In The Beginning
My wonderful husband Tim and I met and married 27 years ago. We lived coast to coast with the Navy, and having 2 daughters, we finally settled back to live our life in my old home town. Our confidence in our family of 4 was so solid, we made it permanent. We then decided we could concentrate on our careers and our family and live happily-ever-after.....Oh how young we were!
Life - All Figured Out....NOT
Several years later we humbly agreed we made a mistake, one we were told could not be reversed. We chose to research domestic adoption. After contacting several agencies, we were told since we had biological children, we would be placed on the bottom of the list and the wait for a healthy infant child could be up to 10 years, at which time we would be "too old" to adopt. We placed adoption out of our mind...for a while.
Permanent - Who Says??
In 1997 we committed to make the financial leap to try and reverse our early "permanent" decision. During surgery, they found it impossible, if fact, after surgery, our doctor said we were now candidates for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Two years of treatment, one failed, and we were blessed with a healthy baby girl. After this, because of complications, it was made permanently permanent, no more children....so we thought.
God Planting The Seed
In 2003, God placed us in our awesome church family. Here we found what we had been seeking....Jesus. After a few years we endeavored to look into adoption again, but this time international. We were drawn to Guatemala. In 2007, just when we found an agency, the borders to Guatemala were closed.....and still are.
God Tilling Our Garden
Over the last few years there have been several families that have adopted domestically and internationally. Some from Guatemala (before borders closed), Kazakhstan and China. We have been given the honor of watching these beautiful children thrive in their "forever" families and also be a part of sharing Jesus with them by being their Sunday School & Children's Church teachers. There are quite a few that LOVE Tim & call him Mr. Tim. These children have so touched our heart we made the decision, as a family, to go on mission to China earlier this year to assist at 3 orphanages.
God Growing Our Seed
Many friends & family teased us about how many children we were going to bring back. I was very adamant that there would be NONE. However, my trusting, loving husband, chastised me and said, "You have no idea what God has planned for us once we get over there, you can never say never, especially if adopting a child is what He has called us to do." He had the Faith and I have been humbled. To read about our mission trip to China, please go to www.verbekefamilyonmission.blogspot.com
Being Faithful
Current day....We came back from China with a renewed life, one of unity and purpose, to adopt a child from China, one with special needs, one that God chooses for our family and we will be so blessed to call our own. Many family friends just laugh and said, quote, "We knew you'd be adopting, we just didn't know how many!".
So begins our journey......
