Because of privacy issues, I will not post his name. I’ll call him MZ. He is 7 and is good buds with my son A. I have several pictures of them together. He’s a handsome boy with an open, sweet face. He was on the first “Waiting Children” flyer we received from our agency, and he has been on every one since. We had looked into adopting him, too, because there was just something about him. I fell in love. Every night, I prayed for my kids, and I also prayed specifically for MZ to find a family.
Michelle was kind enough to post on our agency’s yahoo group while she was in Ethiopia, and all the parents with kids there were grateful to get even the littlest tidbits of news. On Thursday, I sent a message to her saying, “Thank you so much for delivering care packages to the kids, and thank you for giving attention to my kids A and M (and to the kids who don't have moms and dads yet). There is a boy who is on the waiting child list (his name is MZ) who is 7. We looked into adopting him in addition to the siblings we are adopting, but our state wouldn't allow it because we don't have enough bedroom space in our house right now. He has been in my prayers. If you get a chance, please give him some love for me, OK? It breaks my heart that I can't adopt him, too."
She messaged back: “The boy you mention... I am in love! He has an amazing spirit. He is pretty shy. I'd take him home in an instant if I could. He caught my attention before, but now that I've met him, I REALLY want to find him a family! Can't you add on to your house? ;)”

Soon thereafter, I got messages from several people from our adoption group, all saying that they have had MZ in their thoughts. One woman in particular wanted to know my thoughts on him and any information I might have about him. She said she was adopting a 7-year-old girl and hadn’t really thought about adopting a boy that age, too. She said she was going to talk to her husband over the weekend.... she wasn't really sure what he might think of the idea.
On Friday, I posted on Facebook that there was a wonderful 7-year-old boy in Ethiopia who needed to be adopted. I started asking everyone I know who prays to pray for him to get a family.
On Saturday I get a message on Facebook from a woman named Jillian. She adopted two deaf boys from IAG, has two biological daughters (and another on the way) AND her husband is a Marine deployed overseas. She is Wonder Woman, I’m telling you! She wanted me to know that if it was MZ that I was talking about, a family had just decided on Friday to adopt him, that he was "on hold" for them. I emailed her right back and sent her the pictures I had of MZ and told her to tell whomever it was that I was so excited for them and that I had been praying for their son and loving him in my heart for months.
As it turns out, it was the woman who is adopting the 7-year-old girl that I had been emailing! I guess she and her husband had both been thinking about him separately. On Sunday night, I got a message from MZ’s “mom-to-be.” She said that with all the prayers that went out for him, God answered.
I'm telling you, there is something truly amazing about this whole Ethiopia adoption thing. Every little piece of it feels like a miracle.

Our adoption agency has determined (as best they can) that "A" (our almost-son) was born in 2003 and "M" (our almost-daughter) was born in 2006. Because of poverty, they weren't born in a hospital, and there are no birth records. There are no birth records for most people in Ethiopia, and birthdays aren't really celebrated in developing nations where poverty is such an overwhelming issue. Pretty sad, isn't it?


