I guess you could say that such a family moto brought us here today...  Adopting a critically ill child, considered "terminal" by doctors, was never a part of our personal plans.  In fact, just over a year ago, our plan was to bring a third orphan home- but she was a healthy 9 year old girl-  not a dying one!  It is fascinating to see how God redirects our steps in spite of our best efforts to impose our personal desires on His plan.  When that healthy 9 year old was suddenly matched with another family, I saw a photo of Rachel for the first time and read a two or three sentence description of her critical needs.  Immediately I knew deep down that God was calling me to "do something" about it.  And when I took her files to Doug to ask what we should do, I knew that God was asking us to follow His lead and obey Him with little knowledge as to what that obedience would mean.  Where would we find the incredible amount of money we would need to adopt her, not to mention the medical expenses that would follow?  Would she live?  Would she die?  Was there a miracle waiting for her here at home or would God choose to be glorified in her death instead?   It's been over a year since we first asked these life altering questions and we still don't have the answers...  And yet, I don't think either of us would change a thing!  This past year has been filled with a measure of grace I haven't known before...  and when the climb has been so steep I wondered how we'd make it to the top... God's grace has picked us up and carried us over. Suddenly the words of Elisabeth Elliott read so many years ago, have been proven true in my own experience.  She wrote of how people looked on from the outside and marveled at her strength through the loss of her young husband at the hands of the Auca Indians and then the death of her second husband through cancer.  (quote)