Meet Martha Grace Courcelle!

Meet Martha Grace Courcelle!

Martha Grace Courcelle , July 1, 2014

 

 Here she is!!  Martha Grace Courcelle!! 

 

     We have had her darling little photo since November when we accepted the referral for her adoption.  Now that we have  "passed court" we are able to share her photos with you! 

 

     First off, here are some adorable pictures taken in March.  Mitin from the adoption agency took these photos.  She mentioned that Martha was so active that it was difficult to get her to stop long enough for a good shot.  We think she did great!  Look at these!  Don't you just want to eat her up?!



 

 

 

   These next photographs are from our first day visiting Martha in her orphanage.  We were so excited to finally meet her!  She was quite stunned...and we were a bit concerned that there was something wrong.  That is until Brian picked her us and she immediately fell asleep on his shoulder. She was exhausted!  We think that she was either woken from a nap or was taking some cold medicine that was making her tired.  Either way, once she fell asleep we placed her in her crib and she stayed snoozing.  She truly was fast asleep. 

 

Here we are showing her a photo of her new family with her brothers.  You can see by her face that she was a bit stunned.  In the bottom right photo you can see how she could barely stand up because she was so tired...bless her little heart...

 

 

One, two, three...and she's out.  What a sweetie!



 

This visit was short...but we were able to go back the next day and see a new side to our girl.  Don't worry...we will tell you about that in the following posts.)  She sure is a sweetheart!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

What Do the Boys Think? Part 2: Andrew

  But I Don't Want an Orphan!

So What Do the Boys Think?  Part 2: Andrew

Andrew in the winter of 2012 holding his hermit crab named "Butterfly"

 

    So what do the boys think of all of this?  Are they excited about the adoption? This is the single most asked question we get. The last post was William's part of our story. This time we will talk about how Andrew has felt about it.

    In February of 2012 we made the decision to take the first steps in our adoption process. We prayed about how to share the news with the boys, not knowing how they might feel about it and wanting to communicate our plans in a positive way. Similar to the day when William shared with us his heart for adopting, it was a Sunday after church and we sat around the lunch table. We told them about the Lord's call for our family to adopt and explained that we were starting the process of bringing a little brother or sister into the family. As we had expected, the information was a bit overwhelming for them. It hit Andrew the hardest; his reaction was priceless.
     "But...I don't want an orphan!"
     We smile when we think about that response now.  His was being honest...and we appreciated that he could tell us how he felt! As the younger brother, as well as being the youngest boy on a block of many competitive kids, I am sure that Andrew's first thought was that he would have yet another kid to be measured up against.  How can we blame him for feeling that way? (Incidentally, these feelings were a contributing factor in our adopting a girl.)
    One evening, while Brian was out-of-town, Andrew had a particularly difficult night.  He was in an angry mood and was telling Molly and William that he did not want a little sister...that he would throw all of her dolls out of the window when she comes. In that moment the Lord was gracious to give Molly the words to say that uncovered the root of Andrew's anger. Andrew shared with her how he was afraid that he was being replaced!  He told her how he thought we were adopting because we wanted a good little girl...instead of him. How heartbreaking! 
     Thankfully that conversation led to some very important talks about the love we have for Andrew. We explained how we will never want to replace him--that he was our special gift from God and that he will always be "our Andrew." (Recently he asked if he could say the bedtime prayers and he said, "Dear God, thank you for the gift that I am to Mom and Dad." We are happy that our words have sunken in!) We explained how we will certainly love Martha very much...but that our great love for him will not change. If anything, our love will grow as our family grows, just like it did when he was born.
    We are happy to now say that Andrew may be, of all of us, the most excited about the adoption!  The Lord has really been preparing his heart for his little sister. Andrew has a great empathy for Martha, telling us how it makes him sad to think of her as abandoned and without a family. He finds stuffed animals and board books and has started a collection of toys to give to Martha.  It is beautiful to see the change that has taken place in Andrew...and we know that it is the result of prayer.



Miles Greene, a sweet friend of Andrew's, April 2014

     We cannot leave out one other sweet gift that the Lord has given to Andrew during this journey.  He has introduced Andrew to younger children that he adores. Most notably is his precious young friend named Miles Greene. As the Lord would have it, Andrew met Miles one evening when we were at the airport welcoming home an adopted little boy named Edson Rinehart (whom you will hear about in a future post.) During the wait Andrew and Miles played peek-a-boo up and down the rows of chairs. It was Andrew's greatest delight to make Miles laugh...he was tireless in his efforts (and Miles was generous with his giggles!) Because of this adorable relationship we are able to truthfully tell Andrew that he is great with little kids. What a joy it is to hear him repeat our praises and say he is going to be a great big brother. We have no doubt! (Praise be to God!)
 

 

What do your boys think? Part 1: William

So what do the boys think?  Part 1: William

Andrew and William in 2011 (5K and 2nd Grade)

    

   There is one question that people often ask when they find out about our upcoming adoption and we thought we would try to answer it. That question? "So, what do your boys think about all of this?" 

    Let us start by telling you the following story.  As previously described, the Lord was clear in His calling for our family to adopt.  Molly saw it on that first day in 2011 and we both continue to see it, especially now that we hold precious photographs of our chubby cheeked little girl.  (However, do not think that we have not had doubts!  There are many days, usually amid two kids pitching giant fits, when we ask ourselves if we have lost our minds.)  On that memorable October Sunday we drove home from church a bit quiet. Once home and away from the children we were able to discuss what Molly had experienced.
    "Brian!  You will not believe what the Lord is calling our family to do!  Did you hear Troy at the end of class today?  There is a subject that The Lord will not stop whispering to me about. I know that He is calling us to action."
      Brian's response was quick.  "You don't even have to tell me what it is.  It is adoption. You have been talking about the subject for weeks." 
     "Yes, Brian...but adoption by other people," she said, "I never thought the Lord would ask US!"

      Overwhelmed and still trying to process what was happening in our hearts, we prepared lunch and began to sit down for our meal. William began to speak, seemingly out of nowhere.
     "Mom and Dad?" he said. "I've been thinking.  I really think that our family ought to adopt an orphan.  After all, we have a lot of love to give." 
     Needless to say we were blown away, especially given the timing of it all.  After giving each other a wide-eyed glance we told him we would certainly pray about it.  And we certainly would!

     
 



Andrew and William in 2011 with our beloved dog Jack



 

 




 

    

   

 



Our Adoption Timeline

     "God has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from the beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live."  Ecclesiastes 3:11-12



Timeline

(photo courtesy of the Artist Geek)





      We have much more to write about for this blog, however we thought that it might be interesting to first show a timeline of our journey so far.  Below is the string of events that have kept us very busy over the last few years  Thankfully Brian thrives on detail and he was excited by the challenge of the mountains of paperwork and correspondence. 
    
     This is a summary of some of the more major events:

 

October 2011               We recognize the Lord’s calling for the family to adopt

 

February 2012              We make the decision to pursue adoption

February 2012              We are interviewed for our (first) homestudy

March  2012                  We choose our country, Ghana, Africa, and our agency, AAI

April  2012                      Our homestudy is approved by agency, put on list as a “waiting family”

October   2012               Ghana program slows considerably as the coordinator of the program quits

 

February 2013             Called about a needy child in Uganda; we decide to accept a referral for the child

March 2013                  Our referral is terminated when a distant relative appears and agrees to    take care of child

April  2013                    We switch within our agency to the Ethiopia program

We do a second homestudy interview (required due to switching to Ethiopia)

May 2013                      Our updated homestudy is approved

July 2013                       We prepare and submit a new dossier for Ethiopia

November 2013           We received a child referral (15 month old girl named Martha)

November/December  We officially accept the referral and compile the needed paperwork

 

January 2014               We submit our PAIR process documentation to USCIS

February  2014            We receive notice from USCIS that our PAIR interview process was beginning at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa

March 2014                  Our adoption agency announces that it has closed, requiring us to transfer to another adoption agency

We began to transfer all of our paperwork, submit an application to the new agency, and have our homestudy amended

We receive our first update on Martha (aka ‘Marti’)

Next steps                     Our case is filed to begin the court process.   We await official PAIR process approval by the US Embassy and USCIS.  We will then be scheduled to appear in court, our first of two visits, in May or June (although nothing is certain with international adoption) which will be our first trip. The second trip will be scheduled next to bring Martha home, hopefully late summer or early fall. 

Our call from the beginning, Part II: The people and families He used to open our hearts and minds: Troy McNeill

Our call from the beginning, Part II:

  The people and families He used to open our hearts and minds: 

Troy McNeill

 

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."  Hebrews 10:24

 

     It is difficult to talk about our adoption journey without mentioning the very day that we felt the call to adopt. We had attended the main worship service at our church, Biltmore Baptist in Arden, NC. It was a special day, Global Sunday, raising awareness for the needs of people worldwide, specifically Kenya and Guatemala where our church serves. After a powerful service we went on to our connect group where Troy McNeill was our teacher that day.  Quite honestly, neither of us remember the specific topic of his teaching--and that is because of what happened at the end of his lesson.  (Let us interject that the way Troy spoke to us that day was very unique. We had neither heard Troy or any of our leaders speak like this and have not since. The Lord was at work...and it was a powerful thing!) Led by the Holy Spirit, Troy started to very loosely and candidly speak about how the Lord was working in his life. Being Global Sunday, partnered with the fact that his sister-in-law was about to do mission work in Zimbabwe, Troy was feeling the Lord heavily lay Africa on his heart, bringing it up to him over and over again.  He had been moved by the church service and moved by the Lord's still small, yet persistent voice.

     And this is when it gets good. After sharing the Lord's stirrings Troy turned his attention to all of us. "I know that there is someone here who has been getting a message like this...that God has been putting a particular place or a specific subject into your life and continues to bring it up. Have you considered...that God is CALLING you to something?"

     Molly instantly knew he was talking about us. It was adoption. The Lord was calling us to adopt.

"Pure religion is this: that you look after orphans and widows in their distress and you remain unstained from the world." James 1:27

"I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me."  Matthew 25:40 

 

A recent photo taken by our talented neighbor, photographer Linnae Harris of Linnae Designs.
Linnae is an adoptive parent herself with two beautiful children from Russia. 

    



Our call to adopt from the beginning, Part I: The Lord softens our hearts

"Walking by Faith...Not by Sight"   

Our call to adopt from the beginning,  Part I

The Lord softens our hearts

     “For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved. (RESV - Richard E. Stearns Version)”

― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? the Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World 

    

      As we begin to share our story we realize that, in His amazing way, the Lord has woven together the details of our lives to get us to this point.  Adoption itself is nothing that is new to either of us.  In fact, Molly was adopted at birth, something she has always known to be unique, special, and a blessing to those involved.   Yet the idea that we would adopt a child of our own has only entered our hearts over the last few years...and that is the story we will begin to tell you here.

     We have two beautiful boys, William Charles, born in 2004 and Andrew Lucien, born in 2006.   In many ways this was what we had always imagined--two children, just like the families we grew up in.  Raising these boys, who were less than two years apart, had it's challenges and we truly felt that our lives were full.  If you would have asked us three years ago we would have told you--full!  We had no interest in adding more children to our family and, in fact, often wondered how we would properly raise the two that we had.  (How is that for faith?!)  You can imagine our surprise when the Lord put the call to adopt on our hearts!

Andrew,  Molly, William and Brian, 2011

     As He often so beautifully does, the Lord brought together a series of events that opened our eyes to the possibility of adopting a child.  Most significantly was our new perspective on walking out our faith in Jesus Christ.   Growing up in the church and believing in Jesus from an early age, we knew that we had salvation.  And we believed in His words...but were we really reflecting that belief in the way we were living day to day?  How were our lives any different because of what we believed to be true from Scripture?  The Lord was strongly convicting us on many levels.  We were coming closer to Him and closer to His heart.  We knew we could be doing so much more. 

     If you would have asked us why we had never considered adoption, honestly, it was because we knew we were not "that family."  That family was fully functional and peaceful and parenting was so natural that they felt as if they were made for.  That family had an unique relationship with the Lord where He had given them strength and vision for embracing challenging situations for His glory.  That family was financially stable enough and could afford nannies and babysitters and all of the needed extras that would make adopting manageable.  That family loved the idea of a big chaotic household with the sound of children echoing from every room.  Ladies and gentlemen--we were NOT that family. 

      Here is what we were (and I this is a bit uncomfortable to admit!): We were a family doing our best at parenting children with difficult diagnosis and temperaments; it was neither natural or peaceful.  We were a family who from the idea of adding anything to our lives that sounded like a challenge, even if it was for the Lord, because we felt, in our own understanding, that we were dealing with all we could handle.  We were a family that was following a tight budget and barely had the time or means to make it out to a date night once a month.  We were a family that craved peace and order and quiet. 

      And then the Lord shattered those ideas.

      And He began changing who we were...

     "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your paths."  Proverbs 3:5&6

     "Jesus said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."   Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  2 Corinthians 12:9&10

 

   

     
    

Have you heard our news??!!

Walking by Faith...Not by Sight

 

"For we live by faith, not by sight."                           "Trust in the Lord with all your heart

                                                                                      and lean not on your own understanding;

                                    - 2 Corinthians 5:7                                             in all your ways submit to him,
                                                                                      and he will make your paths straight.^"

                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                              ^_ Proverbs 3:5-6  



Have you heard our news?  We are adopting!!!  We are excited about all that has been happening in our lives  and have created this blog to share with you more about it--from the time the Lord began to open our hearts to the needs of orphaned children to the latest on what is happening with our little girl.  Thank you for visiting!

Love, Molly and Brian and the Courcelle Family





(photo by Linnae Designs)