God winks, we adopt

At that point, we had four children. Adoption had always been in the back of our minds. Then we made our first mission trip to the City of Children, a refuge in Baja, Mexico, that strives to bring love and happiness back into the lives of hurting children. After spending time with these kids, we felt called to adopt. 

We searched desperately for a route to adopt a child domestically and kept getting shut down everywhere we turned. The laws in Pennsylvania meant that the adoption of older children wasn’t an option for us. We knew we could never afford international adoption — or so we thought. 

We found www.rainbowkids.org, an online resource for families seeking to adopt from abroad. That’s where we first saw the face of our daughter, Mia. She happened to be in South Korea. We prayed and decided to adopt her — and possibly another little girl — and be done. God had different plans. 

While adopting our second daughter, Avah, in May 2012, we were visiting her orphanage in South Korea. In the same hour of meeting Avah, we met our son, Robert Cade HyunSoo. He was hurt, lying on his back just wailing. Our Korean social worker showed me his scar from a previous surgery and told me he would need a liver transplant due to suffering from Biliary Atresia. 

I looked at her and said, “I want him.” I knew it. I just did. He looked back into my eyes and touched my face. The social worker told me he was on our U.S. adoption agency’s list. I was in disbelief. I had never seen him before, but it was true. He was there — just waiting. A total and complete God wink. 

I got home and began to doubt myself. We already had six children at home. Could we handle another — especially a child who would need a transplant? I waited for the door to shut. It never did. 

I was told I was out of my mind, but I didn’t listen. Our insurance pays 100 percent of transplants, we live near the best liver hospital on the East Coast, and the biggest obstacle — the South Korean government — approved us. It was unbelievable. No one with more than five children had been approved under a new law there. 

How many times must our heavenly Father think he is out of his mind to keep wanting me as his child? I sin over and over. But guess what? My God wants me. And I wanted my son. 

Fast forward 18 months to March 2014. Everything fell into place. We now have at home the sweetest, very healthy little boy, Cade. He will need a transplant, but for now he is stable. He is doing incredibly well. 

We should never give up on something when we know God is showing us the way. How many blessings have we missed in our lives? God has worked miracles in my life by simply turning me from my sinful ways and blessing me continuously. 

So many times Satan has thrown in doubt. “Don’t bring him home. Don’t spend the money. You can’t handle that special need. You can’t handle that many kids. What will people think of you?” 

But God is faithful. God kept giving me little glimpses of hope to keep me going — and to encourage all of us to fight the good fight. 

WENDI ROGERS and her husband, Kenny, are the proud parents of seven children — Chloe, Blake, Camye, Paul, Avah, Mia and Cade. Four are biological, and three are adopted from South Korea. They are waiting to adopt two more daughters from China. The family attends the Church of Christ in Washington, Pa. She blogs at www.rogerswonderfullife.com.