introducing.

i'm ridiculously excited to introduce you to Anika's family today!

i want to be very clear, we are called to testify for God's glory;

may He get all the praise! He has been weaving their family's story long

before i saw Anika's sweet face.  may you see His love & glory and

be encouraged to step out in faith & obedience in whatever God

may be asking you to do.

-------------------------------------

Nathan and Brandy married 16 years ago having no idea that a large family, nor adoption was in their future…but God knew. Once they began having children, one came each year for four years. Their bio kids are 12, 11, 10, 9. They thought they were done, but there was something stirring in the heart of Nathan. He wanted to adopt a little girl from Russia. Brandy thought he was crazy! She told him that she was not closed to the idea and asked him to pray that God would soften her heart. Soften it He did. Now her heart beats passion for the orphan and she feels that she can’t do enough. They brought home their youngest daughter, Aeniah, from Russia in 2008. Yet, somehow they just knew that God intended to bring them two daughters from EE. Just as they were settling into comfortable with Aeniah, and wondering if they had heard wrong, God prompted them to start a homestudy at the end of 2010. 

They initially found Anika in February of 2011, but received closed doors because of their family size. They accepted the closed door, but she had captured their heart and they always wondered if she’d ever found a family. 

Early in May, Brandy, who had not been on social networking for many weeks, made an impulse decision to briefly check in on the Twitter world. While there, a tweet stood out that said something like this, “Maybe YOU can be the one to change this little girl’s life.” So she clicked the link. On the other end of that link was Love’s blog advocating for Anika. Even though Anika had grown up a bit, Brandy knew right away that the little girl staring back at her was the same one that had captured her heart in February.

So she prayed, reminding him of the closed doors and felt God telling her that she needed to “push” and watch as He was going to move mountains. He brought the passage in Matthew 17 to mind, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” As she began to dive into that passage more, she also learned that other translations follow up that verse with “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Strangely enough God had been teaching her over the past few months about prayer and fasting. She knew this was where the rubber was going to meet the road. 

After asking and waiting, the country officials decided to allow Anika’s family to have up to five children in the home. Mountain one moved. 

The next mountain that looked impossible to move was that there were two other families in line wanting to bring her home. So again she asked her friends to join her in fasting and praying in the wait time while those families made their decisions. 

Thursday, May 12, 2011 their family celebrated the “Gotcha Day” of their first adopted daughter. Three years ago they walked away from the orphanage with her. As Brandy meditated on the significance of this day, she begged of the Lord to let this be the day that she would hear that another mountain had moved—that she would be allowed to be Anika’s mommy.

At 4:11 pm, her phone rang and she knew that either good news or bad news awaited her. She braced herself for either. On the other end of the phone, the social worker shared that Anika was available to her family, but there was one catch…Anika’s family would need to be able to travel in June.

Funny thing is that Brandy & Nathan already had a trip planned to her home country for June, plane tickets bought and visas ready. A whoop of joy went out in the home of Anika’s new family! A happy dance was done by all as Brandy reflected upon what she knew ever since February when she first saw Anika, but was afraid to believe--that Anika is her daughter! 

Brandy and Nathan now face new mountains as they must have all of their paperwork done, translated and registered in country before June 7. They have seen far too many mountains moved for Anika to believe that these mountains will not move also. Feel free to join them on their journey as it unfolds. Brandy is writing out His story through her story in detail on their family blog.

 -------------------------

Thank you, Nathan & Brandy, for sharing here.  Looking forward to

praying Anika all the way home!  

Thank you to each one of you that has loved on Anika through prayer,

spreading the word about her & hosting or attending parties.  You are

part of her journey home!

The link to donate for Anika's adoption is now here.

Let's shower this precious family with funds as they prepare to

meet Anika very soon!