Crazy March Adoption Family – The Patterson 7

I’m so honored to introduce you to the Patterson Family!  You will be inspired tremendously from their adoption story and the miracles God has poured abundantly.  You can visit Lorraine’s amazing blog- All Are Precious in His Sight and join together to pray for sweet Chrissie!

Here’s their adoption story:

We are a growing adoptive family:  Matt (39), Lorraine (38), Parker (bio, age 13), Meribeth (Colombia, age 12, adopted at age 11), Mattie (bio, age 12), Sawyer (bio, age 9), and Chrissie (Serbia, age 4, adopted at age 4 with severe congenital heart defects).  We don’t know how many children God plans to share with us, but we have joyfully and wholeheartedly said, “Yes, Lord…” (and there’s not a period at the end of that statement).  It’s open.  We’re open.  Open hearts.  Open minds.  Open home.  Open to whomever God chooses to bless us with, no matter what color, size, age, ability (or disability); if God calls us to rescue a particular child (or children), our instant answer is, “Yes, Lord…”.

We weren’t always this way.  God has done many miracles in our lives.  We didn’t always know we would be an adoptive family.  We weren’t always passionate about adoption…until God called us.  Proverbs 24:12 reminds us, “Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know what to do.  God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act.”

God began this journey with us back in 2003, but we didn’t realize exactly what He had in store as He began preparing our hearts for adoption.  At that time, our children were 3, 5, and 7, and God introduced us to an amazing family who lived in our neighborhood who also homeschooled.  The mom, Stephanie, became a dear friend of mine, and her two daughters, Emily and Samantha (ages 9 and 11 at the time) felt like they were a part of our family.  Then their father abandoned them and chose to live with another woman in another state.  Crushed.  Abandoned.  But not forgotten.  Our Father loved this precious family dearly, and He called our family to stand in the gap as their earthly father walked out.  My husband, Matt, stepped up to be their dad.  We took Emily and Samantha on vacations with us, they came to our house daily, and they were included in family celebrations, holidays, etc. as if they were our own children.  Stephanie did as well.  This was God’s way of turning our hearts toward adoption.  Even though we didn’t legally adopt Samantha and Emily (as they have a wonderful, loving mom), God gave us the model of His plan for adoption.  Psalm 68:5-6a assured us to live out this life with joy, regardless of “legal adoption” status, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families…”.

God has a family chosen for every single orphan out there.  He loves each of them dearly.  He promises in John 14:18 to not leave us as orphans.  That means every one of us, regardless of how we became orphaned, regardless of what that might look like to the world, regardless of how much money it might cost, regardless of how challenging it may be.  He loves us that much.  And more.

In November, 2007, God called us to adopt an 11-year-old girl from Colombia who had suffered a traumatic life.  She had lost her mother to cancer, her grandmother to brain damage, her father to prison, plus she had suffered more abuses throughout her eleven  years of life than any of us will endure in our lifetime.  We said yes.  Meribeth became our “legal” forever daughter on November 16, 2008, and her life has been turned from hopeless to rescued.  It’s all God.  He has worked miracles in our daughter’s life, and while the path has been filled with many bumps, bruises, setbacks and challenges, saving the life of one child is worth it.  That’s what Christ does for us.  (Although we haven’t endured anything in comparison to what Christ endured for us.)  It’s all about love.  Unconditional love.  The kind of love that doesn’t require anything in return.  The kind of love we’re not able to give on our own.  It’s all God.  We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.  (Philippians 4:13)

In June 2009, God called us to rescue a 4-year-old girl in Serbia who would die in her country of heart failure.  The cardiologists in American said her condition wasn’t compatible with life.  Until God sent us His cardiologist.  Dr. Mary Porisch contacted our family to let us know that she would be willing to help Chrissie if we chose to adopt her.  Another medical missionary cardiologist, “Dr. Kirk”, encouraged us to follow God’s calling, and not allow the world’s warped opinion to deter us from obeying God.  We said yes.  (We actually said yes before we ever talked to a cardiologist about her heart conditions because God asked us to obey His calling, regardless of the outcome.  He used this scripture to speak His desire into our hearts, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is within the power of your hand to do so.”  Proverbs 3:27)  We had the power to rescue Chrissie, regardless of the outcome, and all we had to do was say yes.  We couldn’t let Chrissie perish.  We set out to adopt this sweet little girl, and in October 2009, Chrissie became our “legal” forever daughter.   Even with all of her dire medical conditions, emotional scars, physical scars, abandonment issues, and all that an orphan is forced to deal with,  Chrissie is the most joyful girl you’ll ever meet.  Filled with joy.  Overflowing.  It’s all God.  She is our miracle girl, and we’re so blessed that God chose us as her forever family.

Our entire family, from the tallest to the smallest, has been deeply touched by adoption.  Forever changed in ways that only God can do as He builds our forever family.  We are learning valuable things like selflessness, serving, giving and loving as God teaches us the real meaning of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  And the greatest of these is love.  If we have not love, we are nothing.  ( 1 Corinthians 13)

We know God has more children chosen for us.  We don’t know who, when, how many or where, but our answer is, “Yes, Lord…”.  The children are worth it.

New Update today on Chrissie from mom:

Chrissie was recently hospitalized for her metapneumovirus, they had to do a chest x-ray, and they discovered that the stent that the cardiologist put into one of Chrissie’s arteries has fractured.  It’s in an area that goes into her lung where she has TINY blood flow to begin with.  (There’s no blood flow from her heart to her lungs, but God created some God-made vessels in her neck that work independently of the heart to get blood to the lungs…an amazing miracle.)  Anyway, the one vessel that goes into one of her lungs was very narrowed with only a TINY passageway for blood to get through, so the cardiologist put a stent in back in November.  It was a grueling procedure for her, as the vessel nearly burst and the stent couldn’t expand to its full capacity b/c the vessel was too hard and constricted and all sorts of issues.  Anyway, that stent is “fractured” now, which means that there are several pieces of it that have broken off.  The cardiologist may need to try to repair that before Chrissie’s open heart surgery, but she needs another CAT scan to be able to determine blood flow rates, etc. through that area.  The CAT scan must be done under anesthesia, which is another hospital stay for our little traumatized darling.  We don’t yet know when they’ll do the CAT scan either b/c her immune system must be strong.  (The cardiologist said that going under anesthesia can cause the body to revert back to lung/pulmonary distress, so they want to wait till Chrissie’s body is fully recovered from this metapneumovirus.)

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