APRIL 24TH IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE!!!!!

it all started in l983.....during my prayer time with the Lord, out of the blue,...I heard Him say that we were to adopt a little baby girl from Korea. Immediately I saw a vision of myself sitting in the basement of St. Teresa's church, probably in second or third grade, watching a movie about an orphanage in Asia, and saying to myself....when I get old enough, I am going to adopt one of these babies.....
I had not thought of that day since, except the vision was so clear, it was like I was there again...I knew without a shadow of a doubt the Lord had spoken to me....

However,I wasn't so sure how brian was going to react when I told him. We had not talked about having more children....and never about adoption.....So i waited for the opportune time, and proceeded to tell him how I heard from God, the vision, etc. He was not very receptive at first....but I told him that he should pray, that if it's from God, the Lord will show him too.....I don't remember exactly how long it took, but sure enough the Lord confirmed to Brian that it was Him that spoke and it was His will....

We attended some meetings of the group Families Interested in Adoption to find out how you go about finding an agency, what is involved in adopting a child, esp. from overseas....In Jan, l984 we filled a pre-application, and in April l984, we completed and filed our formal application. We picked an agency that was based in NY state.

As it should be, adopting a child is no easy process....there were physicals we both had to have, copies of everything, including HS report cards, certificates of employment, etc. We both had to individually write an autobiography to submit along with all the paperwork.... written references, Drs. approval, pages of questions we had to answer...a caseworker coming to our home and personally accessing our ability to provide a good home...

If we hadn't heard from the Lord, this whole adoption procedure would have been discouraging.....3 mos. after our first child, Nicole, was born....I was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis....The Dr. came right out and said that he could not recommend me to be able to physically take care of an infant, child, being the nature of the disease, and not knowing what the future had in store for me physically....that we should not get our hopes up. That seemed liked strike one against us....but we were not discouraged, we told the Dr. that we knew we heard from God, and that my diagnosis was not going to stop us from adopting. Even our pastor, who met with us and was giving the agency a character reference, was not real encouraging and told us that we should say just what is required, nothing more, so as not to give them and the devil, any other reasons to cause this adoption not to happen.

However, after praying, I decided that in my autobiography, I was going to tell all...of how I heard from the Lord about adopting, the vision, everything.... how I was diagnosed with MS and was trusting God as my healer.....and how as a family, we
desired to trust God for everything, and dedicated our lives to be a witness and a testimony for Him.

We submitted all the paperwork...and was told that it would take at least l2 weeks...
after about 8 weeks, I felt, in prayer, that we would hear sooner, so I wrote out an arrival announcement. That afternoon, the case worker calls saying we were approved and she has a photo for us.....We were elated! and praised God for the miracle that He had performed to accomplish His will for our family. How awesome is our God?... it turns out that the agency we picked was a christian based one, one that also cared very much about the spiritual welfare of the child....we did not know that until after we were approved!...It turned out that us being honest and sharing about the Lord, was probably the key factor in them approving us, in spite of the MS diagnosis.

After being accepted, there were a few more obstacles...Korea decided not to renew the agencies license in NY....so another agency took over, one that was based in Oklahoma....just a temporary setback....took a few months longer than it
was originally planned.

We had prayed that "Lord, whatever baby you have for us, in spite of backround, physical condition, etc.....which ever one the agency first picks for us, we will trust that she is the one you have picked for us"....so when we were given the picture of KIM, Yeon Hee, from Soul Korea who was born on l/6/85 for approval....we knew she was the one that was to be a part of our family....and our
hearts were bursting with love for her.

If you have a biological child....waiting 9 mos. during pregnancy is sometimes difficult....well
adopting a child, I believe is worse, it was like being pregnant for well over a year.... from the time you apply and the time your child comes home....

Finally we are told she will be coming on April 24th....We travel to New York City, where she will be arriving along with some other babies that were to be adopted. Because their flight was very late, we literally had to sign the papers, grab Jodi(daddy had picked out the name) and run to catch our flight back to Buffalo.....
We just made it....sit down in our seats, and for the first time really get to look at our beautiful new baby girl.....she had 2 sets of clothes on, and because she was used to the formula given in Korea, we were advised to give her soy milk....I take out the bottle and put the nipple in her mouth...and she has this look like she is going to scream....but then decided it wasn't so bad, and started drinking the bottle without a fuss....we both were very relieved!

We were met at the airport in Buffalo by family and friends.....what a joyful celebration it was, balloons and laughter. Jodi was a bit overwhelmed by all this attention, but she never cried....just looked at everyone with her beautiful black eyes. Her big sister Nicole was so excited to meet this baby sister she had been waiting for, and her grandpa, to this day, still boasts that he was the only one who could make her smile that night. We were so thankful that she was finally home to be with the family the Lord had destined for her to be a part of....

The arrival announcement I wrote read:

"With Great Joy and Thanksgiving
We welcome to Our Family
Jodi Kim
(Kim, Yeon Hee)

Jodi was born on January 6, l985
In Chollanam-do, South Korea

We praise and thank God for putting
the desire in our hearts to adopt her,
and for the miracle he performed to
make the desire a reality.
Our Blessings Overflow!

HAPPY ARRIVAL DAY JODI!!!! WE THANK GOD FOR THE GIFT OF YOU!!!!!