Manna...Stone Number 3

This is our third "rock of remembrance"...we are tracing the hand of God's faithfulness through the years.

April 2001--Stephen was 16 months old and we were deciding which adoption path to pursue next. We had talked about the Ukraine and China, but decided to try domestic adoption again. We put in our paperwork with the same agency in VA, but had to have a home study done from an agency in our state. We decided to put our paperwork in with both agencies (one in VA and one in Michigan). We were living with my parents at the time and were building a house two doors down from my parents.

Oh the joys of adoption paperwork. Since we were living with my parents and my brother at the time, we all had to submit paperwork. We all had to get physicals, TB tests, fingerprints for background checks, interviews for the home study, etc.

Our home study was approved in July of 2001 and we decided to pull our file from the agency in Michigan sometime in late July. We were receiving bills for thousands of dollars from both agencies to keep our file "active" and we decided that we would just keep our file active with one agency. I called the office in Michigan and talked to the director and she said she understood and that they would pull our file.

Sometime in September we got a call from the agency in Michigan saying that a birthmom wanted to "interview" us. I told Rachel (our social worker) that we had pulled our file a couple of months ago. God in His providence allowed our file "not to be pulled". Birthmoms were still viewing our file. Rachel asked if we were willing to meet, she didn't care if we had pulled our file or not. Of course, we said absolutely. We drove 3 hours to Grand Rapids and met the birthmom and her mother. Matthew had already been born (August 1, 2001) and it hadn't worked out with a previous family that she had chosen. Matthew was in foster care and Laurie (birthmom) was struggling with this decision.(I'm really not sure of all the details, but they really don't matter). They were interviewing another family after us that didn't have any children. The social worker in Grand Rapids told us that Laurie preferred a family without any children. We walked away and just decided to trust that God would work out His plan. If Matthew was to be ours, He could move their hearts.

We were on pins and needles just wondering what the outcome would be. We did completely trust God, but your mind just races with dreams and plans, etc. We received a call that they wanted to talk to us again and to meet Stephen. For the record, it is nerve wracking to take a 21 month old boy to this kind of a meeting. But we did. We drove 3 hours to see Laurie again and I think Stephen was pretty well behaved...can't really remember all the details.

There isn't enough room for all the details, but on October 9, 2001 we welcomed Matthew Joseph into our family. Laurie had interviewed several families, worked with two different agencies, but she chose us. We were humbled and honored.

Matthew was a happy and sweet baby. He was so good-natured right from the beginning. He smiled and laughed at an early age and still has us smiling and laughing today. Stephen couldn't say Matthew I guess, so he called him "Manna". God caused manna to appear in the Old Testament at the right time and used manna to meet His people's needs. God sent Matthew to our family at just the right time and fulfilled the desire of our hearts for more children. Matthew means "gift of God" and that's exactly what he was then and still is today.

Meet Matthew Joseph Jordan
Born August 1, 2001 at 12:52 p.m. weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz.







I hope you can see God's faithfulness in your life as well. He has abundantly blessed us and we are so thankful.