Our Adoption Story Part 11--Attack?

If you are reading this blog for the first time, I am in the midst of retelling our faith journey to adopting Rebekah.  She has been our daughter for two years now (our 2nd Gotcha Day was just a couple days ago!).  Bringing her into our family was truly a work of the Lord and I wanted to share the story with you.  I know many readers are in the pursuit of adoption and my hope is that our journey will encourage you.  Scroll down and start with Part 1 if you want the whole scoop.


As I was scrolling through photos for my next post I was reminded of the tumultuous time the fall of 2007 was for our family.  At that time we had contacted the Thai government and our Thai lawyer.  We were waiting to hear from our lawyer about the next steps.  We were fully committed to adopting Rebekah and we were preparing ourselves to do whatever it took to make her our daughter.  


That fall our family was so sick all the time.  And by sick I don't mean we had the sniffles.  We were actually in and out of the ER and hospital, and I even did a stint in the ICU.  Looking back now, Mark and I feel like it was likely a spiritual attack.  The enemy saw our commitment to adoption and knowing that human adoption is a picture of our spiritual adoption in Christ, he went on the offensive.  During that season, we five found ourselves laid out flat at least once a month.  It was uncanny.  People around us were worried.  Our mission prayed for us and even anointed our family with oil in prayerful expectation that God would heal us (James 5:14-15).  

Here we are just minding our own business, right before getting sucker-punched with sickness. 

One morning in late October I awoke very sick.  Since we had three young kids I drove myself to the ER.  I was immediately admitted into the ICU with a rare and terrible virus.  That night, Abby Grace (then 2) awoke with a blazing fever and blisters all over her face.  Mark packed up all the kids and took them into the ER.  She was released and they spent the day resting while I remained in the ICU.  That night, Mark got terribly ill with a horrible stomach virus that kept him on the bathroom floor.  In capacitated, he called my BF Jen to come over and take care of the kids while he puked the night away.  The next day he took Abby Grace back in for a followup and I was released at the same time.  It was a painful week, to say the least!  But the Lord was faithful.  We did recover and we eventually entered a season of health again.  Not to mention, the human adoption that so sweetly mirrors our Father's adoption of us through Christ did indeed happen.  So there. Our God reigns.