A Cry from Ghana

by Ruth

On July 24th, 2012, I heard a cry from a boy in Ghana.  It broke my heart.

On this particular afternoon, I was out in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, with a group of women I am so blessed to have in my life.  We call ourselves the BFFs (Bible Friends Forever).  We met about 5 years ago doing a Beth Moore Bible Study together.  We had such a great time doing the study together, that after it was over we decided we just could not move on and lose contact with one another.  We committed to meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 1-3pm.  Obviously, not every one can make it every time, but it is a high priority for all of us.

A couple things are very important to our group.  One is praying for one another.  We have seen some very cool answers to prayer.  Another is doing service projects together.  And we just enjoy being together and having fun.

One of the women, Sue, has a daughter named Tammi.  Tammi's family was in the process of adopting two boys from Ghana.  It was not an easy process, and there were many bumps in the road, and times of discouragement.  We were faithfully praying for their family through this time.  Eventually, in June of 2012, the boys arrived in the US to begin living with their forever family.  Our group was even invited to the airport to greet them when they got off the plane (unfortunately I could not be there).

On the boat that afternoon, I asked Sue how the boys, Kadre and Attah were adjusting.  At that point, they had probably been in the US for 5 or 6 weeks.  Sue shared some fun and touching stories, and then she shared that when Kadre was leaving the foster home in Ghana, he had a friend say to him - "Kadre - find me a family that will love me, even if it's in Norway".  Can I just say, I wanted to cry right then and there?  I didn't but the rest of the time I was on the boat, all I wanted to do was get off, fly directly to Ghana and bring him home to my house.

And I just could not get that story out of my head.

The next morning, as I was sitting at my desk working (mind you, I work at home) silent tears were running down my face.  For a couple hours.  I couldn't stand it any more.  I finally sent my husband an email.  That day also happened to be our 25th wedding anniversary.

This was my email:  "What do you say for our 25th anniversary we adopt a teenage boy from Ghana?  Sue B's daughter & son-in-law adopted two boys from there, just came about 4 or 5 weeks ago.  They are Kadre & Attah.  Kadre has a friend in the orphanage, and when he left, the friend said to him ... "Kadre, please find me a family, even if it's in Norway".  He will age out in a few years - then he will be turned out onto the streets to fend for himself."

After I hit send, I wondered what on earth I had just done, and if my husband would think his wife had just totally lost it.

After a few minutes, I got a response back.  It was simply "gulp".

When my husband got home that night, I found out that the story I shared had also touched him (and he did not think I had totally lost it!).  It didn’t take much discussion to figure out that we both felt drawn to this boy's story and that we needed to begin praying about what God would have us do.  We were left with a looming question - are we being called to consider adoption?

Ruth