Project 366 -- My God Has Answered

Day 48

When my husband and I were moved to adopt yet again in late 2009, our hearts were captured by the story of the boy who would become our son, Alexander. We saw his tale at The Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project Blog. As we began the adoption process, we also felt tugged to add one more little girl to our family (we already had seven daughters--our family blog can be found at Unto Him We Live).

When we told the program's coordinator, Becky, that in addition to Alexander we also had our hearts set on a little girl, she told us not to get out hopes up. There'd been changes to the Russian foster system since we'd adopted our three daughters, Tatiana, Natasha and Amy, in 2005. More Russians were taking children into their homes to foster, and Becky told us that little girls were chosen first by foster parents.

We told Becky we understood what she was saying, but that we felt certain the Lord had one more little girl for us and we were going to pray with an audacious spirit that He would bring her into our lives. Although the story is too long to share here in a Project 366 photo post, our great God did a mighty work through tangled circumstances to give us that precious daughter (we also adopted a 15-year-old girl--that too is a future post). Oksana was five when we first met her and is growing up way too fast. She is a precious gift from the Lord, and part of the name we gave her even means "My God Has Answered."

To this adoptive mother, my little girl's eyelashes are beautiful. I've watched them thicken and lengthen with the improvement in her nutrition since her adoption. Today I captured those lashes illumined by "snow light" as the white precipitation fell heavily outside.