Sign Posts along the way!

Stephanie Fast

when she first came home

as a Korean orphan.

Friendly note: In case you think by our earlier post that people should not be adopting from Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, or Uganda; please let us reiterate in this post that we believe South Korea is the country that God has for our family at this time. We don't want to discourage anyone from checking out other programs which may be a better fit for your family!

"Dear God; if You have a child who is waiting to be loved in a forever family, please bring them to us; or lead us to them!" - a friend encouraged us to pray this prayer at the start of our adoption journey!

I walk by faith but pray for "sign posts" along the way... These "spiritual mile markers" bolster my confidence while traveling an unfamiliar path; kind of like a gentle nudge from my Shepherd, reminding me that He's on this adventure with me, and that I should keep walking in this way! 

While this is not a complete list of "sign posts" (our adoption journey is far from over!) they did serve as confirmations, especially in the early stages of our adoption, that yes, South Korea was the country where God has a child waiting for us to be his or her forever family!

Luke's first cousin married a Korean man. He was such a strong man of God; a teacher with a servant's heart. We all loved his smile and his humor; he was a wonderful addition to our family. 

Tragically, he passed away in his early 30s; just a few years into their marriage, from a rare form of cancer. He left behind Luke's beautiful cousin and 2 precious children who strongly favor their Korean ancestry.

One of the things told to us as perspective international adoptive parents, is the importance of preserving our child's culture. Having Korean family members from the start, brings their culture so much closer to home!

Shortly after our decision to adopt, at the suggestion of a friend actively involved in orphan care ministry, we looked into Holt International. Holt International is a 60 year-old child services program; the first, in fact to make the rest of the world aware of the plight of orphans in Korea, following the Korean War and many other conflicts in that region.

Holt has been a fabulous! From the moment we started our paperwork and processing with them, doors begin to open so readily ... their staff has been so helpful and thoughtful and things have gone so smoothly ... it's been a real peace and answer to prayer.

We first heard about Stephanie Fast when a friend loaned us her DVD copy of Stephanie's testimony "She is Mine". Stephanie was an orphan from Korea; her father was an American serviceman during the war and her mother had no choice but to abandon her as the aftermath of that conflict ravaged their country.

To say that this woman's testimony is powerful, is an understatement of the year. Luke and I sat watching with tears as she told her incredible story of God leading her out of that war-torn country and placing her in a loving family where she thrived and grew to love the Lord and serve Him with her whole heart! 

A friend asked if we wanted to volunteer with their family at Winter Jam. Holt International is one of the sponsors of Winter Jam, bringing awareness to orphans and vulnerable children around the world through their child sponsorship program. 

Volunteering meant we wore a Holt apron filled with envelopes that had the names and faces of children from around the world who needed child sponsorship. Our job was to walk around during the intermission and urge people to consider child sponsorship.

(We were also able to arrive early and pick whatever seats we wanted in the house! Front row seats to watch For King & Country, Matthew West, New Song, & Lauren Daigle anyone?!)

A couple days before the concert, I found out who the guest speaker was going to be this year: yep; it was Stephanie Fast!

After the intermission when the concert begin again, I got lost in the throngs of people walking through the outer corridor around the Event Center. Being only 5 foot tall, this is not an uncommon occurrence for me ... but I was starting to feel a bit panicky and claustrophobic! When I finally saw an opening and broke through the crowd of people, I was standing right in front of Stephanie Fast!

She was sitting quietly behind her table ... there was no one in line ... she had finished her intermission message and was taking a break. I sprinted toward her and she stood up with the warmest smile on her face.

Stephanie Fast

"Oh, Stephanie I'm so thrilled I get to meet you! I thought I was going to be trampled in that crowd!! My husband and I just watched your documentary,...we were moved to tears... we just started our Korean adoption through Holt!" 

My words tumbled out over one another as she embraced me tightly and whispered in my ear "Bless you!" and shoved one of her books in my hand.

"Oh, I definately want to buy this," I blurted. "Can you please sign it for me!"

"Oh no," she insisted. "This is my gift!" and she signed a copy of "She is Mine" to me and Luke.

I was beaming when I walked back to meet up with the others ... happy to tell them that I had met my new-found adoption hero, and chalked it up as another signpost along our journey!

Luke had attended the International Justice Mission Global Prayer Gathering in 2015 and after being so impacted by the event, bought me a ticket to attend with him in Spring of 2016! We flew to Washington D.C. the end of April 2016 for a 4-day weekend where we also enjoyed catching up with friends who live in the D.C. area. 

We spent 2 days before the event seeing historic sites and touring the Smithsonian Museums on the National Mall. When we went into the Museum of Natural History (the one featured in the film "Night at the Museum"), we were surprised to find a country exhibit on the second floor. Can you guess which country was featured?

"Oh, Luke! Let's go through the Korea one, first!" I was very excited, but clueless; till Luke informed me that it's a traveling exhibit and Korea was the only country exhibit featured in the museum that weekend. 

There was no doubt in my mind that God had given me another special sign post along the journey - for what else could explain how we "stumbled" onto the Korea exhibit in the short time window we spent in D.C.?? 

As we looked through the exhibit and realized what a rich culture and beautiful heritage our child would have, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I told Luke, "I almost feel guilty for taking them out of their home country..."

Adoption is always second-best to children staying in their original families in the land of their birth... no matter how much we love our child, we cannot fully replace any of that. Viewing the Korea exhibit made me much more committed to preserving as much of our child's culture as we can and to teaching them about their heritage. 

There have been many more "sign posts" along our journey... some of them may seem silly, but they all meant something to me!

When we traveled up to Naperville to get our photos and finger printing done for the FBI, my officer was surprised to see that we were Americans (probably the only Americans in an out-the-door line of immigrants). She was further interested to hear we were adopting from Korea and instantly said, "an-nyeong-ha-se-yo" (in Hangul: 안녕하세요) which is "Hello!"

At this point, I'd seen enough sign posts from God to come to expect them along the journey... so I immediately started laughing. Luke stuck his head around the partition where he was being printed and I said, "Of course, Luke. She's speaking Korean to me!"
I kept laughing, when Luke's not-as-friendly-officer barked at him, "Sir; please stand on the line!" and his head quickly disappeared.

The officer in charge of me had lived in Korea for a time and taught me the phrase. She mentioned a Korean Grocery Store not far from the office called Super H Mart. So, of course, we went! 

We bought some bamboo trivets made in Seoul, South Korea, for the grammies to use as reminders to pray for their future grandbaby (as if they needed a reminder! They're already so excited they can hardly stand the wait!) We bought some chop sticks to learn with, and some delicious produce we've never seen before: Korean Melon and Lycee. 

I continue to be amazed by the way that my God cares so supremely for us! He looks after every detail and surprises us with glimpses of His loving preparation of our 5th child. 

There's a Korean church literally a block (one block, people) away from our house. On Saturday afternoons they have a Korean cultural school that is open to the public where they teach Hangul (Korean lettering), spoken language, customs and celebrate the holidays. We can walk or bike ride to this church for services, cultural classes or special events as a family to preserve our child's heritage. 

Isn't our God incredible? He cares about every detail... He's carefully putting into place everything our precious baby will need when he or she makes their debut in America!