Adoption - Pritchard's

When we came to China 5 months ago, we went to visit an orphanage here in Shiyan to hold and love on the children.  From that very first day Hannah was hooked.   It was big for her and became a regular part of her prayer life.  She would talk to us about adoption from time to time but we remember always feeling certain that 'it wasn't for us'.  Even when she would sincerely ask about us adopting, we told her that perhaps this was something that God had called her to do when she was older but not necessarily our family now.  We also told her that we didn't feel like He had called us to it.  However, this desire continued in her and only grew stronger with time even though we were no longer being allowed to visit the orphans due to regulations at the orphanage.  One day she came to us with a letter that she had written which she felt led by God to share with us.   It was a sincere, urgent plea to adopt one of the children there who had a heart condition.  She said that if she had to wait until she was old enough to adopt him he would likely be dead.  She offered to help in any and every way she could and she delivered the note to us in tears.  Realizing how deeply this had been put on her heart, we told her that we would begin seriously praying about it and be open to God's leading.  Realizing that we were now seriously praying about it, Ayden began to get a bit scared and sad.  He just wasn't sure what he thought about it and honestly, we weren't sure either.  Although it was with more feeling than thought, we had always felt certain that adoption was not a calling we had but we were now beginning to wonder if that was the case or if it was just something we didn't want to do.  After all, we had sort of "planned" out how things would go in life and this just wasn't in the plan.  But we did talk about it.  We knew that a once a year visit to an orphanage wasn't what God meant when He said  "care for the widows and the orphans", but we also knew that there were different ways of caring for someone other than adoption.  We needed clarity and we knew that we could trust God's leading and so we began praying even more earnestly.  Deryk's specific prayer (as it often is) was that God would give us all the same heart - the same desire.  Whether His answer was yes or no we wanted to all desire and have peace about the same thing.  Many things began to pop up here and there that made us think, but our feelings seemed to remain the same - however, we continued to pray.  We spent part of our Winter Break at an orphanage in Beijing, and we thought this would help fulfill Hannah's longings, but instead it simply confirmed them and now Ayden was on board!  They came to us together, and Ayden explained that God had changed his feelings; now he too felt a strong desire and excitement about adopting.  With both children now firmly convinced we knew that we needed to step up the prayers because we know that God works powerfully in the tender hearts of children.  We focused our get-togethers with Eric and Wendy on this matter, and we prayed earnestly to God.  He was starting to create a willingness and a desire for adopting within us, too, but we still had so many "what ifs" that created fear and gave us pause - like Deryk's medical history.  On Hannah's birthday as we were busy in the kitchen cooking, we decided to listen to a sermon by Francis Chan, instead of music.  Out of the 100's of sermons Francis has preached, Deryk picked one he had downloaded months ago but never listened to.  We hit play and began to work, but slowly found ourselves both making our way to the den just standing there with our mouths wide open as he addressed all the "what ifs" in life.  He was talking about being fearless and it was no coincidence that we were hearing this message - God was answering our prayers for direction!  We shared this with Eric and Wendy, who promptly listened to the sermon themselves, and then we all got together to talk and pray some more.  We felt certain that this was from Him, but I am sad to say we still felt like we needed/wanted even more confirmation (like Gideon) - I mean this was a big decision.  So we humbly asked God if He would give us a little more confirmation - I believe Wendy's prayer was "please make it as clear as the nose on the end of our face"!  Somewhere in all of this, the Davenport's found a Part 2 to the convicting sermon we had heard a few days earlier.  God's timing is so good - had we know about it all along and listened to both sermons at the same time I do not know that we would have been ready for it.    However, as we sat together and listened to Part 2 a few days later, we laughed and cried at how clearly the Lord was speaking directly to us - just like the noses on the end of our faces!  Francis Chan began talking specifically about adoption and gave an example of a family who's 11 year old daughter had come to them with a heart and calling from God to adopt.  The parents did not feel it was for them but the little girl persisted.  Some time later she came to them with a note describing the seriousness of the matter.  We couldn't believe our ears!  It was an exact reproduction of what Hannah had done.  (So exact, in fact, that Deryk asked her if she had read that story online somewhere, but she hadn't and she pointed out that, "I showed you a video, too!")  As if that were not enough, the sermon went on with many other beautiful messages, just an overflowing gift from the Lord!  He didn't have to go the extra mile - He had already answered, but He is good and He gives us more than we need because He is patient and kind and He loves us!  It was a total confirmation, a sealed deal - we are moving forward in fearlessness with the Lord and will begin the process of adoption.  We don't know what is next.  There are many doors (like laws and finances, among others) that have to be opened in order for this to happen, but we know that He is able!  If He wants the doors to continue opening, they will, and we will follow.  The first and the biggest door was the door to our hearts, and He took care of that like nothing we have ever seen - and we feel like we have seen a lot!
He is so good!
Deryk and Tiffany

Here is a link to the sermons we mentioned if you are interested in listening to them.
"Fearless, Part 1", http://vimeo.com/14354907
"Fearless, Part 2", http://vimeo.com/14535163