Blessed Beyond Measure

WE'RE EXPECTING!!!

We are so excited to tell you all that there are going to be two additions to the Lienhart house!!! Here's a bit on how it all transpired:

A few months back, I read a post on our adoption agencies web-based forum (a private forum of other waiting and adoptive families). It was from a family that had just been to Ethiopia to pick up their 12 year old daughter and had gotten to know her best friend from the orphanage - "Lydia". The post was a plea for "Lydia" and her brother "Biniam" after meeting and spending time with them. She wrote how precious and sweet Biniam was and how mature, responsible and stunningly beautiful Lydia appeared to be. They just stuck in her head and she made it her mission to find them a family when she returned to the states!

Well I read the post and my heart just broke for this woman who was clearly in distress over these particular kids. BUT never-the-less, this is not at all what we were after - no way did we need another (soon to be) teenage girl in this house and Jack definitely wants a brother closer to his age.....not a much younger brother! Oh and Katie and I really wanted a cute little girl we could dress up and play dolls with again. Although these kids did not even come close to our plan - the woman was kind enough to reach out - the least I could do was to write her back and commend her efforts and throw her a bone and ask her a few questions about the kids. So I did........she wrote back. Then three months passed.

Two weeks ago we were finally done with our homestudy process and the report was sent to our adoption agency - this meant that we could officially begin reviewing waiting child files. Of course, we are focusing in on what we believe to be the best fit for our family......a 4-6 year old "little" girl and a boy around 8-10. Well - of course there are no sibling sets within our agency that meet those criteria - NADA, NOTHING, NILL. In the back of my mind I'm thinking: there are approximately 143 million orphans out there and there is not a 5 yr old girl and 9 year old boy anywhere to be found???? Ok, alright - it is what it is - where do we go from here? Then I remembered that forum post about Lydia and Biniam........even though they were not right for our family - I sure hadn't been able to get them out of my head and had thought about them frequently over the past three months. So, I requested their profiles. I got them at the end of the day, a week ago Friday. Todd and I looked it over and were just amazed; this is what we found:

- Father was a soldier who died in battle.
- Mother died of Aids.
- They had been cared for by a teacher at their mother's church for 2 years until she could no longer do so. (probably couldn't afford food/school)
- They had never lived on the streets like so many orphans do.
- Their health reports were excellent.
- They do excellent in school - Lydia had a number of Certificates of Excellence in her file.
- They are Christians and love Jesus. They have prayed for a Christian family.
- Neither child shows aggressive behaviors and they follow directions and rules.

What they say about Biniam:
He is afraid of the dark and wild animals. He is a kindergarten student. He likes soccer and his favorite colors are yellow and red. He is an innocent and sweet boy who lost both his parents and really needs to be raised in a warm family. He has recently lost his two front teeth.

About Lydia:
She wants to become a doctor and heal suffering people. She is a polite and responsible girl. She likes to sing and her favorite color is yellow. Her favorite subject is math. She has lots of friends and is very well liked. She desperately wants to be part of a family.

We read the reports front to back..........slowly we began realizing that "OUR" plan may not be "THE" plan.........God may have something else in store for us!!!! As we sat as a family discussing Lydia and Biniam, we started to see how they might actually be a BETTER match for us: maybe it wouldn't be so good for Jack to have a brother so close in age - too much competition (school, sports, girls!!) and he is so good with little ones! With high school and sports, Katie really doesn't have time to hang out with a little sister playing barbies and she would really be able to teach a girl the art of shopping!!

During our discussion, I logged onto the forum and asked if anyone else out there knew Lydia and Biniam: with-in 10 minutes, I had TEN responses - other people and families that also thought how special and great they were! By the next morning I had 16 responses and an email from the woman who had made the initial plea - Melinda!!!!

As it turns out Melinda's family (plea writer) and her new daughter (Lydia's best friend from the orphanage) live just an hour from us in Bourbonnais!!!!!! ONE HOUR - small world huh??? We have communicated back and forth a number of times and are actually going to meet next month. (they are coming to the Tom Davis dinner)

Well - long story short......we believe THESE ARE THE KIDS GOD HAD PLANNED FOR US ALL ALONG! Even though we thought we knew what was perfect was for our family - we were so wrong - thank goodness we were listening as He quietly intervened!

This past Friday - we contacted our agency and told them our plan to pursue their adoption. We officially accepted the kids referral and they have been taken off the waiting child list. We are so excited and hopeful about Lydia and Biniam and the idea that they are soon going to be our brother, sister, daughter, son!

We will post pictures as soon as our dossier is approved. I must tell you though....they ARE just the most precious kids!!! Lydia is STUNNINGLY beautiful.....like WOW beautiful and Biniam is the cutest little guy missing a number of teeth right now...he has a sort of ornery twinkle in his eye. Can't wait to show them off!