The Askew's Adoption Journal - Journey to China

Welcome To Our Journal

**The introduction below was written 4 years ago.... I recently resurrected this site, after being away from it since the end of 2006. We have a family blog askews7.blogspot.com, as well as our journey to Anna Li Grace, who we adopted from Taiwan at journeytoannaligrace.blogspot.com

Now that we know who Selah is, we wanted to resurrect this site so that it will no longer be a site without a happy ending. Even though life has changed ALOT since I wrote our introduction below, This blog began as the journey to Selah.*

How our journey began...

Aaron & I were married on July 1, 1995. We talked about having children even while we were dating and knew in our hearts that children would be included as part of our future. During some of those conversations, we talked about "someday adopting".

Aaron grew up in a wonderful, loving home where love for each other and God was expressed freely.

I grew up not really knowing what it was like to be loved by a mom or dad.
I remember the stories like Cinderlla and being able to relate to the sadness and hoping someday that I will have all my dreams come true. I remember feeling much like an orphan. I believe that for me, that's where God began to plant in me the desire to adopt.

Two years after our wedding, we welcomed Noah, 20 months later, Calvin, and then 2 years after that, Michael was born. We had our hands full for a while so having more children wasn't something we were wanting to rush into. In my mind and heart, I wanted 4 or 5 children but I knew the timing wasn't quite right.

Right around Thanksgiving 2003, God began to speak to us about our desire to add a daughter to our home. It still seemed impossible to care for another one since we had such small children who needed alot of care and love, so we let the idea rest for a while (although, I thought about it constantly) The reality of adoption was ignited in our hearts by Aaron's mom, who has a friend in Indonesia that started an orphanage. She had just gone to Indonesia for a ministry trip and was at the orphanage and felt impressed to tell us about possibly adopting from Indonesia. We prayed about it for about 6 months and by the end of the 6 months, Aaron had agreed that adoption seemed like something God was wanting for us. So, in May 2004, we began to seriously pray about adoption and where and when God would bring a daughter for us. Indonesia ended up being a closed door because in order to adopt from there, you have to live there for 2 years. So, we waited and let the months go by. In July 2004, we came across another situation where we thought maybe God was opening a door. Aaron's parents has a friend in Cambodia that is a minister and he had some connection with an orphanage there and he happened to come to Portland on a weekend that we were going to be there. We spoke with him for over an hour about the possibilities of adopting and he thought it would not be a problem. We exchanged contact information and as soon as I got home, I looked into Cambodia and their country requirement. My heart sunk as I found out that the U.S. Govt had closed adoption with Cambodia and that there was no possibility for us to adopt from that country. So, after that, we waited....secretly, I was hoping that the INS would re-open adoptions to US families so that we could pursue adoption in Cambodia..but months went by and nothing happened. One night after seemingly all doors were closing for adoption, I found a time to be alone and quiet before God and I asked Him if I was wrong about what I perceived to be His plan for adoption... I wanted God's plan for our life and not something that WE wanted for ourselves so I asked... and I waited... and I opened my bible to Psalm 68 and the first words that I read said this..."Father to the fatherless, defender of widows, this is God whose dwelling is Holy. GOD PLACES THE LONELY IN FAMILIES; He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy..." Psalm 68:5&6... I read that and began to weep with joy because I knew that at that moment God was saying to me "You have heard me right, I am calling you to adopt.. but TRUST in my timing." I shared this verse with Aaron and he told me with tears that he knows this is God's plan. But, like anything in life... I had a hard time waiting for his timing. God gave us that verse the summer of 2004 and we just waited during those almost 2 years for an open door. Aaron told me that as soon as we have enough money saved up, we can begin looking into adoption through other countries. I began looking into China fairly quickly and knew a couple who had gone through adopting a daughter from China. We continued to pray off and on about adoption and finally in April 2006, I was talking to Aaron about how the timeline for China is getting longer and longer for referral and he said.. "As soon as we have enough money to start the process, I think we should go for it"... I could hardly believe it, because just one week prior to that, it seemed we would NEVER be able to adopt... The next day, we were listening to NEWSBOYS and started listening to the lyrics to the song "The Orphan" and we began to both cry and felt God's confirmation that we can start the process. We felt definitely that we should start the process for adoption in CHINA (We have always been drawn to the Asian Culture mainly due to my Japanese heritage)
God has done many little miracles throughout this journey... So far, we are only 2 months into this process and almost done with paperchasing.

Our boys have been such great blessing to us and I can't imagine how blessed our little girl is going to be to have 3 wonderful and caring big brothers.

We know that God's hand is on her life and she is already marked for us and for Him forever.

Aaron & I have chosen the name Selah for our daughter. The word Selah is Hebrew in origin and although the true meaning of this word has been debated, most agree that it means to "reflect", "ponder", "pause", "weigh heavily". It is written 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk and as a reader, the word "selah" prompts you to go back over what was just read and "ponder", "reflect"... This name came to us on that day that we were listening to the song by Newsboys called "the orphan" There is a phrase in that song that says "We're building you a home, we're building you a home....Selah" and although the writer of this song used that word as a reflection of what was being said, Aaron & I both felt like it had a double meaning... We are truly building a home here for Selah and also on the day that we meet her and everyday thereafter, her name will remind us to reflect, pause, ponder, and weigh heavily, God's goodness in bringing someone from so far away, who may not have had hope, to be given such GREAT hope.