Should you take the Risk?

As you consider adopting a high-risk baby we wanted to encourage you with our own journey towards adopting a baby boy born 10 weeks prematurely. When told of the opportunity, we initially didn’t think twice about it, because we knew what we wanted and were not willing to face the risks involved, but immediately God grabbed our hearts and slowly began to open them to the reality of His sovereign hand making a way for us. We hope that after reading our story, you will be open yourselves to consider How Gods ways can be so much greater than our own.

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From: Dean Greer
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 3:21 PM
To: undisclosed recipients
Subject: update!

We found out yesterday that a Caucasian baby boy was born on Wednesday, ten weeks premature. The original adopting family decided that they did not want to deal with a preemie so backed out leaving the little guy in need of a family. All we know at this point is that he apparently is doing better than most in his situation, weighs just shy of 4 pounds (good), has some bleeding on the brain (normal for preemies), and will be in the hospital for another 6-8 weeks. We are scheduling a conference call with the doctor to discuss all of the risks involved before deciding whether or not to pursue it further. The amazing thing is that the baby is right here in Kansas City!

Please Pray!

(Sent to just a few of you – please keep it under wraps for now.)

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At this point we thought it wise to seek the counsel of an authority on preemies:
Vicki Penwell, along with her husband Scott founded the ministry that became Mercy In Action over 27 years ago. Vicki is a midwife and health educator. For years they have lived and worked in Alaska, Asia, and Mexico, setting up clinics, birth centers, medical mission outreaches, malnourished children's feeding programs and schools to help the poor. Vicki has become a dear friend through our work at Desert Stream Ministries
More info on their ministry: www.mercyinaction.org

Following is the thread between Vicki and me:

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On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 4:27 AM, Dean Greer wrote:

Hi Vicki,

Blessings to you! I have been looking for some personal insight regarding premature births and thought you would probably have the best personal experience.
We don't know a lot of details yet, but I was wondering if there would be a chance to talk with you regarding potential risks involved with a 10 week preemie. I imagine you would have much insight. It would be ideal to be able to talk with you after talking with the doctor.

Hope things are going well for you!

Blessings,
Dean

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From: Vicki Penwell
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:33 PM
To: Dean Greer
Subject: Dean--premature baby

Wow Dean, amazing to get this note from you. I think about you often and had wondered what was up with you and Chrystal in the "family-making" department!

I am on a little island in the Philippines, but because of amazing modern technology, you can call me easily on my cell phone. It doesn't matter day or night because I am always on call for births here, so my phone is always on, and I am very used to getting woken up and would not mind at all .

This baby boy sounds like he is really doing good to be 4 pounds at 10 weeks early. Maybe he is not quite so premature as originally thought (people are wrong on their due dates all the time) so when you talk to the doctor, ask him or her what the estimated gestational age is according to the physical and neurological signs in the baby.

Premature babies can have health issues, for sure. They are just more fragile, and can have life-long issues. Depending on your health insurance status, it could get expensive. And the next 6-8 weeks could be a roller coaster of emotions. Premature babies rarely just progress along evenly, they often have setbacks and victories and could even have several periods of uncertainties if the little guy will survive. Boys don't do as good as girls, statistically, at overcoming premature birth. Also, you need to know as much as possible about what caused the premature birth. If drugs were involved, you obviously have other problems on top of the prematurity. Babies don't just check out of the womb early for no reason, usually something is going on that has already put the baby at risk, ie bad nutrition, drugs, infection, etc. So ask as many questions as you can when talking to the doctor.

On the other hand, if this is "your" baby, love can overcome anything. I would say the most important thing is to really decide (together with God in prayer of course) as soon as possible if you are to take this baby, because if you are, one or both of you should be in the hospital with the baby almost constantly talking to, holding (as much as is allowed by the hospital) and praying over the little one. Premature babies are for sure at bigger risk for those early "mother wound" issues, as are all babies put up for adoption, but it can be overcome if a new bonding relationship (in this case, a mother and father) comes into the scene as soon as possible and floods the baby with affection, physical touch, the sound of a voice, etc, so the fact that the baby is in KC is totally in your favor, and seems like a very good sign. If you decide to go forward with pursuing this adoption, I would say this baby boy is one lucky little guy, because the time of being alone in an incubator with no one to love him would be significantly shortened, since you could visit him, and another adoptive family may live farther away and not be able to do that.

There are actually two schools of thought on premature babies. The old school thought is that touch should be kept to a minimum to not over stimulate their immature nervous system. But in the last decade some amazing research has come out on the phenomenal health and welfare benefits of massage on premature babies, and how they leave the hospital earlier and have fewer health problems and gain weight faster, etc. if massaged and touched alot. That whole body of research points to the importance of touch, and really ties into our Living Water belief on the importance of early mother bonding and care. I will try to see if I can attach a story on it to an email to you.

But mostly what I can do for you, my friend, is pray, that God will show you clearly what to do, and that He will open all the doors (or close them) according to His divine will for you and Chrystal.

Please keep me updated, and as I said before, call anytime if you want to talk in person.

Much love and prayers,
Vicki


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On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 10:10 PM, Dean Greer wrote:

Hi Vicki!

It was such a blessing to get your emails and your kind, encouraging words.

We are going forward with the adoption and are hoping to get to the hospital today to sign paperwork and meet Jeremiah Michael for the first time! He is a little fighter and is doing really well. Supposedly he has captured the hearts of the entire staff.

The best part of the whole situation is that he is right here in KC so we will be able to spend a lot of time with him!

The articles are helpful, thanks you so much! We will keep you posted. J

Much Love,
Dean



________________________________________
From: Vicki Penwell
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 1:12 AM
To: Dean Greer
Subject: Re: more research on importance of touch to preterm infants

Dean and Chrystal,

Thanks for letting me know you are going ahead...I love that you are taking a risk on little Jeremiah. It is always a good thing to risk your heart on Christ-like love... even if, and especially if, there is a danger that the adoption may fall through later and break your heart. It is the right thing to do. He needs you two.

And I will certainly begin now to pray that the adoption will go through for you, that he will grow healthy and strong and come home soon to your home, to fill that spot in your life you have longed for so long to be filled by a child of your own.

The spirit of adoption is real, and wonderful (I know!) and I pray it over you three now,

love,
Vicki


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From: Dean Greer
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:10 AM
To: Undisclosed Recipients
Subject: The Suddenly of God


“I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."
Jeremiah 29:11-14a - the message

This Friday we are scheduled in court to sign papers granting Chrystal and I custody of Jeremiah Michael Greer, born on April 16th - 10 weeks prematurely - right here in Kansas City! Tonight we were able to meet him for the first time. We will be spending much time with him at the hospital during the next 6-8 weeks as he grows up. He has some minor complications, as preemies are known to have, though he is healing rapidly and expected to grow up to be a healthy, mighty man of God.

Birth weight: 3 lbs, 11ozs
Length: 39 centimeters
Red hair, blue eyes

Our story with him began just this past Sunday, so Chrystal and I are still catching up to it all. We look forward to telling you the complete story as it continues to be a moment by moment reminder of God’s sovereign hand. We covet your continued prayers – they have certainly gotten us this far!



The following articles were sent to us by Vicki:
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Predicting which preterm infants benefit most from massage therapy

Researchers at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine studied ninety-three preterm infants; the mean gestational age of the infants was 30 weeks; the mean birth weight, 1204 g, and mean duration in the intensive care was 15 days. All of the babies were randomly assigned to either a massage therapy group or a control group as soon as they were considered medically stable.
The fifty babies in the treatment group received three daily 15-minute massages for 10 days. The massage therapy infants gained significantly more weight per day than the infants in the control group (32grams compared to 29 grams). All of the babies in the treatment and control groups were divided into high and low weight gainers based on the average weight gain for the control group. Seventy per cent of the massage therapy infants were classified as high weight gainers whereas only forty per cent of the control infants were classified as high weight gainers.
A closer inspection of the records revealed that the babies who needed the most help (ie. those infants who had experienced more complications before the study began) actually benefited more from the massage therapy. Using those parameters, the researchers accurately predicted that seventy eight per cent of the infants would benefit significantly from the massage therapy. Thus, they concluded from the results, that it was possible to to identify those infants who would benefit most from future massage therapy programs.
Scafidi FA; Field T; Schanberg SM. Factors that predict which preterm infants benefit most from massage therapy. Department of Pediatrics, Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of Medicine, FL 33101. J Dev Behav Pediatr (UNITED STATES) Jun 1993, 14 (3) p176-80

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Preterm Infant Stimulation Reviews
Early touch interventions and their effects on high-risk infants are reviewed.
Field, T. (1986). Interventions for premature infants. Journal of Pediatrics, 109, 183-191.
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Preterm infants who received tactile stimulation showed greater weight gain. A potential underlying mechanism for the massage/weight gain relationship is an increase in vagal tone, which in turn increases food absorption.
Field, T. (1988). Stimulation of preterm infants. Pediatrics in Review, 10, 149-154.
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Alleviating Stress in Intensive-Care Neonates: Intensive care nursery environments and their effects as well as positive tactile stimulation effects are reviewed.
Field, T. (1987). Alleviating stress in NICU neonates. Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 87, 646-650.
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Alleviating Stress in Newborns: Stressful effects of intensive care nursery environments are reviewed including the effects of high-intensity noise, bright lights, cold, invasive and painful procedures. Touch interventions were associated with 1) fewer startle responses, 2) decreased need for ventilation, and 3) fewer clenched fists. The stimulated infants averaged greater weight gain, were awake and active for a greater period of time and scored better on the Brazelton Scale.
Field, T. (1990). Alleviating stress in newborn infants in the intensive care unit. Perinatology, 17,1-9.
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In a review of preterm infant massage studies, massage therapy was found to facilitate weight gain only when the intervention was started when the preterm infant weighed between 1100 and 1300 g.
Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Diego, M., & Beutler, J. (2001). Letter-to-the-Editor: Evidence-Based Medicine and Massage. Pediatrics, 108 (4), 1053.
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Review of supplementary stimulation programs for preterm infants including nonnutritive sucking, kangaroo care, and massage therapy.
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M and Freedman, J. (2004). Stimulation programs for preterm infants. Social Policy Report, 18, 1-19.


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Preterm Neonates' Responses to Massage and Heelsticks
Routine heelstick procedures and tactile-kinesthetic massage were performed on stabilized preterm neonates to examine the differential effects on Transcutaneous Oxygen Tension (TcPO2). TcPO2 levels during the heelstick were significantly lower than during the massage stimulation. The findings indicate that social forms of touch such as massage do not appear to have a medically compromising effect on TcPO2.
Morrow, C., Field, T., Scafidi, F.A., Roberts, J., Eisen, L., Larson, S.K., Hogan, A.E., and Bandstra, E.S. (1991). Differential effects of massage and heelstick procedures on Transcutaneous Oxygen Tension in preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 14, 397-414.





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Preterm Newborns Gain More Weight
Preterm infants gained 47% more weight, became more socially responsive, and were discharged 6 days earlier at a hospital cost savings of $10,000 per infant (or 4.7 billion dollars if the 470,000 preemies born each year were massaged). The underlying biological mechanism for weight gain in the massaged preterm newborns may be an increase in vagal tone and, in turn, an increase in insulin (food absorption hormone).
Field, T., Schanberg, S. M., Scafidi, F., Bauer, C. R., Vega-Lahr, N., Garcia, R., Nystrom, J., & Kuhn, C. M. (1986). Tactile/ kinesthetic stimulation effects on preterm neonates. Pediatrics, 77, 654-658.
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Preterm infants gained more weight following as few as 5 days of massage therapy.
Dieter, J., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., Emory, E and Redzepi, M. (2003). Stable preterm infants gain more weight and spent less time sleeping and more time in the drowsy states following 5 days of massage therapy a. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 28, (6) 403-411.
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Preterm Infants received tactile/kinesthetic stimulation over a 10-day period. The infants averaged 21% greater weight gain per day and spent more time awake and active during sleep/wake behavior observations.
Scafidi, F., Field, T., Schanberg, S., Bauer, C, Tucci, K., Roberts, J., Morrow, C., & Kuhn, C.M. (1990). Massage stimulates growth in preterm infants: A replication. Infant Behavior and Development ,13,167-188.
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Preterm infants received three daily 15-minute massages for 10 days. The massage therapy infants gained significantly more weight per day than did the control infants. For the massage therapy group, the pattern of greater caloric intake and more days in Intermediate care before the study period along with more obstetric complications differentiated the high from the low weight gainers, suggesting that the infants who had experienced more complications before the study benefited more from the massage therapy.
Scafidi, F., Field, T., & Schanberg, S. (1993). Factors that predict which preterm infants benefit most from massage therapy. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 14, 176-180.
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Although the underlying mechanism for this relationship between massage therapy and weight gain has not yet been established, possibilities that have been explored in studies with both humans and rats include (a) increased protein synthesis, (b) increased vagal activity that releases food-absorption hormones like insulin and enhances gastric motility and (c) decreased cortisol levels leading to increased oxytocin.
Field, T. (2001). Massage therapy facilitates weight gain in preterm infants. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 51-54.


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Preterm Newborns Sleep Better
Preterm infants who were massaged before sleep fell asleep more quickly and slept more soundly with better sleep patterns. They showed improved weight gain as compared to infants who were not massaged before sleep.
Scafidi, F., Field, T., Schanberg, S., Bauer, C., Vega-Lahr, N., & Garcia, R. (1986). Effects of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation on the clinical course and sleep/wake behavior of preterm neonates. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 91-105.
Preterm Infants Develop Better: Preterm infants who received massage therapy as newborns showed greater weight gain and more optimal cognitive and motor development eight months later.
Field, T., Scafidi, & Schanberg, S. (1987). Massage of preterm newborns to improve growth and development. Pediatric Nursing, 13, 385-387
Examined the effectiveness of pre-bedtime massages for infants and toddlers with sleep onset problems. Found that, compared to bedtime stories, massages produced fewer sleep delays and a shortened latency to sleep onset. Field, T., & Hernandez-Reif, M., (2001). Sleep problems in infants decrease following massage therapy. Early Child Development and Care, 168, 95-104.
Depressed versus non-depressed mothers were interviewed on their breastfeeding practices and perceptions of their infants' feeding behavior when their infants were eight-months-old. The depressed mothers less often breastfed, they stopped breastfeeding their infants significantly earlier in infancy and they scored lower on a breastfeeding confidence scale. Independent of maternal depression, mothers who breastfed rather than bottle fed their infants had higher confidence levels and rated their infants as less alert and less irritable during feedings.
Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M.,, Feijo, L. (2002). Breastfeeding in Depressed Mother-Infant Dyads. Early Child Development and Care 172, 539 - 545
Healthy, low-risk preterm infants gained more weight and slept less with just 5 days of massage, in contrast to 10 days in previous studies. Results support the continued use of massage as a cost-effective therapy for medically stable preterm infants.
Dieter JN, Field T, Hernandez-Reif M, Emory EK, Redzepi M. (2003) Stable preterm infants gain more weight and sleep less after five days of massage therapy. J Pediatr Psychol, 28, 403-11.
Compared with preterm neonates receiving sham massage, preterm neonates receiving massage therapy exhibited greater weight gain and increased vagal tone and gastric motility during and immediately after treatment. Gastric motility and vagal tone during massage therapy were significantly related to weight gain. The weight gain experienced by preterm neonates receiving moderate-pressure massage therapy may be mediated by increased vagal activity and gastric motility.
Diego MA, Field T, Hernandez-Reif M. (2005). Vagal activity, gastric motility, and weight gain in massaged preterm neonates. J Pediatr. 147, 50-5

It's Official!

This morning, November 7th, 2008 we appeared in court for the final custody hearing, granting permanent custody in our adoption of Jeremiah Michael Greer. It was the final 10 minutes of a process that began on April 20th when we received an email from our adoption agency alerting us to a newborn baby boy, born 10 weeks prematurely.

It is hard to imagine now that our initial response was one of indifference as we assumed this baby would not be worth pursuing, the risks being too great. I am grateful that the Lord kept our hearts open to asking more questions, seeking more hope.

The past six months have been an exercise in trust - trust in the Lord. The scripture reminds us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths".

I must admit, our own understanding seemed more logical at times. But, by the grace of God and the support of our community we were able to acknowledge Him and allow His logic to win!

We rejoice in His provision!

Growing Well at Home

Jeremiah came home from the hospital on Sunday, June 22nd, the day after his original due date. He has been adjusting well - almost as well as Chrystal and I - as we all get used to being a family. I think the dogs are having the most difficulty, feeling neglected and learning the hard way that they are no longer the center of attention. They have assumed their rightful place as dogs as we place them in right perspective.

On his 7/10 doctor's appointment he weighed in at 8 lbs - he is over twice the size he was when we met him on April 22nd.

He has yet to grasp the concept of bottle-feeding. Suck, swallow, breath, suck, swallow, breath - it's all a bit too much to focus on at the same time. Currently he is being fed through a feeding tube, plugged into his stomach. This procedure has been easier than we anticipated. We are not sure how long till he is able to bottle-feed, but we are not rushing him. He seems to have championed every other aspect of his fight to develop normally so we are giving him grace with the feeding.

Grandma and Grandpa Greer came for a visit over the 4th of July weekend and got to meet their new grandson for the first time. During the visit we were able to go and view the local fireworks display together. No longer celebrating just Independence Day, the fireworks display promises to be an annual event celebrating Jeremiah's dedication to the Lord as we were able to dedicate him at church that Sunday. We were so blessed with the many family and friends who were there to stand with us.

We have been able to venture out and visit a few restaurants together keeping us from being house-bound. Jeremiah has several doctor's appointments each week as they monitor his growth. He has also been a regular visitor to his chiropractor!

We have been blessed each day as the mail-carrier rings the doorbell and delivers yet another gift, card, or greeting. The Lord has given us so much through our loved ones.

Even the, almost daily, benefits summary detailing all that Blue Cross-Blue Shield has paid for is a sign of God's provision for us. They estimated the total costs of his hospital stay to be close to $200,000.00 with very little of it being paid out of our pocket.

Please continue to visit us at Jeremiah's blog as we will try to keep everyone updated here.

The Story of Jeremiah

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."
Jeremiah 29:11-14a - the message translation


I was diagnosed with the HIV virus at the age of 21 as a result of the choices I made in separation from God’s will. HIV was still considered terminal at the time. I thought I would never reach the age of 30 or find a woman to marry me. Even if I did marry, we wouldn’t be able to have children of our own. Needless to say, the hope meter was rather low. With the help of friends, family and God, I found strength in these words of Jeremiah. I chose to surrender and allow God to fulfill His plans for my life.

Now, twenty years later, I am 40 years old. My wife and I recently celebrated our 11th anniversary. We found ourselves faced with yet another impossibility: the prospect of having a child of our own. You would think we had learned that God could do anything when we could get out of his way. No matter how big God has been in our lives, we tend to make our lives too big for Him. This time was no different.

We had just learned that an adoption we were pursuing was not given to us. Another family had been chosen by the birth parents for their baby. Every time a possible situation ended we felt the blow, no matter how well we had guarded our hearts. Though we have never gone through a miscarriage, I imagine the weight of that grief was similar to what we were feeling. We were crushed. This time was especially sad. For the first time we were considering a boy. We had previously only been looking at girls - we thought it would be more natural for Chrystal to start off with a little ballerina. My heart leapt at the prospect of a boy:

“Wow, a little boy – I really like that idea! That would be just like God to throw us a little bonus like that.”

During a time of prayer I resolved to name our first son Jeremiah. He may have an older sister but if/when God gave us a son that would be his name. I was declaring my fight to allow God to fulfill His plans in the midst of my own doubt and fear. Jeremiah 29:11-14 has continually been a significant source of hope toward God’s plans in our lives. We have been amazed at how far God’s plans have surpassed our own.

I mentioned this while at dinner with friends. I had purposed to study this prophet who fought for the truth of God amidst insurmountable odds and was looking for the best reference material on his life. My friend really resonated with the connection I was making between my future son and God’s messenger. He later related:

“We were praying for Jeremiah. It's interesting that we were praying for Jeremiah before we actually knew he was alive or met him. We were praying about a boy for the Greer's that none of us had ever met. Dean was sharing his heart about a son and the name Jeremiah. It was really touching my heart when he was sharing.

When we dropped the Greers off at home we prayed.....it was just in my heart to do so.

I was touched earlier in the day by Luke 18: 1-8, the story of the persistent widow. I prayed and called out to the Lord and was moved in my spirit that justice would be done. That Jeremiah would be placed into the Greer home. I also prayed from Ps. 68:5-6, that it is God who is a father to the fatherless, ... and he sets the lonely in families. I prayed that justice would be served and that Jeremiah would emerge and be adopted into Dean and Chrystal's home. I thanked God for the Jeremiah that He had for them…”

As he prayed I thought to myself,

“But what if the baby God has for us to adopt is a girl?”

Even as I thought this I felt as though God replied,

“No, I have a son for you”

This happened on a Friday night. The following Sunday morning, as he told us he was going to, our Pastor preached on the “Spirit of Adoption”. He spoke of the Father’s heart for the fatherless and His desire to give good gifts to His beloved. He knew of the struggles we had experienced in our adoption process and led the church in prayer specifically for Chrystal and me. He prayed that God would quickly grant us the desires of our heart.

When we returned home that afternoon, we had an email waiting in our inbox. A baby boy had been born 10 weeks prematurely. The adoptive parents were no longer interested due to the risks involved and this baby needed to find a home. We were told the baby was in Missouri. We thought, how awesome! If this worked out we would probably only have to go to St. Louis – a three hour drive - rather than to another state, as had been the case in previous situations.

Because he was born so early he was experiencing bleeding on both sides of his brain. He was also unable to breath on his own. Initially we didn’t think of this as an option worth pursuing - it seemed as though this was an extremely risky situation and the baby may not even live. On Monday, in spite of the odds, I contacted a friend who works with preemies to get an idea of what to expect. We contacted the agency and scheduled a phone conversation with the baby’s doctor to discuss the reality of the risks involved. We were told that the baby was in a hospital right where we live - in Kansas City!

The doctor told us that it was too early to tell but the baby could be facing the following risks: blindness, deafness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, among other things. We asked for her prognosis. She said she wasn’t certain but would expect him to end up being on the lower end of normal. We knew that this child was ours and stated our wish to pursue him.

Because of complications the state was looking to take custody until a family was found. The doctor knew that we wanted to adopt him and assured us that she would do everything she could to dissuade the state from intervening.

We switched into high gear. We met with a lawyer on Tuesday. After signing a contract with the agency we were able to go and meet this little, tiny, precious boy. He had been born a week earlier and had not had any visitors prior to our arrival. He was in an incubator with plugs and cords all over him, illuminated by blue heat lamps. His breathing was aided by oxygen tubes in his nose. We thought he looked like ET after being captured by the scientists. He was so precious, so fragile, so tiny – only 3 lbs 4.8 ozs, 13 inches long. I commented on his being a basketball player.

We went home to figure out how we were going to come up with the $10,000 we needed to cover the adoption agency expenses. Even this was a blessing from God. Because of the various complications the usual $20,000 agency fee had been reduced by half. We told the agency that we would not be able to come up with the money by the requested next day and they replied,

“Well, I know that you are supposed to be the parents and we need to expedite this, so just get it to us as soon as you can!”

We were amazed to see God’s hand move. Each step confirmed for us that this precious baby was a gift from Him to us. The birth parents signed their consent for us to adopt their baby. A court hearing to grant us legal custody was scheduled for Friday. We thought, “This is too easy, this is amazing, we are going to be parents in less than a week!” In the midst of our rejoicing, we were struck with another obstacle that threatened it all.

The day before going to court our lawyer called. He said that he had just read through our family profile for the first time and found something that concerned him – the HIV virus. Because of the Judge we were assigned, our lawyer felt we had only a 30% chance of being approved for the adoption. I got the impression that if our lawyer had known this at the beginning he probably wouldn’t have represented us. I was shocked. I knew it had been too good to be true. We had been up front with the HIV from the beginning of our adoption process and never received any indication that it would be a problem. The social worker from our agency then told us that in relation to this issue we were assigned the worst judge possible. You could hear the fear in her voice.

All at once our hopes were dashed. What had seemed to be God’s perfect gift to us was now becoming a cruel joke. How could this happen? We immediately contacted our family and friends, asking them to pray. We couldn’t do this on our own. One friend called and encouraged me,

“Don’t stay up tonight establishing your arguments for the judge or creating your defense. Go to bed focusing on worship – focus on who God is and what He is able to accomplish.”

That is what I did. As I was going to sleep I listened to a Jason Upton CD. One song’s lyrics stood out - “I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on You.” These words became my prayer as I drifted off in peace.

The next morning we went before the judge, expecting a grueling inquisition. Everyone wore fear on their faces. We had two friends come with us to pray during the hearing. All we could do was allow it to take its course and put our faith in the Lord, not in our lawyer, the judge or the judicial system.

The whole proceeding took only about 20 minutes. Before we realized what was going on, the judge dropped the gavel and granted us custody. I couldn’t believe it. I thought to myself,

“What about all the issues he was supposed to have. What about the fight we were going to have to put up in order to defend our case. Is that it? Is it really that easy?”

Turns out the fear we faced was simply the enemy trying to rob us, yet again, of God’s perfect plan. If the judge did have a problem, we never would have known. It couldn’t have gone smoother. The woman representing the adoption agency was flabbergasted,

“That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it! That was definitely a God thing!”

I sent a quick text message to everyone who had been praying: “WE WON!” It reminded me of the famous front page headlines of WWII victory. It was as if we had been holding our breath all morning and suddenly all we could do was cry. We were parents. Jeremiah Michael Greer was our son. Amazing. Just like God. How could we have ever doubted? God does know what He is doing.

We first heard of Jeremiah on a Sunday after church. The following Sunday we were able to share our story with the church that had prayed for us the week before. Before sharing another friend from church got up to share an encouraging word for everyone. He spoke of II Chron. 20 – the story of Jehoshophat leading his people in battle against the ammonites. Using his greatest weapon, he led his people in worship declaring the might of the Lord and said in verse 12 “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you!”

As he shared this I was shocked. I didn’t realize that these same words I prayed the night before going into court had been prayed so long ago by Jeshoshophat. I hadn’t realized it was taken from scripture - I thought they were just powerful Jason Upton lyrics. I was glad we didn’t know their origin. If we had, our son might have been named Jehoshophat instead of Jeremiah.

We shared our story with the church that morning and celebrated with them the glory and goodness of the Lord.

As of this writing, we have known him for 5 weeks. We expect to spend the next 4 weeks spending time with him in the hospital before we are able to bring him home. He is progressing well and the prognosis is very good in relation to his prematurity.

We thank God daily for this precious gift.

As is customary in adoption cases, we now have temporary custody for a six month period pending a routine evaluation by the adoption agency. At the end of October we will be granted permanent custody. A new birth certificate will be given to us, officially changing his birth name and listing us as the parents of Jeremiah Michael Greer.

In writing and posting this, it is our greatest desire that some may consider the plans that God has for them – however impossible they may seem – and worship Him and His ability to bring them about. Then get out of His way and allow Him to show them that nothing is impossible for Him.