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Carolina for the weekend. While there, we spent a lot of time talking, sharing, and looking back at how much God had blessed our marriage, our home and our family. We had been unable to have children, and God had blessed us with a baby girl in 2002. Her adoption story is also an incredible one, and I will have to share it with you one day. Christie Grace was now almost 5 years old, and had been praying faithfully every night, for over a year, for a baby brother.Driving home from the mountains, we stopped in at a store for supplies. As we walked in, Christie turned to us, and told us that we had to buy food and clothes for our baby. We were surprised since we were nowhere near the baby supply isle, and wondered what had brought this statement on. We explained to her that we had to be patient, and that Jesus had already chosen our baby for us, but we had to wait until that special baby was born. She looked at us in surprise, and told us that our baby was coming on Monday.
That evening (Sunday), in our quiet time together, my husband (Athol) and I spoke about adopting again. Being involved in fulltime missions meant that we couldn't afford the $30K plus for an agency adoption. During the preceding months, we had mailed out several of our family profiles, and had been praying that God would bring the right baby or child along for us. We decided that even though we'd been praying about it, we hadn't been praying as seriously, or as earnestly as our 4 year had been. That night, we turned the situation over to God, and started to pray earnestly for our baby.
Imagine our surprise, and delight, when the phone rang on Monday afternoon, and it was a midwife, from the same practice who'd delivered our Christie almost 5 years before. They said they had a perfect fit for us, but the family wanting to give up their baby for adoption was an African American family, so they wanted to know whether race was an issue for us. Of course it wasn't - this was the baby that God had chosen specifically for us! The midwife said she'd give our profile to the family, but couldn't influence them one way or another, so we'd have to wait and see what they decided to do. I immediately called Athol at work, got him out of a meeting, and told him that we might have our baby this very same day! I was crying so hard that I don't know how he understood a single word I said! We prayed right then and there, over the phone, that if this was indeed our baby, that God would make this abundantly clear to us. We were simultaneously filled with such a profound sense of peace, that we knew that this was of God.
When Athol got home from work, we still hadn't heard anything from the family, and the first doubts started to creep in - after all, we're human! Unable to stand the waiting, Athol dealt with the wait like he deals with any other stressor - he takes it on the road with his bicycle. We still hadn't heard anything by the time he got home an hour later, but his stress was completely gone. He told me that he'd prayed the whole time while riding, and had asked God, that if this was our baby, that He would then reveal it before midnight.
We were eating dinner (or pretending to!) when the phone rang a single time, then stopped. I turned to Athol, and said "that sounds like someone trying to build up the nerve to call!" Sure enough, the phone started ringing again, and it was the baby's grandmother calling. We clicked immediately, and within minutes of her saying that she wanted to meet us, were piling into the car and on our way to the hospital, where our birth mother was having her labor induced. On the 1 1/2 hour drive to the hospital, we started calling close friends and family, and asking them to join us in prayer for the birth mother and her family, and for the health of our still unborn baby.
Once at the hospital, we immediately bonded with the birth mother's mom, who said that yes, they definitely wanted us to have the baby. By this time, the birth mother, a 16 year old, was in labor, and too uncomfortable to meet us. The midwife explained that delivery was still many hours away, so we headed back home to Gainesville, to get Christie to bed and try and get some sleep ourselves. Adding to our excitement was the fact that the baby had been very shy and refused to reveal it's gender during the ultrasound, so we were in for a wonderful surprise! Driving home, we started discussing names. Joshua was Athol's favorite biblical character, so we soon settled on that, and Steven was my brother who'd died in a car wreck when he was 20, and I was 19. I tried calling out some girl's names, but Athol refused to consider any of them. He flat out told me that this was the son God had promised him, so we didn't need a girl's name. Nothing I could do or say would convince him otherwise...
After getting home, Christie and Athol went to sleep, and I lay in bed, way to excited to sleep. At 3:28am, the phone rang, and it was the midwife, saying that we had a healthy baby boy! Joshua Steven Barnes was born at 3:08am, 20 March 2007, and weighed in at 7 pounds 1 oz. We did a happy dance together, before Athol, knowing the sleepless nights ahead, climbed back into bed and went back to sleep. I ran to the bonus room, and started calling our parents and families in South Africa, telling them that they had a brand new grandson and nephew. I was scheduled to work, and called in sick, saying that I was suddenly on maternity leave, effective immediately! My coworkers went ballistic, and I could hear them squealing and shouting the news to everyone in the background. Oh what a joy it was to wake Christie up for school that morning, and tell her that she had the baby brother she'd so faithfully prayed for! She had a huge grin on her face even before her eyes were open!
We were at Walmart when they opened their doors, buying baby supplies, and speaking with our attorney the minute their office opened. We were on cloud 9 and I don't think our feet touched the ground for several weeks. Joshua came home on the 21st, just over 24 hours after he was born. The whole adoption process proceeded without a hitch, and we celebrated his Gotcha (adoption) day when everything was finalized in court on the 30th of July 2007.Today marks the one year anniversary of this miracle in our lives, as Joshua turns one year old. It has been an incredible year, filled with God's richest blessings. Joshua is a very contented little boy, and is so happy and full of giggles and smiles, that strangers approach us in stores and at restaurants to ask whether he's always that happy. We are delighted to tell them that he is!
