A/N: Thanks to all of you who have responded to this story. I am grateful for all who are reading it, and even more grateful at the thought that some of you are spreading the word about the orphanage mentioned here. I heard about Door of Hope a few years ago, and it touched my heart. What a great blessing it is to see God's hand at work through this ministry. I also wanted to mention that Jack tells a story in this chapter that is not mine. In fact, I heart it several years ago, and I repeated it as best I could remember. I don't know the family, but it was on a radio show I was listening to called Focus on the Family. As the orphanage touched me, so did this story. I may not have all the facts exactly right, but I tried to remember it to the best of my ability. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
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The dinner was going nicely, but Sue knew something was on his mind. After they had both ordered desserts, he finally got around to opening up to her. "Have you thought any more about adopting?" The question caught her completely off guard.
"Actually, I talked to Lucy and Tara about it when we got together last weekend." She smiled at the thought of them getting together like old times. It had taken a few minutes to get past the awkwardness, but they had talked through it, and soon found the same bond that they had shared when they worked together. "Tara was telling me about an orphanage that she had heard about." She was not prepared to tell him a lot about what they had talked about. She wanted to hear what he was thinking about first.
"D called me in his office this evening and gave me some information on an orphanage he and Donna visited last year. He thought we might be interested." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out one of the brochures. "It is called the Door of Hope. It is in South Africa, and just look at these kids." She laughed as his lips moved so fast she could barely keep up. Her laughter died in her throat as she took the brochure.
"This is the same one that Tara told me about. I wanted to talk to you about it, but I decided to pray about it. I guess I needed a sign. Seems I got one." She looked up at him, and saw he was as overwhelmed as she felt.
"D gave me the director's number. If you want, we can call them Monday." The eyes looking into hers, were full of excitement, which warmed her heart, even as a thread of worry ran through her.
"Are you sure we can handle this? What if we don't bond with them, or if they never get used to us?"
"Sue, I heard a story one timeā¦a long time ago, but when we started thinking about adopting, I thought about it. It was about a couple who wanted to adopt, and had tried, but several adoptions had fallen through at the last minute. They were devastated, and were afraid of trying again. Then, one day they received a call from a friend, who had a friend whose child was pregnant. Anyway, through it all, they prayed about it, and decided to adopt this baby. When the baby was several months old, she started to crawl, and suddenly the woman realized that God had molded this little baby for her to raise. You see, when the woman was a child she had crawled in a funny way, always dragging one leg behind her. It had been a joke as she grew up, as no one in her family ever saw another kid do that. But this little adopted child, when she started to crawl, she dragged that same leg the same way. Sue, I believe that God has a perfect child for us, and that He will work out the rest. What do you think?"
"I say, call the director." There were tears in both their eyes as Jack stood and came over to her. Lifting her to her feet, he hugged her close, and then kissed her. As the waitress came back with dessert, he went back to his seat. Their hearts were full as they both remembered all that God had brought them through, and both sat thinking about a little baby somewhere that God had designed especially for their family.
