Dear A Child Waits Foundation,
Our
adoption journey actually began in June of2001. We traveled to Kazakhstan for
our first two children in January of 2002. Our son, Nikolas, is now 5 years old
and our daughter, Haydn, is now 4 years old. We never dreamed we would be able
to travel again, but always believed that if we were able to do so, we would adopt
a child with special needs.
In June,
of 2004, that child made her beautiful presence known. We had actually been praying
for this child for quite sometime. Our adoption coordinator told us of a little
girl with no legs and no right forearm that she had met while visiting Kazakhstan.
Her photos touched our hearts and made us long to be able to adopt again, but
the timing was not there. Nik was barely three and Haydn barely 2. We could not
leave them for a month and we certainly couldn't imagine taking them.
We
prayed for Nazira ' s family to find her . . . twice we all believed they had
and then that fateful June morning, as I looked at the WPA website, there was
her sweet little face. Suddenly, we knew . . . (ok, I knew . . . Mike would still
need some time to adjust to the idea of three under 6!) We learned that twice
families had believed her to be their daughter and twice, at the last moment hearts
changed. We believe God was behind those heart changes because He knew Nazira
was meant for our family.
We have been home for two months and Ryanne Nazirah is thriving. She is 2 ½ now and she is such a sweet little girl. She adores her big brother and sister and that feeling is mutual. She loves snuggling with Mama and wrestling with Papa. A Child Waits was an answer to our prayers. We don't quite know how to say Thank You! There were moments when we did not believe we would ever get to bring Ryanne home. Just days before our travel dates came in, Mike was in the hospital with a rejection of a kidney/pancreas transplant he had had five years ago. After many tense days, it was determined that the pancreas had failed, but the kidney was just fine! We thank the lord for this miracle. We could travel to Kazakhstan with diabetes; however, we could not travel with dialysis!
Thanks
to A Child Waits, lots of fundraising and some wonderful churches and friends,
our whole family was able to make the month long trip to Kazakhstan and what a
blessing to each of us this was. Nikolas and Haydn saw their birth country and
made many friends. Mike and I didn't have to worry about their well being since
my mom came along to help with the children and meet our newest addition. Ryanne
got to know her brother and sister from the beginning and we believe this helped
her transition a great deal.
Now, we move on. Ryanne will be evaluated very soon
for prosthetic legs and a wheelchair to meet her needs and her new Papa will be
getting listed for a new pancreas transplant. Through Ryanne and her Papa, everyone
else has learned that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that gets in the way
of what the Lord has planned. Thank you for your help in making this miracle possible
for us and so many other precious families.
Sincerely,
Mike, Katrina, Nikolas, Haydn, Ryanne Carr