"I Hope My Face Is Shining..."

On the eve of Orphan Sunday, I can't think of a better thing to be posting.  WE RECEIVED A REFERRAL YESTERDAY!!! (A referral is information on a child, or children in our case, that our adoption agency has matched us with according to the criteria we desired in a child.  We then sign a letter of acceptance if we are pleased with the match and information we have received.  The process then moves forward with our intent to pursue/adopt these specific children.)  Needless to say, our acceptance letter will be mailed this morning. 

I've had a lot to share for a while now but didn't want to until everything was official.  As I begin, let me back up to some much need details that some of you may not know.  Orphan Sunday last year was the day that Gary came home and said "I'm ready to adopt and I think we need to get two boys, and you've always wanted twins so I think we should go for it."  That, of course, totally floored me, even after wanting to adopt for almost 9 years.  I really wasn't sure about "twins" but I kept an open heart.  As we mentioned to people that we would love to adopt two boys so many would respond with "wouldn't it be cool if you could get twins."  After hearing that at least 15 times we started to seriously pray about twins and I told our social worker what God was laying on our hearts.  I didn't want to seem picky but we just felt like God was saying I'm leading you to twins.

In a former post I stated that we decided to go with the new orphanage that Lifeline was partnering with - Three Angels.  On August 22nd at 11pm I decided to look at their website again for the 100th time.  (For whatever reason, until that night I had not clicked on their blog.)  As I read I fell in love with the orphanage and then I came to the April 24th post which changed my life.  It was pictures of 4 babies, 2 of which were none other than TWIN BOYS!!!  My immediate tears put Gary into a frenzy.  As he saw for himself he stood up and jumped around saying "I told you, I told you!"  After calming down I wrote our social worker, letting her know that we had seen the twins.  She had just been down to Three Angels in July so I knew she couldn't tell me about the boys for some reason.  The next day she called me to explain that she couldn't tell me, #1 because their partnership was not final and #2 because she found out that the twins had already been matched with another family.  My heart sank until her next statement "But (pause) yesterday, August 22nd, I received a call from the orphanage saying that the other family had called and felt like the Lord was calling them to one child instead of two."  The orphanage was calling that day to see if our family was still interested in twins.  (Only God could orchestrate details like that on the same exact day.)  I'll spare you the rest of the amazing conversation because needless to say I was speechless and humbled.  We had just seen the hand of God and stood in His very presence.  All I could say was "I hope my face is shining like Moses' did!"  I wish I would have taken off my flip flops.  It was one of those moments if you know what I mean.  I couldn't help but dance and sing to the top of my lungs for the rest of the day.

These precious twins are our boys.  I feel like God took me by the hand, lead me to Haiti and walked me up to this orphanage door and said here they are - the twins I laid on your heart a year ago.  He has exceeded abundantly.  He has given us the desires of our hearts.  Our request from the beginning has been two 2-3 year old boys; twins if possible.  The twins are 7 months old and will be around 2 when we get them home.  God is into details.  I'm still in awe today.  Without further delay, the moment you've all been waiting for - here they are...

The first picture is of Kelly.  The second one is of Kevenel.  We will change their names in the future.  I still can't see them without tears.  I have lots more to share but I will let there sweet faces sink in before I write more.