Thank
you so much for your care and interest in our adoption journey!
I would like to share a little about our journey:
Tim and I were married in 2005 and both new deep within our
hearts that we were meant to be open to life through adoption and
biologically. We were blessed with the life of our first
daughter, Cherubim, for only a short while and she was called back to
our heavenly father while still in utero.
We knew that God was
a faithful God and trusted in his plan for our family. We soon
became pregnant again and were able to keep the pregnancy of our son,
Elijah John,9, January 28th, 2006.
A little over a year and a half
later, we were blessed with another daughter, Becki Marie,8, May 2nd, 2007.
After Becki's pregnancy, God asked us to trust in him as he
orchestrated with his love, a chance for 5 more little lives to have
a straight pass to heaven after only a first trimester. This
was a time that nearly broke us to our core as we laid to rest, 2
sons, Innocent and Nazareth, and 3 daughters, Seraphim, Patience and
May, but God was faithful and filled us with the grace to not just go
on, but also grow a steadfast bond in our marriage that solidified
our vows and made our love stronger in the long run.
We always
knew that God had written the story of adoption in our hearts for our
family and so we took this time of healing to start the journey
towards life and love through the adoption process.
We were
home-study ready by December of 2008 and very excited for our
journey. We had been waiting for a couple years when God
blessed us with our son, Isaiah,5, February 13th, 2010; no surprise to
us that God would show his love to us by blessing us with a son the Eve of
Valentine's Day. God is amazing. We had found out that I had
hypothyroidism and that I wasn't producing any progesterone. I
was supplemented through the pregnancy and gave thanks for
the life he allowed us as we continued our journey of adoption.
A little over a year, we were greatly blessed once
more with the life of another miracle child and after a faith gripping pregnancy and delivery, Nevaeh Grace, 4, was born to us by Heaven's Grace, June
22, 2011, and we were so thankful that God was faithful and brought both Nevaeh and I through her pregnancy and delivery safely.
I ended up
with an emergency hysterectomy after her delivery and although
it was something that I truly mourned, being that I was only 28 at
the time, it also gave a sense of peace and purpose; We
knew that it was then that God was calling us to turn our full sights
on adoption.
Through this whole process, God keeps revealing
the words, "Trust in my Divine Providence." In the time
between then and now we have had a failed domestic adoption that was
very hard on our family but in hindsight was best for all.
God
began speaking to our hearts about international adoption back in
2012 and increasingly became more prominent as the time went on.
First, we were thinking about Guatemala, but the borders were closed.
For
the next year, God kept asking us to help his orphans in the waiting
program in China. God was calling us loudly to Go across the ocean
and world, away from our children, during the time of the
disappearance of the Malaysian airlines. With those thoughts and the thought of the extra cost of an
international adoption on top of keeping our domestic adoption
process going was too scary to bear and we said, "NO."
Well, if you have ever tried to say, "NO," to God,
you will have found out that it doesn't go over very well. lol He kept gently calling us in our hearts, "Trust in my Divine
Providence."
Finally, during church we heard a reading from Malachai. Tim felt it in his heart that if we were to have another son, that we would name him, Malachai. We both felt something; Something
pulling us to his will. We had a friend who has adopted from
the waiting children's program and she and her husband came over to
dinner to answer questions that we had. After some
time of discernment and awareness, we felt the call to the little
boys with special needs who seem to go unnoticed. We knew that we
were meant to follow God's will and that the call was only going to
grow louder in our soul. We had to just... TRUST IN GOD'S
DIVINE PROVIDENCE.... go figure. ;)
As we have gone through the
process, God has revealed to me in prayer that we had a son waiting for us in
China....a son named, Malakai 'Kai' (Kai means victory in Chinese.)
Suddenly I thought back to that reading that had touched our
hearts and knew that it was no coincidence and it made me trust that
God would provide.
Now it was our time to do our part.
We are now LID with China, as of 9/7 and are very excited for
the next part of our journey. We now wait with great anticipation
to be matched with a toddler boy from the waiting program in China.
We don't know what exact age or special need (or needs) that our son
will have but we are open to quite a few such as, Clef Lip and
Palate, etc.
We look forward to who God has planned for us and are
now shifting our sights to the “How are we going to get Malakai
here” side of the journey.
If you are wondering why we are continuing with our domestic adoption as well as going forward with an international adoption, I can understand that curiosity. The answer is simply because God calls us all to care for his
orphans and we just know in our hearts that he is calling us to care for them in this way. Being open to life has no boundaries and we look forward to where our "Yes" takes us and for those who are
meant to bless us with their lives as a result of this journey.
We were told how it takes a village to raise
a child and that it starts with getting us there to China and then getting Malakai back here to a loving home and awaiting family and friends. With that in mind, we started to speak to friends and family who wanted to know how they can help. If you are also wondering the same, we would be honored to have you join our family, to join in our journey to bring Malakai home to love; to be his village.
We are praying wholeheartedly for whatever support you feel called to, whether it be financial, helping us spread the word, or most of all, to lift Malakai and us all up in your thoughts and prayers as we continue the biggest journey of our lives.
We were given advice from some dear friends that although it is hard to humble yourself and ask for financial help, as the world can be unloving, especially when it comes to money, it is truly a way of allowing others to join in and help in the journey to make a difference in the life of orphans, and in turn be an angel, an answered prayer to us and to Malakai who is waiting for love, for a family of his own in an orphanage as we speak.
We know that God will provide, and we have full faith that it will be in part by the love and generosity of those whom also have a heart for God's children as well as those who care for us and lift us up. We will forever be grateful for any and all the help we can receive so that we will be able to follow God's will fully in giving Orphans a home and love
for their entire lives, no matter their struggles, both domestically
and internationally, while still being able to provide for the four
children whom God has blessed us with and whom rely on us to date.
"We are his hands and feet"
Thank you again for your care and consideration. May God
abundantly bless you and all whom you know and love,The Norick Family
P.S. ~
We will be setting up a "Bring Malakai Home" Fund and will post more information as we have it.
