During the long, emotional "paper pregnancy" we heard from Heavenly Father what we would name our new little girl....she would be re-named: Acacia Grace Shore. We fell in love with the name! With the Acacia Tree being native to her country (Ethiopia, Africa) we felt that it was a beautiful fit, but we had no idea how significant her name would prove to be, and how specificly God was speaking to us. This was HIS name for her....and His confirmation that this was our little girl!
While we waited, we learned about some of the attributes of the "Acacia" tree.... and it began to give us insight into her little spirit: strong; able to survive harsh environments because it's roots grow very deep; the sap is still today used for medicines and is referred to as "the healing tree"; (and the most significant) it is not prone to disease....
Finally, in October of 2009 we got the phone call that we had been longing for....our referral. David and I both listened on the phone as they shared with us about a little girl they had matched us with. She was a healthy, 8 month old baby girl. She was a surviving twin who had been born to a mommy and daddy who both had Aids....but she did not!
As her story was shared with us, tears weld up in our eyes. We stared at one another in amazement....God's hand withheld that disease from her!!! And His name for her was clearly our confirmation....she was not prone to disease! We were beginning to catch a glimpse of the understanding that our little girl was impacting our lives as much as we were hers. We were simply honored to be a part of this adoption that was SO on the heart of God.
We had four months until we would travel to bring her home, and it was almost unbearable! During this time, God began to show us that our little girl was a representation of us....His children. Reminding us that we all have been rescued, adopted, grafted into His Kingdom/family through His son - Jesus.
"The Rescue of the Lord" became the theme in prayer as we packed and prepared for David and our oldest son Caleb to travel and bring little Acacia home.
Watch video below -
