How did we get here?

I am copying this from a letter Berny wrote as part of a grant application:

If I said God was calling us to adopt, I would be speaking the truth. But in order to adequately explain God calling us to adopt, I need to tell you our/His story.

On August 12, 2006 I flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet my new 4-year-old son. God had called my wife and I to increase the size of our family from five children to six children... four bio daughters, one bio son, and one adopted son. We were delighted with the addition of B. I was sure that my "quiver was full." I thought wrong.

While in Addis, I met a little girl named L. She had an inner beauty, which radiated from every pore of her body. Because it was raining in Addis that day, B and I went to the orphanage so he could play with his friends. While in the playroom, L broke away from the group and went to a plastic kitchen set nearby. She opened a door, pulled out a plastic pot and spoon. She set the pot on top of the stove and began to stir. She happily cooked her pretend food. Then she took a plastic plate and fork, filled the plate with "food," and walked towards me. She politely placed her hand on my knee, offered me the plate of "food, " and said, "Here Daddy." My heart skipped several beats with those words ringing in my ears. My immediate thought was "that was not what I thought it was ... she must have said something in her own language." I played along with L and 'ate' my meal. I returned the empty plate to her, thanking her for her kindness. She promptly returned to the stove, filled the plate again, returned to me, politely laid her hand on my knee, offered me the plate of 'steaming food,' and said in clear and perfect English (so a thick skulled Dutchman could understand), "Here Daddy." I am not sure what L thought of the tear that ran down my cheek, maybe that the 'food' was too spicy.

I told my wife about L after the dust had settled a bit from bringing our new son home. She cried with me as I told her about this beautiful girl needing a family. We began to do some investigating and discovered that L had an older sister named Ed (age 10), and another sister named Mo (age 12).

With that discovery came the realization that perhaps God was calling us to adopt again. But god, my quiver is full. My car isn't big enough. Where will they sleep in my 137-year-old farmhouse? Being a self-employed builder in Michigan, how can I afford to feed three more mouths? I do not have $25,000.00 lying around to adopt three more. This would give us 7 (SEVEN!) daughters and they will ALL be adolescents at the same time.

My wife and I spent the next 10 months fasting, praying, seeking God's will. Our small group fasted and prayed with us and for us. There were only a few close friends, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who we made aware of our agonizing decision. I did not want our decision to be emotion driven. Our decision and call needed to come from God.

During a May Sunday morning message at our church, our pastor challenged the congregation to get involved in kingdom work by saying the words of Isaiah... "Here I am, send me." (Isaiah 6:8) I chose to make that commitment. Lord, here is my life, you do with it as you please. Monday evening my wife and I discussed the three girls. I stated to my wife, " We can spend the rest of our lives praying for the three girls, and never do a practical thing for them. At some point we need to take a step of faith and allow God the opportunity to open and close doors. What is the next step?" She agreed and informed me that we needed to send an application to the adoption agency, and then apply for an international homestudy to the tune of $2,000.00. I told her that we did not have that kind of money just lying around and we would have to wait. We assumed the wait could be long.

The following day, my wife found a card from a relative in our mailbox. The relative had no knowledge of the decision my wife and I were making. Inside the envelope was a check for $2,000.00.

[shortened by me, Sherri, to keep this relative anonymous] This relative had dreamed that we needed money, obeyed God, and sent the check.
That money was used to complete our international homestudy. The placing agency also needed $2,000.00 to begin the dossier. Because we did not have that amount in reserve, we continued to lift our need before the Lord. Weeks later, we received another gift. This gift came from a couple from New York whom we have never met [or may have met once]. They were members of a church where my sister-in-law and her husband were co-pastors. After hearing abut the girls and the fact that we were trying to bring them home, this couple received an inheritance check. They informed us that God had prompted them to send us a portion of that inheritance check. Their gift to us was $6,000.00. We joyously began our dossier paperwork!

My wife and I have not asked people for a single penny. We have simply prayed that God would provide the way and open the doors to bring our girls home. Appointments for the homestudy and dossier, which seemed as though they would be difficult to get, fell into place immediately. Church members have gifted us with fists full of $20 bills, or checks for $1,000.00, and everything in between. Total strangers have sent money, and we are not even sure how they heard about our story. During the past 3.5 months God has provided the financial resources for this adoption. We estimate we will need between $22,000 and $25,000 to bring our daughters home. We are still in need of between $8,000 and $11,000. We have applied for a grant (up to $3,000) through our placing agency. We are still waiting for a reply. As we see the funds come in for the adoption expenses, we are also trusting God to provide a vehicle large enough for 9 children, beds and bedding for 3 more, clothing, school books, desks, and supplies, etc.

My six-year-old son decided he was going to help me raise money to bring his sisters home. He gathered pockets full of stones and rocks he found on our 40-acre farm. He sat at his picnic table and painted every stone and rock - colors, stripes, and spots. He moved his picnic table to then end of our driveway, made a sign which said "Rocks for Sale," and began to sell rocks (tricky on a very rural road!). Within a couple of weeks, he had sold over $30.00 in painted rocks. He gave me every penny to help bring his sisters home.

I consider it a privilege and an honor that God has selected my family to be an incubator for nine beautiful children ~ including four beautiful Ethiopian children who, because of a second chance at life, will make an eternal impact for His kingdom.

Gripped in His Grace & Walking by Faith,
Berny Slomp