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the one in front of you

I am so ridiculously blessed with incredible friends around the world.  I adore them.  Each one of them has a piece of my heart.

I can honestly say that all of my good friends have supported us with such crazy love over the years.  I’m sure that every now and then they have looked at us and thought, “Rather them than me!” Ha! In a good way, of course.  Recently I joked with my friend Andrea about having a baby with me (we’re close in age and she also has teenagers).  Her response totally made me laugh, “I really love you, but not that much!”

Friends have loved us unconditionally and loved us well over the years.  I have been so blessed to watch them all walk the paths that God has chosen for them.  And every now and then, there has been a crazy God-thing thrown in there too.

Two years ago a Facebook friend posted a picture on my wall.  It was a photo of two teenage boys in Ghana who were longing for a family of their own.  They had seen countless families come and adopt younger children and they both longed for someone to choose them too. When adoptive families came to their orphanage, they would plead for them to find a family for them.  A group of precious families who had adopted from that orphanage knew that they had to do whatever they could to give them the desire of their hearts.

Within a few minutes of that photo being posted, Andrea called me.  “Adéye! Those two boys on your Facebook  wall…who are they?  I think they’re my sons!”  I hadn’t been on FB and had no idea what she was talking about.

Andrea had listened to my endless talk about orphans.  She had jumped in to help with every single fundraiser I had ever done, and she had prayed with me when there was such great need.  Such a huge blessing in my life!

But adoption? Never on the radar!

Until she saw that one little photo.

Andrea was able to connect with the friend who shared the boys’ photo and find out a little more.  She knew!  She knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were their sons. “Adéye, I have no idea how this works and I don’t even know where to start, but we have to bring them home,” she shared with me.

For two years I have watched them raise funds, conquer endless paperwork challenges, face ridiculous obstacles, fly to Ghana to meet two young men whom they fell in love with and never give up.  Not once.  So many of you joined me when there was a financial need.  You sowed such precious seed to help two young men to find their way home.

Today, two years after Andrea saw that one very small photo on a Facebook wall, Joseph and Askia arrived home!  

Today two young men have a future that is bright. God in heaven heard the cries of their hearts and He sent help from heaven.  He chose a couple who had never even considered adoption as an option for their family. As Andrea says, “The word ‘adoption’ was not even in our vocabulary.”

Today two precious young men have a family who loves them madly.  They have HOPE.

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So often we think that our advocacy is in vain.  There are so many orphans just like Joseph and Askia just longing to come home.  For me personally, I look at the statistics and the need, and my heart grows faint–I wonder “How, Lord?”  “How can we even make a difference in this crisis?”

Today I am reminded once again that ONE matters!

I love what Heidi Baker says in her latest books, “Love the ONE in front of you.”

DO SOMETHING about the ONE God puts on your heart.

Social media sure has become a nasty place in so many ways.  But, I believe that it can be used for so much good–for His glory!  If God puts a child, a ministry, a cause, or a need on your heart…SHARE IT!

Because you never know who’s reading it and who God will call to rise up in that moment.

And just like Joseph and Askia…

…it could be life-changing.

Welcome home, precious boys.  We are so thankful that you are finally HOME.

Thank you, Andy and Andrea, for never giving up when God called YOU by name.  What beautiful treasure in heaven you are storing.  Love you all.

 

 

 

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