More details on the adoption and our experience...
Last June 2010 a native pastor from Congo (aka DRC) came to share with our church. He was (probably) one of few "black" people to ever walk through our doors.
His accent was thick.
He was hard to understand.
He spoke for only 15 minutes.
It was riveting!
It was life-changing.
He spoke of the despair and devastation in his country. He came to ask for help to build a well. They had to walk 4 miles (one way) to fill their water jugs...every single day! And we complain because ours isn't purified?!
The life expectancy is 45 in DRC.
They do not have more than one meal a day.
Babies are discarded on the side of the road.
Life is bare and hard. But this mans hope is not in this world. His hope is in the Lord. He lives each day for the hope of glory!
His name is Didier Mutkoshi. He is a pastor of 2 churches, father of 6, and has opened his heart to orphans. When he came to visit our church he asked for help with the well because it was necessary to have it to open the orphanage (by January 1, 2011).
I knew I could take a baby from the other side of the world, give love, home, family, care... the Gospel. I knew this was not beyond our physical and emotional capabilities. But I did not know how.
We started the process of a "Independent International Adoption." It took tons of time, research, reading, questioning... to understand what that is and how we were going to do it. There were only about 10 adoptions in the DRC in 2009.total.
Our goal was to have the American homestudy process done by January 1, so we could take the first baby available. We did! We had all the piles of paper and requirements ready. We had prayed about age, sex, number of children to take... We felt a boy, under two would be best for our family.
So we waited. First a little girl came to the orphanage, then another girl, then twins! (boy and girl). Praise the Lord that almost immediately these four children were wanted, spoken for, and loved! They were being adopted! (By two families in a local church!)
On May 23, Pastor Didier wrote and said, "There is a baby boy who was abandoned at the hospital. Do you want him?"
**It was the email we had been waiting for, praying for! Do we want him? We had wanted him before he was even born! YES!**
His mother went to the hospital to deliver him. Then, later fled. This is common in DRC. When we told the girls the story about the baby Ella said, "I would never leave my baby!" It was a great opportunity to explain a little about the desperation of life in DRC.
His mother loved him enough to have him at a hospital, where he would have the best care, and food. Things that she could not give him. She did not leave him where he may, or may not be found. She wanted him to survive! I am thankful I can share this with Mark someday.
The Lord blessed greatly. We were able to name him on his original birth certificate he is Waleza Joseph LAYTON. He will never have another name, he will never have another father, he will never know another family.
He was taken by Pastor Didier and his wife Annie into their home. She told Didier to assure me that, "she would love and care for him as if he were her own, until he is in my arms". He will never know unloving arms. We know where he has been every.day.of.his.life. What a blessing!
Pastor Didier, Annie, and Mark
Pastor Didier, Annie, and Mark
The children at the orphanage. Pray for Zephanie (4) on left that God will bring a family for her. Our prayer requests:
-Pray for Stuart who is in DRC right now getting his two little girls (liveoakhome.blogspot.com)
-Pray for Stuart who is in DRC right now getting his two little girls (liveoakhome.blogspot.com)
-Pray that they will be able to get the passports and required docs to apply for Mark's visa.
-Pray for the health and strength of Pastor Didier, he is battling malaria right now.
-Pray that Phil would be able to travel with the Wilmarth's (parent's of the twins) to DRC.
