My husband and I were recently invited to an art show; we both love art and photography, so we were excited to see different works by a handful of local artists. As different pieces of colorful compositions caught our eyes, there was one booth that seemed to stand out. On an adorable table setting sat small boxes of homemade button earrings with a small tag that said, “Thank you for your purchase from my shop and supporting our adoption journey! – Love Danielle” My heart melted as I realized that this was no ordinary couple selling their art. I had to ask about their journey! I found out that Danielle and her husband Kyle were preparing to journey to Africa for an adoption process! How exciting! And I love that Danielle and Kyle were working together to raise funds for the adoption! I immediately felt the Holy Spirit ask me to offer Danielle an opportunity to share their lovestory with the Unveiled Wife Community in hopes of inspiring those of you who are contemplating adoption or have been through the process. I also wanted to give you the opportunity to support this family in their journey of adoption! Danielle wrote out a glimpse of their lovestory and below that are ways that you can support them!
Here are a picture of the earrings I bought and a photo of Danielle and I!
Danielle writes:
“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
I am blessed to be married to an incredible man of God for more than five years now and lately God has pushed us to new levels of faith that we never dreamed of.
This is our “Lovestory”.
I’m a high school teacher, my husband Kyle is a youth pastor, and we have a deep passion for children and could not wait for the day when we would start our own family. Little did we know that that decision would end up taking us on a roller coaster of emotions and challenges that only He could ever see us through.
We had always thought that adoption would be an amazing option for us one day, and after battling with medical struggles, God made it very clear to us that someday was now.
Through much prayer and thought we felt really called to Africa and the many children there in need of a forever family. Never have I been brought to my knees so much as during this journey. When we first began considering adoption we really prayed over and over that God would make it clear that this was His will and not just our passion. Time and time again He kept revealing to us that it was both. I always need that extra reassurance in life and so I would literally pray that God would give me very direct signs that this was what He wanted for our family. Each and every time He did.
While adoption is an INCREDIBLE experience to go through, it is also very challenging.
When we were ready to start a family and felt God so clearly leading us this way we then wanted our children home RIGHT AWAY. But that is the opposite of how this process works. There are SO many steps…so much waiting…..then tons of paperwork…then waiting…waiting waiting. It is extremely stressful and can be overwhelming. It is also very hard to be patient when it seems as though so many others are given their families so easily and without delay. The only way we have been able to keep going is the strength that God keeps showering us with. Even in the midst of the hardest days when our hearts ache for our children and we feel helpless, He is there reminding us that He is in control!
Our adoption has brought my husband and I closer together, but it does have it’s dark days too as it is a VERY emotional process.
But when I look back and see the road that God has carved out for us I see His hand in it all. We cannot control most of this journey and that can be a hard reality to face! When a woman is physically pregnant people can see her stomach, recognize the anticipation of the new arrival and empathize with the mother’s birth. But when you are adopting much of the journey is very private, and while you feel EMOTIONALLY pregnant, most people cannot recognize the whirlwind of emotions that you are going through because they can’t physically SEE it. Even with very supportive friends and family, not knowing when your child will be coming home is so hard to manage….there is no “due date” with adoption! 
I remember so many sleepless nights lying awake, my head swirling with questions and fears that I couldn’t answer. But we kept trusting, kept moving forward.
During our last trip to Africa we arrived ecstatic for court and the joy of bringing our son home. A boy that we had fallen in love with months prior and a child that we felt God directly leading us towards. While we were there we experienced the devastating loss of our adoption falling through after spending months as his parents. Looking into the eyes of the child that we had fought so hard for for so long and having to tell him that we could not take him home with us anymore was crushing. At that moment I thought “God why?!” Why were we led here for our son and why are you making us leave him as so many others in his life already had? How was this fair to him?” The silence of coming home to our empty house and his room without him was shattering. I was so mad at God. We had COMPLETELY stepped out in faith here, completely surrendered to what we thought was His will and this was how our story was going to end?…..Little did I know that at the time God was starting a new chapter, not ending a book. That very special child whom we will always love was reunited with relatives that would not have known where he was without our case. God DID answer our prayers to bring him home, even if it was to another’s.
We tried to heal, tried to process, tried to trust God again. And through much prayer we still felt that our children were still in Africa, but not sure what that meant. Very soon after we started to boldly pray that God would open the door to our children again, HE DID! We were made known of two amazing children, siblings, a boy and a girl that needed a home. God is truly weaving our family’s lovestory in amazing ways and I still cannot believe that we are heading back now to adopt TWO children! We feel immensely blessed and also nervous about the process again. But we know HIS timing is always perfect and we will continue to go to the ends of the earth to bring our family together.
As we prepare to head back very shortly, it is a very mixed bag of emotions. Of course we are ecstatic and humbled by God’s grace. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we are also very scared and have guarded our hearts more than before. When we first got back from that sad trip I knew that I would need to find a way to channel all my anxious energy into something positive and I also knew that since we had to fully pay for the process even though our son never came home that if we ever wanted to adopt again I needed to FUNDRAISE. Well, God gently gave me the idea to make earrings in an effort to fulfill both needs. It has been such a blessing to see this tiny idea snowball into so much VERY needed support for our family!
God is definately doing something new in our lives and we cannot wait to see how it all unfolds.
Kyle and I are getting ready to go into this second time around prepared for anything, knowing that God is bringing us back for our children. Amongst all of the swirls of emotions we have this deep sense of peace. We are looking forward to the holidays this year as a family of four and would greatly appreciate your prayers to help that come true. We have not gotten to this incredible place in our lives by doing anything extraordinary.
We have simply said yes when God asked.
We feel honored that He is helping us to get three children to their forever homes when we thought we were only capable of one. God is indeed the author of our “Lovestory”.
In His Love,
Danielle
Ways to support Danielle & Kyle:
- Pray for their family and their upcoming journey to Africa
- Buy $10 earrings from Lovestory Lane @ http://www.etsy.com/shop/LovestoryLaneDesigns
- Donate straight to Paypal following these steps:
1. Go to www.paypal.com
2. click on “transfer”
3. click on “send someone money”
4. enter email address “[email protected]“
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