Hope

Oh how I have hoped for this day! I am not sure how else to begin this post than just to get straight to our news:

THERE IS A BABY.

Niles and I received an email yesterday from the director of our agency passing along information (from another agency) about a baby girl in Charleston that needed a family.

Here is what we know:

·        She was born last Wednesday, June 13^th, at MUSC in Charleston.

·        She weighed 7lbs 4 ounces at birth.

·        When she was born there were medical complications and she had to be resuscitated.

·        It is possible that during and after delivery this baby’s brain was injured- we are not yet sure if this is the case nor to what extent.

·         She is in serious but stable condition in the NICU of MUSC.

We also know that her mother made a selfless and loving decision to surrender her parental rights at the hospital.

Before she surrendered her rights, she named the baby...

Hope.

Hope.  Of all the names in the world this sweet baby girl could receive… apart from maybe “Ruth”the name “Hope” could NOT have spoken any louder to us. 

Just last weekPastor Skip preached from 1 Samuel 10 in a sermon entitled

“God, Signs and Confirmations” (I encourage you to listen to it!)…

In this Sermon Skip taught us about the way “God Calls” his people, then gives signs of confirmation and then empowers them to do what He has called them to do.  (God has great timing- don't you think? J)

Lets just say that the Lord gave us sign after sign after sign yesterday! 

I want to share some of these with you in the hope that your faith will grow as our has!

·        The baby’s name is Hope.

·        The placement fee (money due to the agency at the time of placement) is the EXACT amount we have raised to date.

·        After Niles heard the news of baby Hope he went to a Godly friend and co-worker to ask her to pray.  When he gave her the information of Hope’sbirth she said “we share the same birthday!”

·        I received a letter, just 30 minutes prior to our news, from a young lady that said she hoped our Ruthie would be in our arms“sooner rather than later” and her last name HAPPENS TO BE Hope.

·        Baby Hope is to be discharged from the Hospital just days after Niles’s summer bonus hits our account which will cover all of our expected legal fees.

·        The entire time I was on the phone outside with the agency, attorney, friends/family (at least 3 hours!) I was SURROUNDED by butterflies.  Seriously, they were everywhere.

·        When Niles and I sat down last evening to write down some of these “signs” this song came on our Pandora station

And the list goes on and on! We are so grateful that our Father has shown us so clearly what our next step should be- we are pursuing this little girl and praying that she will join our family!

So now what happens?

Now, again, we wait.

We wait for the agency to receive our adoption portfolio as well as our approved home study (tomorrow morning). 

Then, we wait for the agency- here is a part of an email from them: 
We are in the process now of collecting home studies & portfolios from families that are seriously interested &committed to following through with adopting this little girl, should they be chosen.  Our goal is to find the very best family for her that is equipped to deal with any special needs that she may have.  I anticipate that we will make decision on this within a week or less.

So we wait.  And we hope.  And we wait some more.

We desire for baby Hope to join our family and become Ruth Hope Ferguson.  Our greatest desire is for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. 

Amen.