There’s a lot to consider when a family says “yes” to adoption.

Where will you adopt from? How many children? What ages? How will you fundraise? The list goes on…

Each question holds significant weight. But adopting families don’t have to walk through these decisions alone. God is always near, helping guide and direct.

Jeremiah and Whitney brought home their daughter, Hallelujah “Hallee” Joy, this past May. But before they could get to that point, they had to make their first big decision:  which country?

Here’s the first chapter of their story. In Whitney’s words…

India.

When I hear the word I instantly smell curry and cardamom, I hear the ring and thump of Bollywood music, but what was it that first drew our hearts to this vast, complex country?

As newlyweds, I remember my husband and I sitting on our living room couch, snow falling silently outside the window when we casually began discussing adoption. We decided to pray separately and then voice the answer laid on each of our hearts.

We were actually surprised when we both came back with India because we had never even mentioned it to each other before!

“When you picture it, do you see a little girl or boy?” I asked my husband.

“A little girl!” He said with certainty.

“Me too!” I smiled.

It was like we were finally voicing a desire that had been in our hearts for awhile. Almost like the Lord had AirDropped this calling and we were just now opening the file!

Fast-forward a few years (five to be exact).

After walking the path of infertility and learning what it means to have God be enough (which we never stop learning), this idea of adopting from India came up again. We followed some dear friends as they adopted through Lifeline Children’s Services, which led us to follow Lifeline on social media. They just happened to have a webinar on India adoption.

Jeremiah was out of town, and I watched it. Taking pages of notes to be able to tell him all that I learned! I expected him to say we would start looking into it next year, but he said, “set up a meeting.”

We met with Lifeline’s program director that next Thursday. I felt my daughter so strongly! I knew that she was there, and we needed to begin the process. After meeting with Lifeline that day, I literally cried until my eyes were swollen.

Jeremiah perfectly put into words what I was feeling when he asked, “Do you feel that if we do not start the process right now that we could lose her?”

That precious little girl that God had laid on our hearts years before she was even born.

“Yes!” I responded.

“Then let’s go find our daughter.”

Out of 20,000,000+ orphaned and abandoned children, God was leading us to one specific little girl.

Lifesong’s Role

Our team at Lifesong is so thankful to help make adoption stories like this possible!

When Whitney, Jeremiah, and Hallee returned home, they sent us a note–

“I wanted to reach out now that we are home with our precious daughter Hallelujah Joy (“Hallee Joy”) from India and say a huge THANK YOU! The matching grant that you all blessed us with enabled us to bring Hallee Joy home… we could not have done it without you!”

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