Lakshmi Sabrina Lewis

So, now that we have asked her if she would like to be a part of our family, and she has said yes. we would like to introduce you to, the soon to be...Lakshmi Sabrina Lewis!

Lakshmi will turn 16 this coming August. As a part of out outreach program at the transition home Anya began to get to know Lakshmi. She says that Lakshmi is a rare exception to most of the children she works with in the orphanages. So, when things started to go a different direction, Anya told us about Lakshmi. Anya told us that each evening Lakshmi and herself would talk on the phone, usually about the Bible. At the end of each call Anya would ask Lakshmi what she wanted to pray for, her answer was always the same, she wanted a family!

Lakshmi had been hosted 3 times by families in the US. The last time was about 5 years ago. She has had a few opportunities to be adopted, but always declined because she thought her mother would come back for her one day. At some point she said she realized that her mother was never coming back for her. She then had regret set in, since she had turned down families in the past. She continued to pray, but confessed to Anya that she was losing hope. Her 16th birthday was fast approaching, and she knew that after she turned 16 she would no longer be adoptable.

Then stepped in the Holy Spirit and directed us to her! I spent time looking at her pictures before we met her in search of some attachment to her. I felt it a little but not in a major way. That is, until the first time i seen her in person. Immediately i felt like she was mine.

So, that past few days we have been traveling all over Donetsk filing the necessary paperwork to adopt her. We are hoping to hear today when we will have the court date. After the court date Diana will be heading home while i stay behind and finish up the paperwork.

Sorry about the "just the facts" kind of post. I'm a bit tired from the past few days.

As promised, there is in fact more to our adoption story! I will blog more about it later and give you the entire story later. For now we'd like to inform you that we will also be bringing home two other girls. They are sisters ages 10 and 14. It really is an amazing journey that brought this all full circle. But there is a bit of sad news. They won't be coming home until after September. Friends of ours advocated for these girls and about 18 months worked to get them registered for adoption. Because of the laws here, the girls are not available for International adoption until sometime in September. We are waiting to hear the exact date.

Going to take a nap now!

Shane