

Choose to make it a good day -- Be thankful for all that we are given and ask God to allow you to be His eyes throughout your day today !