Harper Family

As of this writing, it has been almost 10 years to the day that my wife, Terri, and I lost our son Daniel due to still birth. Like many couples, it was one of many heartaches when trying to have children. At that time, I could never imagine that any good could have come from that heart wrenching loss or what it would lead to and how the Lord could show me that His ways are best. However, He did just that.

We started exploring adoption in 1999 and really did not know where to go or who to speak with to get more information. We went to a local adoption fair sponsored by the State of Tennessee Department of Children Services and researched information on the Internet as much as possible. We finally spoke with two couples at church who had adopted internationally through All God's Children. One couple had a child from Russia and the other couple had two children from Romania. Both couples said nothing but good things about AGCI. International adoption appealed to us since we had friends who had a relative give up a child for adoption, only to see two years later in the news that the child was taken from the adoptive family and given back to the birth father by the courts. We felt we could not take a chance with another loss and decided we would adopt internationally where the chance of something like this happening was remote at best. It was the Lord's hand gently guiding us.

We visited an All God's Children picnic in Atlanta and fell in love with the children. We initially started paperwork for Romania mainly due to the requirement of only one short trip and the two children we had seen at our church. However, a month or two into the paperwork, we received a call from AGCI who advised that Romania was most likely closing and recommended we change countries. Again, God's hand can be seen orchestrating His plan. AGCI mentioned that they had available children in Bulgaria and that they could overnight pictures of a little boy. My heart skipped a beat when they said little boy. I called my wife and we discussed the possibility of changing countries and we both felt it was the right thing. We received the pictures the next day and we were both overcome that we were now looking at the pictures of the child who would become our son. He was small with dark hair and big, beautiful dark eyes. He was in an orphanage in Russe. It would take about one year before we made the trip to bring him home. We named him Jonathan because we read that the name means "God's gift."

It was approximately one year later that we decided to adopt again from Bulgaria and again God's hand can be seen when looking back. We stated that we wanted a boy or girl 0 to 3 years of age. This time we got caught up in Bulgaria's restructuring of their adoption laws and it took three years before we received a referral. All God's Children stuck with us through it all and could not have been any more supportive. There was nothing they could do and they asked if we wanted to change countries which we considered, but felt it was the right thing to do to wait on Bulgaria. The long wait was worth it in June 2005 when we received a call giving us a referral of a 2-year-old little girl in Shoumen. We traveled in June 2005 to spend five days visiting with her in the orphanage. Those five days gave us a love for the country that we only slightly felt up until that time. The people are warm and gracious and the children are absolutely beautiful. We had some difficulties with the Department of Homeland Security and all the paperwork involved. The time to go back to bring our daughter home seemed like it would never come. However, we finally made the trip in November 2005 and our son made the trip with us. We spent five more days in Bulgaria and our love for the country grew exponentially.

We now have Jonathan who is now 9 and Asya who is now 5. The Lord has used our loss in 1998 to lead us to a deeper relationship with Him, to two wonderful children, and to a love for orphans which has become mission work for us. I have just returned from a 10 day mission trip to Bulgaria and hope to return again and again. It is exciting to see Bulgaria open its doors again to international adoption. All children need a home and if the Lord is placing it on your heart to consider Bulgaria, I can truly say He knows what he is doing. I have spoken with people who have asked me why adopt internationally and not from the US. Anyone considering adoption must answer that question for themselves with much prayer and consideration of all that is involved. For my family, there is no question that the Lord led us to both our children and they are where He wants them to be. Is everything always great with the kids? I would be less than honest if I said yes. We have our issues with whining, lying, talking back, aggravating, and non-stop talking and noise. However, these are the same things that went on in my house growing up with me and my brothers. Kids are kids. Mine just happen to be eastern European and have a much better tan than me. Parenting has been the toughest job I've ever had, but the rewards are beyond description. When I returned from the mission trip, I would not take a million dollars for the welcome I received. There is nothing better that hearing your child's voice echo "Daddy" in an airport or at home and then get a great big hug with the words "I missed you!!!" Only the Lord can provide those moments - and adoption is one way He does it.