Hope
a charity project

The Meyaard Family

It has been almost 3 years since we brought Myla Rutta home from Ethiopia making us a family of nine. And for the last 2 years we have almost started the process to adopt again on three separate occasions. You see when we left Ethiopia with our daughter  there was never any doubt that we would be back....that Africa now held a piece of our hearts. Adopting one child was not enough after seeing what we saw. It was the start of a lifelong calling. We were on fire and we could not wait to see where God would take us next....

 But after we returned home life began to happen...And as we were still adjusting to life with 7 kids 2 very important women to us left this earth for heaven....my 102 year old grandma who had been an unfailing sense of strength for our growing family was called home and  just 9 months later my mom lost her year long battle with cancer. Life went on and our hopes of adopting again were halted. We could not imagine bringing another child into our family without them here to cheer us on. Who would make a million copies of each updated picture to show off while we waited? Who would call each day and ask if there was any adoption news? Who would we call on when the road was tough?  And so we told ourselves that the timing was not right.  Maybe when our house sells and we are settled into a bigger one....Maybe when the twins graduate from High school...maybe when______? Well, you get the picture.

But then God stepped in.  A few weeks ago I was helping a friend advocate for a waiting 6 year old boy named "U" and as I opened up his picture something happened....LOVE.  As I looked into his big brown eyes the reality of our waiting brought tears...here is a beautiful child of God waiting for a family...and our hearts are yearning to adopt again. It was so clear! And  suddenly the number of bathrooms we had in our house and the non-existent retirement plan didn't matter.  There was an instant sense of urgency to drop everything I was doing and show his picture to my husband who responded within minutes by saying..."Yes! We need to go get him!"

SO after learning more about his story and feeling that this is indeed where God is leading us we have decided to jump again. And quite honestly it feels good...to finally surrender to what has been on our hearts for a long time. That is not to say there is not the occasional (almost daily :)) "what are we doing" moments....but we are beyond grateful to be back on this journey. We do not know how God is going to provide for this adoption...only that he will provide. We know that he loves our "U" more than we can fathom and He too wants him to find his way home. And we know beyond a doubt that there are a couple of special ladies who are cheering us on from heaven      

 This is where you, our friends and family, come into the story. Would you like to help our family bring "U" home? We will be  forever grateful for each dollar given, every encouraging word heard, and all prayers raised up for our family including for "U"!

JOHN 14:18

"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS, I WILL COME TO YOU