Lazzara Life

Micah’s story…

God placed adoption in our hearts many years ago. Adoption also holds a special place in God’s heart.  After all, He sent His Son so that we could have the opportunity to be adopted into His family.  His Son came in mercy and intervened on our behalf when we were helpless.  He bought back our empty lives.  He redeemed us from the ravages of sin.  He gives us His name.  Everything He is and has becomes ours.  He even gives us a pledge of our inheritance to come.

In April of   2009, Daddy came home from a mission trip to Brazil and knew that God had laid several things on his heart; one of them was to have another child.  I was very excited because I had been praying for you already.  This was God’s way of showing us that our family was ready to welcome another member, so we prayed very hard that He would give us wisdom and direction on how to find you.  We did a lot of research on the different types of adoption, domestic (newborn and through foster care) and international adoptions.

We had a mission trip to Uganda coming up in the summer.  We had wanted to take this trip to Uganda for several years, and it was finally time for us to go.  We thought that maybe you’d be in Uganda, East Africa?  I got on the computer and started looking at “Ugandan Adoptions”.   There weren’t a whole lot of places to choose from, since the country had only been open to international adoptions for about 2 years.  I did, however find an orphanage called Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja.  I also found out about 2 families in the US that were expecting children from Amani and I contacted them to ask about the program.  We were really excited about the possibility of finding you while we were on our trip, since we would be staying in the same town of Jinja!  We got the information on Amani in June 2009 and found an agency in FL to do our home study in the fall.  July 16-28, 2009, we went on our trip to Uganda and were SO excited that Amani Baby Cottage was only a few miles from where we were staying.   When we got there, I saw a child.  One that I thought could be you, his name was Jacob.  Once we came back from our trip, we sent our application to adopt from Amani and we inquired on this little boy.  After a few weeks, we got a call and after a very hard conversation, God closed the door.  We grieved for the loss of this little boy and accepted that this was not God’s plan.  We found another orphanage in Uganda, but they said that due to the higher number of Ugandans adopting, they would be closing international adoptions until further notice.  So now we know for certain that you are not in Uganda.

This is now early-October.  We prayed harder for God to direct us to where you are.  We thought maybe you are in Ethiopia?  We had close friends adopting from Ethiopia and knew that there were so many orphans in need of forever families, so we started looking for adoption agencies that place Ethiopian children.  We started collecting everything for our home study, which would take place in January.  We decided on an agency called “All God’s Children International”, we knew of a few families who had used them and were excited to get started.  They sent us a really big packet of information and application, so we got started!  We spent the next 8 weeks collecting information for our home study as well as information for the agency.  In the mean time, I read a book called “The Strength of Mercy” which came in our AGCI packet.  In December, we submitted our Pre-application to AGCI, a few days later we got another devastating call.  We did not qualify for the Ethiopia program because we didn’t meet some of the criteria that need to be met through immigration.  God showed us that you are not in Ethiopia either…  I kept reading the book I got in the packet from AGCI and many things stuck out to me.  One thing in particular was, “I showed you one…  to give you another.  Trust Me.  You don’t have time to grieve over this.  If you do, you’ll miss the child I have for you.  I promise in the end you will see and understand.”

One night at dinner in December of 2009, we as a family chose a name for you.  Micah.  A verse that we love from the book of Micah helped us decide that this would be your name.

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, 
 I wait for God my Savior; 
 my God will hear me.

Our home study was set up for January 9, 2010.  We had a great experience and were excited to now explore domestic adoption, since International was not where God was leading us.  We signed with Hope For Families adoptions and prayed for clear direction.  We knew that the Lord wanted us to pursue an older child, not a newborn.  We enrolled in the Lost Children of Florida program with our agency and were expecting to have a match by summer 2010.  Our criteria were “boy, under 2, with mild special needs”.  The goal with the Lost Children program is to work as an intervention for children taken from their families and placed with adoptive families instead of being “lost” in the foster care system.  This was a new program, but our agency had high hopes that they could work with the state and some local lawyers to find children & get them placed into families.

For months, we waited with no word.  We called or emailed several times a month to see if they’d found a child. While we waited, I grew increasingly aware of the fact that the waiting was probably my least favorite thing to do.  Speed has always been my operative word.  If anyone could come up with a way to do something faster, it was I.  Why do slow when you could do fast?  This time, however, there was no shortcut.  No easy way.  No quick answer.  In the silence, all we could do was wait.

We waited and waited and prayed, “Lord, if we’re not in your will, show us, until then, hold him, hold him for us until we can find him.”  We started looking at adoption websites for children that were waiting for families in the US, and realized that a “boy under 2 with mild special needs” did not exist.  What is adoptable in the US, are older children, sibling groups and children with mild/moderate/severe special needs.  So was asked God what should we do?  It’s been almost 12 months and no word.  December 2, 2010 we speak with our agency and dual enroll in their Interstate Program as well as Lost Children.  With dual enrollment, we received a lot of websites to search to find you; we also expanded our search to include boys under 4, with mild/moderate special needs and sibling groups of maximum 2 children.  Early January our agency calls to say that our home study is going to expire soon and we have to have it updated.  So we started working on it and the goal was to have everything ready by February 1^, 2011.

We were always very open with our friends and family about our adoption and how things were going & one of our good friends was asking if we would ever consider being foster parents.  Fostering is not something we are able to do, we want you forever.  The idea of having you for a short time and then maybe having to give you back to your birth parents is something that we would not be able to do.  We love you way too much!  She said that she had worked with foster families before and was just curious if that’s something we’d be open to…

Mid-January 2010 we were at a bon-fire with some of our closest friends, when our same friend mentioned above, was telling me about one the children she works with.  She does therapy on a little boy, who just turned 2 and lives with his foster family nearby.  She was doing therapy this week and heard his foster mother on the phone saying that he was up to be matched in 2 weeks.  She told us this at the bon-fire and I asked her if she would be able to get the caseworkers’ phone number for me so we could call and see if we could be considered to adopt him.  On January 24, 2011, I speak to his caseworker and ask if she will take a look at our home study and see if we can inquire on this little one.  She emails me back and says, “can I call you in a few days to discuss his history?”  I say, “YES!”  On Thursday, January 27^th, she calls and gives me a little background history as well as a list of medical issues, there was a list of about 5 things, medically, and I had NO IDEA what 2 of them were.  She then says, “Are you still interested after hearing all of this?” I say, “YES!” She said that he had been diagnosed with ……  Next I get on my computer and look up the things I didn’t know what they were and cried.

I emailed the case worker to see if she could get his medical records and see exactly what we were dealing with.  We prayed and prayed that is was not serious and that we would be able to overcome ANY obstacles that lay ahead of us.  Meanwhile, she says that we are candidates and that the match meeting will be held on Wednesday February 2, 2011!  We were excited, yet afraid of this medical condition.  On Tuesday February 1, 2011, I get a reply from his case worker regarding the medical records.  She says, “I just spoke to the nurse who spoke with the doctor.  I have confirmed that through all of the testing completed, none of the results have diagnosed him with…  The nurse stated that he does possess some of the features but the testing results do not prove that he has…  He will continue to receive testing.”  PRAISE GOD!!!!!

The Lord answered our prayers and we were not afraid to be matched.  But I still held close the phrases in the book I had read.  The notes I took were things that mattered to me one year ago and God was clearly using those words to minister to me at this time.  This is what it read… “My holy hand of protection hangs over this child.  You have been chosen and called for such a time as this.  Be persistent and do not be distracted by other people’s opinions.  Walk in faith believing that I have a plan.  I will make a way where there is no way, a path where there is no path.  Obedience is better than sacrifice.  Will you dare to live dangerously?  Will you trust Me completely to do only what will ultimately be the best for you and your family?  I see the cries.  I will take you a new direction and many lives will be touched as a direct result of your obedience.  Remember, as you have done into the least of these My brethren, you have done unto Me.”

THIS ensured me beyond any doubt I had, that if we were a match, THIS is the child that God’s been holding onto for us.  I said earlier that I prayed, “Lord, hold him, hold him for us until we can find him.”

February 2 came quickly.  That day I had a lot of anxiety!  Will we be the match? Will the match committee like us?  The wait was awful!  The meeting was to take place at 1:30; I found out that we were the ONLY family to be presented (usually there are 3).  A conference call was held so that our agency could be on the line to present us to the match committee.  They called several times to answer questions that the committee had for us and we waited.  At 3:30, our agency called to say that it went very well, it was a great discussion and he thinks it went great.  He also said that there are a lot of people in the conference room.  He said that it’s usually 10 people or less, but there were 20 people on the committee!  Then he said that they were going to take a vote and he would call us with the decision.  FINALLY at 4:52, he called and said that WE WERE A MATCH!   I later found out that NOT ONE committee member said “no”; they were unanimous in matching us with him!

Our journey has been fully orchestrated by God.  We prayed for His will to be done and to bring us the child that He had intended.  He led us all over the world to find our son, but in the end, this precious child of God, has been living less than 4 miles from our front door, with a godly foster mother, who loves him very much.

Haley, Lorin and Avery were birthed into this world from my body.  Micah has been birthed into our family and hearts by the Heavenly Father.  All had been destined by God to be part of our family.

There are a few more steps to our adoption that will happen, but they don’t matter as far as this story is concerned.  I wanted to document the journey to Micah, HE IS FOUND!  Praise the Lord.

There will be a “full disclosure” meeting soon, and we WILL “formally accept” him as our son.  Then we will start with transitioning him into our family, in time we will go to court to make it official on paper.

Throughout this entire process, the Lord told us to keep strong in pursuing Him, trust in Him, the journey MUST continue to fulfill the plan I have for you and for Micah.

This poem was at the end of “The Strength of Mercy”, a book I got from AGCI.  God knew we wouldn’t adopt from Ethiopia, but He knew I needed this book included in their packet.

“The Journey Must Continue”

Although the good-byes don’t get easier, and the road never lighter, the journey must continue.

When days seem long and tiring, and the nights restless, the journey must continue.

When I see no light at the end of the present tunnel, and the future seems frightening, the journey must continue.

When my heart is left from place to place and tears mark a well-traveled path, the journey must continue.

When my body is weak from travel and I feel like my next step will be my last, the journey must continue.

When good memories come to mind, pulling me from my present goals and pushing me to dwell in the past, the journey must continue.

For God has not sent me on this journey to retreat in time of trouble or stay planted in a place of comfort, but to press on with a heart to serve, love to share, and strength to continue for His glory!  The journey must continue!

Here he is!!