Our Story
Have you ever been given a challenge by God that
you just couldn't ignore?
In November of 2009 our
daughter Katelyn was given such a challenge from Freshwater Church in
MN. Those that wanted to participate in supporting OLTCH
(Operation Love The Children of Haiti), an orphanage in
Leogane, Haiti, were given a bag of rice. They were told to just eat beans
and rice for a week and pray for the child pictured on their rice bag.
Katelyn picked a bag of rice with "Anaika's" (pronouched An-i-e-ka)picture on it..She was 1 years
old. And so she took the challenge and asked us to pray too.
In March of 2010 (3
months after the earthquake) Katelyn accepted yet another challenge
and traveled with a mission team from Freshwater Church in MN to
help at OLTCH.
When Katelyn got to the orphanage she
immediately found Anaika and bonded with her. Anaika really stuck close
to her. The bond between the two of them was said to be one of
the strongest.
Katelyn spent 12 days there and when she left to
come home she had many stories to tell about Anaika...
Anaika came to OLTCH very sick...she had only
been fed boiled crackers once a day. She was spiking high fevers and they
almost lost her twice. Before her mother actually signed all four of her
children over to OLTCH she debated whether to leave Anaika there since she
could sell her soul to the voo doo doctor...Praise the Lord that she DID end up
signing her over!
God was at work in our hearts! First we
decided to "sponser" her by going to the OLTCH website (OLTCH.org).
They have all of the children listed and they can be sponsored! So
we began to pray for her earnestly. I was specifically praying that a
family would adopt her and her siblings.
Time passed and on October 8, 2010 while
doing my Bible study and praying I really felt that God was speaking right to
me and that He said "Why are you praying for someone else to adopt
her...what about you?" Well, I quickly dismissed that and pushed it
away BUT for the next 5 weeks as God kept bringing it to my mind along with
many many other "adoption" information that I just
"happened" to come across. I knew that I really needed to share
this with my husband but there just never seemed to be a good time to do it and
I wasnt sure when or how so I asked the ladies in my Tuesday morning Bible
Study group to please pray. The following week one of those ladies
approached me and said “AnnMarie, I was trying to get to you on Sunday but you
were gone. I have to ask you…Are you considering adoption?” My
mouth dropped open because I had not told anyone up to this point. Looking back
I know why I was to ponder this in my heart for so many weeks before it became
known because it was in that time that my total dependence was on God and NO
ONE ELSE.
The Bible study I was currently doing was about
the Holy Spirit and acting on what you are prompted to do by the Holy Spirit
~~not a coincidence! Let me tell you that the Holy Spirit was REALLY
prompting me to talk to my husband and right away...so that night one of my own
person miracles began...my husband called me from work and asked what I was
doing that night which was very unusual for him to do (and I was thinking
"Talking to YOU")....Everyone was praying that day and after much
prayer myself I sat down with my husband that night and told him that I wanted
to share something with him. I explained to him that I had been prompted
by the Holy Spirit to talk to him and all I wanted Him to do is hear my story
and pray about it. I made it very clear that I was not asking Him for
anything that I wanted but only for what GOD wanted to do in our lives.
He didn't say much but agreed to pray...I do remember him asking me if I
really wanted a 2 year old now and I told him that if all we do with our lives
is rescue children and if it is God's will I would be happy
A few days later I began to share with people
that we were contemplating adoption and all the questions/doubts and fears
started. This was not the response I expected. The first question
raised to me was "How will you afford an international adoption"?
I hadn't even thought about he money the whole 5 weeks and knew nothing
of how much an adoption cost before that. People were saying it was over
$30,000. I immediately went to God and said..."God, if this is true,
there is no way we can afford that and I became discouraged....I talked to
Katelyn and she contacted OLTCH and told them I needed to know what the cost
would be...The first answer to prayer was that it did NOT cost that much
because we were not going through a placement agency...it would cost between
$7,000 & $12,000....Wow, what a difference I thought but still A LOT of
money....so I went to God again and another miracle took place in my life....a
few days later I noticed a piece of paper on the dinning room table stapled and
opened up....I thought it was Andrew's homework or something but when I picked
it up and flipped it to the cover it said "Benefits for Adoption".
It was from my husband's place of employment so I started reading and it
said that they would pay up to $4000 towards an adoption....Thank you
Lord....that was a start! (and an Answer to Prayer)...This also showed me that
my husband was really thinking about this to investigate on it...another answer
to prayer!
And so the story continued....we began to pray
about this together and shared our story with more and more people. The
more challenges we met the more confirmations we got to GO FORWARD. Each
and every obstacle was removed by God!
As we began to think about fundraising and how
we would get the money together to get Anaika home we became frustrated and
asked God..."Why would you choose us since we did not have the money
sitting anywhere to draw from for this?" ...He made it very clear to
us THAT IS EXACTLY WHY HE WOULD CHOOSE US...TO SHOW HIMSELF POWERFUL.
There was such a peace that came over us that we just can't
explain...from that day on we knew that if God wanted her with us...HE WOULD
DO IT!
Our love for Anaika grew stronger and
stronger... Katelyn ended up going to Haiti again the beginning of April,
2011 and this time she brought with her a photo album for Anaika
to have with our pictures in it (her "forever family" as OLTCH
referred to us)and presents from us for her 3rd birthday on April 29. Katelyn
returned with many pictures and videos of "our little girl".
Fundraising began and again God proved
faithful...we had our first "fundraiser rummage sale" in June, 2011
and I asked God if we could please make at least $500...guess what came in?
$515! God is so good...
We also set up a fund at Landmark Credit Union
where people could donate and received some funds there...God was at work!
Since I had tried to
get a summer job and was not able to I determined that my goal for the summer
would be to raise funds to bring Anaika home. We became busy with making
flyers, this website, planning rummage, t-shirt and bake sales with the next
fundraiser rummage to by July 21, 22, and 23rd andhad no idea what was about
to hit us....
On June 29,
2011 I got a phone
call that Anaika's biological father who had not been in the picture at all
showed up and took her from OLTCH...we were devastated. I
cried for days. We were heart broken. It had been alittle over 9 months
since we started the adoption process without ANY problems and now I felt like
I was pregnant and lost the baby...I could barely speak about her without
crying...the next few days and weeks were very tough...even just yesterday at
church the song I have at the top of this website was played and I could not
hold back the tears...where would the story go from here?
Well...one thing we
knew for sure..that God is always still in control! We began to pray
about what to do...even in the tough times we could feel His direction.
The DAY we got the phone call was the day Katelyn had someone give her a
larger amount of money for the adoption and when she explained what was going
on they said they wanted her to take it anyway...I was also in the middle of
collecting donations for the next rummage sale and was amazed at how many
people still wanted to donate and so we decided to keep going forward...the
door bell kept ringing with donation after donation and we ended up having the
2nd rummage sale just this past weekend and brought in another $500. We
are praying now for God's continued direction in this process. For now we
believe that we are to "be ready" for what He has planned.
So I ask the question
I asked at the beginning of this story...Have you ever been given a challenge
by God that you just couldn't ignore? Maybe your challenge is to donate
to a good cause like this. PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING IF YOU FEEL THAT GOD
IS LEADING YOU TO but most important PLEASE PRAY WITH US that God will
direct us in the way we should go!
We have a fund set up
at Landmark Credit Union where you can donate...you
would give them our name (AnnMarie or Matthew Moore) and tell them to put it
in "Anaika's Fund"
You can also donate
right here on this website by hitting the "donate" button and
following the instructions through pay pal.
Thank you so much for
your support in this journey of ours...
ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW
THIS STORY WILL CONTINUE AND END...To Him be the Glory!
Written
11/05/11...God MOVES
November 5, 2011....I STAND AMAZED AT MY GOD!
WE HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR HIS WILL AND HE HAS MOVED! My last entry on this site was June 29,
2011. That entry was to tell you that our hearts were broken because
Anaika's dad had taken her from OLTCH. We got an email today that Anaika
has been returned to the orphanage and he has agreed to their terms for her to
be adopted! So....our journey continues! I am filled with so many
emotions....overjoyed, overwhelmed, aprehensive, scared to name a few...PLEASE,
PLEASE PRAY with us as we move ahead to adopt Anaika! We MUST get our
Home Study done and need your help....please consider donating even just a
small amount as the Lord leads you!
