Fast forward to 2015-2016.
Our close friends and neighbors in Papua announce they are adopting a baby from Indonesia. We listen and pray for them on their journey.
We returned to Washington in July 2016. Our next door neighbors call us over to their house one day and begin to tell us a story. He said he had found some bunk beds on Craigslist. He went to pick them up and was chit-chatting with the seller. He asked the seller what he did for work. The seller said he was a writer but had been a pastor at a church overseas. It turns out the seller was the pastor of the church we went to while we were in language school! Our neighbor got his card, and we set up a time to meet for coffee.
Over coffee we chatted about life and the past and the future. We talked about friends from our small group and he gave us the latest information he had about their well-being. We started talking about the couple who were married during our time in language school. They reminded us of a ministry the couple started called Rumah Ruth (Ruth's House). This ministry reaches out to unwed expectant mothers. They encourage and support the mommas when their is little to no support found within their families. Our pastor friend mentioned that they were working on getting approval to become an option for adoption. *Adoption* that brought the names of our friends in Papua who wanted to adopt.
New regulations had been established saying that couples interested in adoption could not go to the orphanage or adoption agency and say we want to adopt this child. Now children eligible for adoption had to be notified by the orphanage. At that time our friends were waiting but had no word on adoptable Christian babies (Indonesia does not allow cross religion adoptions).
We immediately contacted our small group friends in Bandung to get a phone number to put them in touch with our friends in Papua. Boy, oh boy, did the ball begin to roll! Meetings were set up, phone calls were made, and trips were made to Jakarta by both our friends in Papua and from Bandung. Our two sets of friends met and on the same day our friends on the journey of adopting were able to meet the little girl who would forever change their lives and hearts. Our Papua friends left their little one not knowing when they would board the plane as a family of three, but were praying it would be before Christmas.
God had different plans.
Our friends from Bandung arranged with the adoption agency for our friends from Papua to take their little girl home the following week! They went to the church we went to in language school for a time of prayer over the new family of three and then the little girl was released into their personal care! They are currently en-route home to Papua as a precious family of three.
When we think of this story we are incredibly in awe of how God orchestrated every detail beginning 8 years ago in language school. He wove together a perfect tapestry full of different people spanning the globe from Texas, Washington, Indiana, California, Indonesia and used bunk beds from Craigslist to forever change the lives of a three month old baby girl and our two friends in Papua. We have been told that since the connection was made between the adoption agency in Jakarta and Rumah Ruth in Bandung two more babies have found forever homes with a Brazilian family and a French family.
We praise the Lord that His pays close attention to the needs of His children and uses all things for His honor and glory.
