As I said in my profile, Mr. Branch and I have often wished Twiggy Three had a brother to play with and do "boy" stuff. It concerns us just a tad bit that his favorite color is pink. That's what happens when the girls outnumber the boys in the house. LOL. But the time has not been right, nor did we think it ever would be. We both had pretty much dismissed the idea. Well, in January God put it on my heart again. As I pondered, I realized that this time, the time may be right. I requested some info on Waiting Children and quietly let God work in my heart. I did not mention this to Mr. Branch because I was praying that God would bring it to his heart without me. Well, one day we were at our bank getting a document notarized and the teller helping us was one that assisted us years ago with the girls' adoptions. I could see that she wanted to ask if we were adopting again so I casually put her mind at ease by telling her "no". Well, much to my surprise, Mr. Branch added, "Well, at least not yet!". My heart did a flip-flop! Did he just say that?! We hadn't talked about this in a looooooong time. Hmmm.... As we drove home, I had to fill him in on my "covert" actions...a DVD of Waiting Children was due in the mail any time. He just grinned. He knows me too well!!!
When we adopted the girls, we were open to minor correctable medical conditions, and actually were told that Twiggy One had a condition when her referral was sent to us. Shortly thereafter, we were advised that she was, in fact, completely healthy. And she was! We were glad for her sake, however, a bit disappointed that we didn't get to adopt a little one that may not be so "adoptable" due to special needs. The desire to adopt an older child has remained through the years.
Since we don't qualify for China due to income levels per household member, we had to look elsewhere. Twiggy One and I went on a mission trip to Southeast Asia in 2008, so it was quite natural to look there. As I scanned the Waiting Child list, I primarily was looking for a boy born in 2007. That would make all 4 twigs three years apart all the way down. Plus, a 3 or 4 year old seems like a good fit for where we are as a family. Twiggy Three will be 6 next week and we really don't want to start completely over again. I was also looking at birth dates. We have a thing for birthdays at our house... Twiggy One's is our anniversary, Twiggy Two's is Valentine's Day (who needs to go out on a date?!) and Twiggy Three was due on Twiggy Two's birthday but waiting 4 more days to be born on a very special great-grandpa's birthday. So, how do you match all that? Could there be a birthday that could fit in there somewhere? Well, sure enough, there was. At first I overlooked this little guy because his birthday didn't stand out to me. Shallow, I know! Some of the other birthdays would be a stretch, but we could make it work. However, once I requested more info on them, they had already found homes. I prayed that God would show us if there was a child we were supposed to look at or if we were supposed to consider this little guy. Well, one day it came to me. His birth month is the same month as my dad's and his birth date is the same as my mom's! So, there you have it. The perfect combination!! And his birth month fits neatly between the other three twigs.
Since that day, we have been praying and pondering if this is where God was leading us. We just sent family an email bringing them up to speed and asking the to pray with us. Is this from God or just a selfish, human desire? (Of course, I have to chuckle at the selfish part because who's going to be doing the caretaking??? That's the part that makes me swallow hard....am I ready to sacrifice myself again for another person? Do I have it in me?)
Most of the family has given us a hearty "yippee", so Mr. Branch and I just need a few moments of quiet (when we're awake enough to talk about it). Maybe we'll get the application mailed out this weekend...
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