Traveling Post # 12: Our Beautiful Sunshine and My Hero

Reece's Rainbow picture

What not to say about Maclayne Faith?  This precious little girl was seared into my heart the first time I saw her picture on the Reece’s Rainbow website.  When we first decided to adopt Teague and Trenton, I made it my mission to not only pray for our two boys, but to also pray for the tiny little girl with both Down syndrome and Fetal Alcohol syndrome at their orphanage.  It never crossed my mind to inquire about adopting her because David and I was content with raising boys only.  In fact, I have always made it a point to tell others that there would be NO WAY that I would want to and no way I could ever be the mother of a girl.  It’s funny how God works.  Little did I know that all those times I was down on my knees praying and asking God to prepare the heart of the mommy who would come rescue and adopt this little angel, it was my heart He was preparing.

David and I were about a month into committing to our boys when I had had enough of the “nagging thoughts” to inquire about the cost of adopting her.  In my mind, I was inquiring because I had taken on the mission of finding her mommy and I needed this “important” information on her so that I could advocate for her.  Plus, I knew that the newly inquired information would eliminate David and me from bringing her home altogether because there would be no way we could afford to adopt another child, let alone a girl!

June 2011

About two and a half weeks before Christmas, I sent Andrea an email asking about Leeza and the cost of adopting her with “other children”.  For some reason, I started the email off by telling Andrea that David and I weren’t committing to adopt her, I was just wondering how much it more it would cost to adopt her along with Teague and Trenton.  As soon as I hit the send button, I realized what I was really asking.  I choose to take the out of sight out of mind approach and forget that I had sent the email.  And when Andrea responded, I would promptly thank her for the information and tell her that I was trying my hardest to find a family for the little girl.   

Again, it’s funny how God works.  During the few days it took before Andrea responded to the email, almost every thought I had was about this sweet little girl.  Every time I saw a mother and her daughter it would make me smile and leave me with thoughts of just how lucky they both were.  Each time I saw the colors pink and purple, I would think how sweet it would be to decorate a little girl’s room in those colors.  Each time I saw an outfit for a little girl, I would look for socks and bows to match the outfit. 

August 22, 2011

Finally, Andrea’s response came to my in box and I found myself opening the email just as fast as I could.  The magical words that my heart was secretly yearning for were now wide open for my mind to read.  This precious little girl had enough money in her grant fund and that it would not cost a dime more to add her to our adoption of Teague and Trenton.  I started bawling and called David at work.  I was actually in my car driving to pick Silas up from his school and David told me to calm down, pull over, and then call him back.  When I called him back I could barely tell him the news.  He was quiet for several seconds when he finally asked me if this is really what I wanted to do.  I told him that God had opened all the doors leading us to bring her home with our boys.  

During the next eight months, it was Maclayne who we prayed for the most because she was the most fragile.  There were hundreds of times that these prayers and thoughts would leave me in tears because I knew what my precious daughter had to endure in her short little life.  My heart was broken over and over again.  A few times, my worry left me physically sick.  David was much stronger than I was when it came to our baby girl.  He told me over and over that we needed to trust that God was taking care of her.  I would always counter with a simple “I do trust in God.”  David would tell me all over again, “no, we need to trust that God is taking care of her.”  To hear these words were pretty ironic because God has always equipped me with a strong faith in Him and in His will.

Holding her for the 1st time

On the day when I finally got to hold my precious, beautiful daughter, I fully understood how God was taking care of our Maclayne.  Our mighty wonderful Savior had equipped this tiny nine pound three year old little girl with a will so strong that it could bring even the most seasoned adults to shame.  And, in a way, it did bring me to shame as I thought, “my little girl knew that she needed to fight.”  God had equipped her with a faith that she has yet to understand in order to live through the days of neglect and abuse that she did not deserve.  Maclayne taught me the true meaning of the childlike faith Jesus preached about.  For I am thankful that "[her] angels in heaven continually [saw] the face of [the] Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10b).

August 27, 2011

So, when I think of our little Maclayne Faith two thoughts immediately come to the forefront of my mind:  she is our Beautiful Sunshine and she is my hero.  And her “Gotcha Day” will be the first day of my Beautiful Sunshine’s childhood.  The childhood that had been withheld from her for over three years.

Laughing with my Sunshine