Adoptions

Jenny here – In the last week I have been involve in the adoptions of 2 children from our shelter. I have grown to know and love these 2 babies, so saying goodbye was very bittersweet.
Last week Rebecca and I took a little girl named Suzie (not her real name for privacy reasons) to Pretoria to meet her forever family. Suzie had been abandoned at the government hospital in Rustenburg last June; she was 2 months old at the time. The night before the adoption I was talking to Lincoln about how excited the new parents had to be at that moment, knowing that they would meet their baby the very next day. I have never looked at, or thought of adoption from this side of it – as the people bringing the baby to be adopted. Although it was a special occasion for us, it was basically routine to us here at the shelter. I got to take her into the placement room and hand her over to her new parents. After the parents spent about 10 minutes alone with Suzie, we went back in to the room and gave them some of her clothes and a scrapbook of her time here at the shelter. They had a lot of questions that we did our best to answer. It was a lot of fun to be a part of this process. I couldn’t help thinking that this was just a part of the normal everyday stuff that we do here, but for the new family this moment was life changing. It seemed kind of strange to me that we handed her over then went on with the rest of our day, just like every other day (afterwards, Rebecca and I had lunch at a big mall in Pretoria). At the same time, the family who had been waiting for their baby for over a year was just starting a new life all together.
Yesterday Kaitlin and I took a little boy named Johnny(not his real name for privacy reasons) to Pretoria to meet his new parents. Johnny has a very special place in my heart. Following is what I wrote about Johnny in our last newsletter.
“We would like to introduce you to Johnny. He is a very sweet, loving and happy little boy. Johnny came to Lighthouse Children’s Shelter last August. He was about 2 months old and had been abandoned by a railroad track wrapped in plastic. About a week after we arrived, Jenny went with Janis Betzer to take Johnny to be tested again for HIV. His initial test had shown up positive. In the first 18 months of life a child can still carry his mother’s antibodies, and if she is HIV positive, the baby can also test positive. We were praying the entire time that he would test negative so that he could be adopted instead of spending the rest of his life in a shelter suffering with HIV. (While I was in with this baby that was thrown away and un-wanted, God kept telling me over and over that He loves him and wants him.) A week later his test came back negative and Jenny has been getting his adoption paperwork in order so that he can be adopted into a loving family.”
Johnny's dad started to cry (and so did Kaitlin and I) when he was talking about how long they have been waiting for a baby, and anticipating this day. I am so thankful that God allowed me to be a part of this adoption. It was wonderful to unite a little boy that was so un-wanted with parents that so desperately want him.