A Full Circle

My Coastal email has not been working for some time. I finally got it fixed today and was in the process of deleting a MASSIVE amount of junk mail (281 messages to be exact) when an email titled "from Uganda" caught my attention.

I decided to spare it from the trash bin and opened it to find an INCREDIBLE blessing! Last summer, while in Uganda, I fell in love with a baby girl named Olga. She stole my heart and I cried bittersweet tears the day I had to say goodbye. She was the subject of an article I wrote for Tempo Magazine and her face adorned the walls of my old bedroom and my mom's office. Over the past year I have contiuned to pray for her and although it's been many months since I've seen her, the longing to hold one more time has never left my heart.

Although simply titled and quickly written, the "from Uganda" email instantly created a spring of tears - it was from Olga's adoptive parents!! They had stumbled onto the website I designed (ww2.coastal.edu/tmsuther) as my senior thesis which detailed my trip to Uganda and sent me a letter to say that Olga, now Elianah, is being adopted!! As a matter of fact, TODAY is her court date!! God is SO good!

Won't you join me in thanksgiving? God has protected this baby girl and through a crazy string of coincidence, has joined me to her life again. Please pray for her new family, the McCourtney's, as they attempt to finalize the adoption and bring home Elianah for good! Also, pray that the transition would be easy on both Elianah, her five new siblings, and her loving parents! May the glory rest at the throne of Christ!

Olga and Me last summer at Amani

And yes, I'm aware that this doesn't directly pertain to the Dominican Republic, but global missions, and the growing number of orphans that despretely need love, is essentially the reason I am here. So Olga's story, and the millions who long to be adopted, are so deeply bound in my heart that I can't separate the two.