The Tweeten's Adoption Testimony

Our adoption journey began long before we even got married. God placed a desire in Duane’s heart to adopt a little girl from China. We discussed adoption on and off throughout our first 13 years of marriage.

In August, 2004, God really laid it on our hearts, and we felt Him saying this was His timing for us. We talked about it and prayed about it with our 3 children, who were 5, 9, and 11 at the time. Their excitement was obvious from the beginning. They prayed every night for Kendall, and for the finances we would need to bring her home. Within a week of our decision to adopt, our oldest son won $125 at the State Fair in a “guess the amount of money” container. The boys were also offered a weekly paper delivery job, which they saw as an answer to prayer. What a faith booster for them.

We applied to adopt on Aug 23, 2004. There were many stumbling blocks along the paperwork journey, yet we clearly felt God’s leading. Our dossier was sent to China in Jan, 2005, after a 6 week delay due to several reasons. We were officially logged in on Jan 17th, and our wait began, On July 28th, we found out our agency received referrals for 29 families, but our group of 7 familes was skipped. We were devastated, disappointed, sad, yet knew there had to be some reason God allowed this. We were told it could be another month before our referral came, so after many tears, we prepared ourselves for a long month of waiting. On Aug 3rd, only days after the CCAA was notified of the mistake, our referrals were here. We had a beautiful little girl. We look at her face and know she is Kendall that we have been praying for as a family for over a year. God knew which child He had picked out for us, and she just wasn’t ready on July 28th.

On Sept 15th, we flew out of the States to pick up our beautiful daughter. We enjoyed a wonderful weekend building relationships and seeing the sights, but we were anxious to meet Kendall. On Sept 19th, Kendall was placed in our arms. No feeling can match that of holding your child for the first time. She came to us very quietly, but very curiously. Within a few minutes, her 2 brothers had her smiling, and the bonding process began. She is absolutely the perfect child for our family.

It is amazing to look back after having her in our lives only a couple months and not be able to remember life before her. God placed a dream and desire in our hearts years ago, and it is so amazing to see that dream come true. We feel so blessed to be called by God to raise her, teach her, love her, and hopefully someday lead her to Him. Our job as parents is such an overwhelming job some days, but there is no other place we’d rather be!

Words cannot express our thanks and gratitude to you for helping us financially with our adoption. Thank you for the important part you played in our adoption of Kendall. Your ministry is truly amazing. Thank you for helping bring Kendall home.

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