Russell Family, New Hampshire

Several years ago, Todd and I felt a tug at our hearts to possibly adopt someday. In 2005, after having two biological children, we wondered whether now was the time to pursue this desire and see if it was part of God's plan for our future. For a while, we thought it appropriate to wait until we had the funds necessary to pursue adoption. But in July 2006, God, in His providence made it clear to us that the time was now. So we said, "Okay, Lord, we will trust you to provide each step of the way." And He did in such miraculous ways. The first amount due to the adoption agency was $195, and we had $110 to put toward it! That very week, we received a letter from a woman in our church who stated that she found a check in her desk and that the Lord told her it was for us, for a reason she was unaware of. She did not even know we were pursuing adoption. You guessed it - it was $85! And so began our exciting journey to a child we did not yet know, living across the world in the country of China.

Shortly after beginning the process, our agency asked if we would consider a child with a special need. We had not yet thought of this, but agreed to fill out a form for them stating what we would consider. Three days later, we received a call asking if we would be interested in an 11-month-old boy. He had a cleft lip (repaired) and cleft palate (unrepaired). It did not take long for us to realize that this precious Chinese child was our son! We quickly gave the exciting news to Madison (5) and Gavin (4), thus beginning the never-ending "when will we get him?" saga!

Now it was time to give him a name. His Chinese name was Lu Guo Chen, a name given to him upon entering the orphanage. We learned that Chen meant "morning," as it was their wish for him to grow up to have life as fresh and new as the morning. In deciding what to name him, we wanted to give glory to God and allow our son's name to be a blessing to him as he grows. We chose the name Evan, meaning "God is good." And we loved the meaning of Chen so he became Evan Chen.

It seemed like the day would never come for us to finally meet and call this boy our own. We learned the hard lesson of waiting and that God's timing is never late and rarely early! As time went on, excitement grew all around us. Our family and church family were very supportive, both prayerfully and financially. God continued to meet the financial need exactly when it was needed, and not a minute before, keeping us on our knees and strengthening our faith! We were truly honored and blessed to have received a grant from Hannah's Hope, another answer to our prayer exactly when we needed it!

The time finally came to leave for China - eight months after seeing his beautiful face for the first time. The day we met our son was a day we will never forget. He had sad, yet understanding eyes. He cried quietly as we took him away from all that was familiar. He began to bond immediately, and by the end of our two weeks in China, he was a very happy baby with an absolutely amazing personality. The orphanage director blessed us with a scrapbook, so we now have baby pictures and recorded milestones of the first 20 months of his life.

Upon returning home, we introduced Evan to his new, very excited sister and brother! They have grown to love and accept each other, and after a few sibling rivalry moments, Madison and Gavin informed us that we can keep him! Almost one year later, he fits into our family as though he were here from the start.

We have truly seen God at work in our lives in such amazing ways over these past two years. I am in awe of His love for us in allowing us the privilege of tucking this precious little boy into his crib each night and singing to him about the sweet love of Jesus!