Happy birthday, baby girl!

Recently we celebrate our youngest child’s birthday. Let me tell you about her birth.

My husband Paul and I bought a large house with the intent of filling it with laughing voices and tiny feet. We both wanted several children, but having more than our one biological child became too risky.

We were on vacation, sitting on the beach at the Outer Banks. Paul and I had never talked about it, but I had a strong feeling that we were to adopt an international child. This was in 1980. People didn’t adopt internationally much at the time.

Maybe it was the warm sun, or the soothing sound of the waves, but I got the courage there on the beach on July 30th to bring up the topic. To my surprise, he said he had been thinking the same thing!

At home I began calling the eight agencies that dealt with international adoption. Much has changed since then, but at the time, you had to work with one of the eight. The waiting lists were long. Some even refused to take my name. After making seven long-distance calls during a time when you paid per call, I sat back and cried out to God.

Why give Paul and me this desire and then put all these obstacles in our way? I almost didn’t call the last agency. What was the use of adding more expense to my phone bill?

But I was compelled to dial the phone. The person that answered said they were just waiting for families. For some unexplained reason, they had no waiting list, and they had a baby girl in Seoul Korea, born July 30th, that needed a loving home. I knew this was God’s hand, and that she was our intended daughter, delivered at the very time we were praying for a child.

Ten months later she arrived on a plane at Chicago O’Hare Airport and was placed in my arms.

With God’s guidance, our house eventually filled with children. God hears prayer and meets our needs, sometimes in ways much better than any we could have anticipated. I cannot imagine life without my youngest daughter, Kim, born through prayer and raised in love.

So that is the story of my baby girl’s birth. The take-away here is that God does answer prayer. He does want to meet our needs. He does know the future and He sees the whole picture. If you have a need, a burden, a want, take it to God.

He hears prayer. But be prepared. He may deliver your request via an airplane.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMBERLY ANN SMELTZER!

Blessings, Regina