The Quilt

Once we made the decision to adopt Hannah on May 21st, we got our travel date for the first trip. Kyrygyzstan requires that we take two trips to adopt, the first to see the baby and to accept the referral in person and the second, six weeks later, to get her. We were scheduled to travel on June 7th so everything began to happen so fast.

I really wanted something that I could take with me to bless her and to leave with her. I knew I had so many faithful friends praying for her and I thought it would be special if I could take a bit of the spirit of their prayers to her in some way.

I rushed to the fabric store and had the huge joy of picking out fabric, all pink!!!!! It was so exciting. Sewing her a quilt made everything seem so real all of a sudden. She was no longer just a dream!

Making a quilt is alot of cutting, ironing, measuring, sewing...alot of time to think and pray. It was the perfect way to prepare to go see her. I had a number of scriptures that I had been praying for her and got the idea to write them all over the quilt.

It turned out that we had a few gatherings that week with some dear friends, our life-group, my small group and my parent ed class, so I brought the quilt and asked them all to lay hands on it and pray the scriptures for Hannah. It was so meaningful.

I began to get a little nervous about my plan to leave this quilt with her in the orphanage. It was becoming so valuable after all this prayer! So I decided to make a mini quilt that I wrote Psalm 91 on and that one I left with her. I asked the orphanage workers to leave it in her crib with her.

The most memorable time about our visit with Hannah was when we got to wrap her up in the quilt and pray for her. It was a very powerful experience and we felt like all the intercession for her over the months prior opened the heavens above us and allowed for such a sweet healing presence to flood her. The bond with her was so tangible and we really know it was the work of the Spirit.