LIllibet-Joy West

Before we ever decided to adopt, I (Lisa) had been praying to have more children. I put it in God's hands and let him decide if we would have any more. I knew that God was bigger than a vasectomy. I actually picked out names for this unknown child to be hopefully in our family someday. The name I picked out for a girl was "JOY". I said that part of her name has to be joy, because that's what she would create in our home would be joy. Well, last week, we received a referral from our adoption agency. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means we got a picture of a child and we had to decide to say yes or no to this child. I was actually upset at first receiving this picture, because I didn't want to choose the child. I wanted God to pick her. We actually weren't to the place where they should have sent us a picture yet due to paperwork not being done yet, and a payment of 2,800 not being sent in yet, but still here was a picture of this beautiful little girl. The adoption process is not an easy one. There are many things that must be done, and tons of paperwork to fill out and to retrieve from various sources. I like my ducks in a row. I've been following the papers and doing things in order. The book says that after you turn in the papers, and the 2,800, then you get a referral. So I was upset upon receiving this picture because we don't have all the money yet. And upon receiving the child, you then have to pay a 9,000 payment. All of which we don't have as of yet. So, as you see, that's why I was upset. But I started praying and doing my Bible study the next morning and I told God "If this is the child you have for us, then that's the one I want." I just want to know for sure that this is the one you want us to have. So, later that day I was having dinner with friends, and showed them her paperwork. I went over it again myself, and saw something that I had missed. It said that the meaning of her name was "Happiness at all times". I couldn't believe it. Because we had picked the name Joy so many years ago, and here was God telling me that she was to be the one. This was direct confirmation from God to continue to move forward. So we called Wednesday night to accept the referral of this little girl. So on we march, trying to raise the funds to adopt her in record speed. Please pray that the funds will come in quickly, so she can come home to us as soon as possible. If we had all the money today, it would take 4-6 months to have her home. She is 9 months old now. Please pray for us as this is such a roller coaster ride.