455: Adopting Their Daughter - The Miraculous God Story of Overcoming Impossible Odds with Colton & Cheyenne Lowe

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

The Heart & Hustle Podcast
Episode 455: Adopting Their Daughter – The Miraculous God Story of Overcoming Impossible Odds with Colton & Cheyenne Lowe
Hosts: Evie McLeod & Lindsey Roman
Guests: Colton & Cheyenne Lowe
Date: October 21, 2025

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Overview

This follow-up episode delivers the highly anticipated “part two” of Colton & Cheyenne Lowe’s adoption journey. Where their earlier appearance (Episode 290) covered the “why” and “how” of their decision to adopt from India, this powerful episode chronicles the miraculous, challenging, and faith-filled story of actually matching with their daughter, enduring endless setbacks, and finally bringing her home. The Lowes candidly share about the many obstacles, the spiritual warfare, and the transformative power of relentless prayer and obedience — all centered on the conviction that God had written a specific, miraculous story for their family and their daughter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recapping Their Calling to Adoption (04:14 - 10:40)

• Early Conviction: Both felt called to adoption before even starting a family, with Cheyenne’s own siblings adopted from India.
• The Shift: Both independently felt God was asking them to adopt before having biological children — a revelation that arrived in their hearts the same week.
• Choice of India: After much prayer, both felt India was “highlighted” as their destination; deep conviction Cheyenne’s daughter was alive in India at that very moment.
• The Need:

  “There’s 150 million children worldwide that are orphans. In India alone…30 million…We don’t view caring for orphans as a suggestion… but a command.” – Cheyenne (07:45)

2. An Unexpected Glitch—A Divine Delay (11:07 - 13:19)

• Lightning Fast Start: Early stages flew by until a never-before-seen tech glitch in India’s registration system halted everything for 9 months.
• Why the Delay?: In that time, Cheyenne learns through social media about the little girl who would become their daughter — only possible because of the delay.
• Looking Back:

  “If we had not run into that [glitch]…Swati would never have been adopted…most likely wouldn’t live from her medical needs…” – Cheyenne (12:07)

3. Meeting Their Daughter From Afar, Wrestling With the Call (13:19 - 21:10)

• Discovery: Cheyenne spots a post of only the girl’s hands, but is instantly drawn to her.
• Medical Needs: The girl's diagnosis is severe and daunting; the Lowes both initially assume someone more “qualified” should step forward.
• Five-Day Struggle: They grapple in prayer, before Cheyenne pledges:

  “If you give me the opportunity to be her mom… I will say yes, and I will not give up until that happens.” – Cheyenne (15:48)

4. The Waiting, Spiritual Battles, and a Year-Long Fast (21:10 - 31:07)

• In-Limbo: For nearly a year, the Lowes exist in a state of “committed from afar,” unable to move forward due to paperwork and bureaucracy.
• Fasting & Stripping Distractions: Cheyenne steps off social media and gives up sugar for a year — both sources of numbing and distraction.
• Spiritual Warfare:

  “Honestly, the darker it got…everywhere we looked was bad news being thrown at us…The enemy does not like it…he’s going to do everything he can to not have this child be in a forever home.” – Cheyenne (25:22)

• Prayer became a lifeline: Nightly worship in their daughter’s nursery; anchoring in faith using the Hebrew word “aman” (I believe in your covenant; I believe you will do as you said).

5. Miraculous Encouragements & Community Support (31:07 - 41:06)

• Dreams, Visions & Divine Encounters: Friends, strangers, and unlikely moments bring specific words of encouragement or prophecy at critical breaking points.
• Worldwide Prayer: When the girl was hospitalized, people from around the world set a daily alarm to cover her in prayer.

6. Breakthrough and The Journey to India (41:06 - 53:06)

• Paperwork Moves: After 32 months of waiting, her paperwork is found and processed.
• “Match Day”: On Colton’s birthday, they receive confirmation — overwhelming tears of joy in a public coffee shop.

  “I’ve never been more unwell in my life… collapsed basically onto the floor and was sobbing…” – Cheyenne (43:43)

• Preparation Challenges: Must keep every aspect of their life unchanged for three years. Weddings booked as photographers all included a special adoption clause.
• Travel to India: Meeting their daughter for the first time, honored by the orphanage staff, and an emotional (wordless) exchange with her primary caregiver.

7. Bringing Their Daughter Home — Trials & Triumphs (53:06 - 57:55)

• Attachment and Adjustment:

  “She just bonded to us instantly…does not always happen. That part of adoption is sometimes really, really hard.” – Cheyenne (52:28)

• Medical Emergency: Harrowing detainment in Rome (only resolved by US Senate intervention) on their way home due to visa confusion.
• Immediate Surgeries: Land directly in Ohio for urgent care; she undergoes multiple life-saving surgeries and extended hospitalizations.
• Healing from Trauma:

  “She didn’t think this hospital was gonna be any different, and who could blame her…but now…she’ll go up and give her surgeons a high five…” – Cheyenne (56:22)

8. The Miracle of Healing (58:53 - 61:19)

• Literal Miracle: After prayer, one of the girl’s spinal diagnoses is found completely healed on MRI; the planned surgery is no longer necessary.

  “I literally felt her back shift as they were praying. The MRI…showed…no trace left…” – Cheyenne (60:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We don’t view it as us being saviors, but he saved us first. So we just want to live our life…in an overflow of that kind of love. And adoption is just such a good parallel to that type of love.” – Cheyenne (08:32)
• “The amount of people that are doing [adoption] is so, so small.” – Colton (09:36)
• “She is going to be yours. You just have to trust me until then.” – Cheyenne (after committing in prayer) (16:17)
• “There’s so much in our society that is constantly distracting us and pulling us away from the Lord…How much are we missing that God is trying to tell us because we’re so distracted?” – Cheyenne (27:18)
• “If you want to see God move in incredible ways, adopt a child.” – Cheyenne (68:33)
• “Prayer is free…statistically, the people adopting are the people it makes the least amount of sense financially…if you know someone adopting, any gift means the world.” – Colton & Cheyenne (65:41, 66:25)
• “The hardest things in life, the things that require the most struggle and hardship and sacrifice, are usually the sweetest and best.” – Lindsey (68:49)
• “The more you view it through the eyes of the Lord, the more it feels like a joy and not even a sacrifice.” – Cheyenne (69:06)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• [04:14] Cheyenne recounts their adoption calling and story roots.
• [11:07] The tech glitch that delayed their process — and opened the door to their daughter.
• [15:48] The five-day wrestle and their committed “yes.”
• [25:22] Spiritual warfare, fasting, and prayer.
• [31:07] Preparation, worship, and worldwide prayer efforts.
• [43:43] Matching moment in the coffee shop.
• [48:31] Meeting their daughter for the first time in India.
• [56:22] Healing from medical trauma and new trust in healthcare.
• [60:44] Back healing miracle — no more surgery needed.
• [65:41] Encouragement for those considering adoption.
• [68:49] Reflections on suffering, sacrifice, and the sweetness of the hardest journeys.

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Final Takeaways & Encouragements

• Adoption as Command, Not Suggestion: The Lowes challenge listeners to see orphan care as a core biblical command, not just an optional good work.
• Obedience Births Miracles: Miracles often follow willingness to step fearfully into God’s calling — “the favor that comes after a yes, even a broken yes, is something you won’t walk away unchanged from.” (62:58)
• The Need for Community & Support: Whether through prayer or financial giving, communities play a crucial role in bringing children home.
• Adoption is Beautiful and Broken: The Lowes caution against “sensationalizing” adoption. It’s born of loss and trauma, always a mix of pain and redemption.
• God’s Miraculous Power Today: From physical healing to orchestrated delays, their story testifies that God is still in the business of “doing more than we can ask or imagine.”

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This episode is both a stirring faith testimony and a practical road map for anyone considering adoption — or longing to see God move in the midst of the impossible.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast. We are your hosts, Evvi McLeod and Lindsay Roman. Welcome to the show, my friend. Today we have a Fun Little Part 2 episode for you going on. We brought our friends Cheyenne and Colton back on the show. They were on, I almost think two years ago. It's been a minute. It's been a minute to share with us their story of adoption. And in that moment when they first were on the show, they had not yet matched with a child. They were more so sharing just like the behind the scenes of, like, why adoption, what the process looked like. And today we got to have a sweet follow up, part two where they shared the insane, beautiful, heartbreaking, wild story that God. Miraculous, yes, miraculous story that God did in their lives of matching with their daughter in India. And she. They literally. We don't even talk for really the whole episode. It's the most insane story.

[B]

So powerful.

[A]

It's so powerful. It's so beautiful. And they share their story of matching and praying, praying and interceding for their daughter. And then they even share the story of going to India. And just it opens the curtains, I think, a lot on what international adoption can look like. Obviously it's for India and it's very specific to their story. So it's not, you know, a description of what every single adoption will look like, but it's just, it's a beautiful story of the miracles that God can do when you obey him and when you step into what he's calling you to do. I just, I highly recommend anybody, obviously, if adoptions on your heart in any capacity, definitely listen to this episode. But I would even encourage you to listen to this episode if you are a believer. Even if you're not a believer. I would highly. Well, even more so then absolutely.

[B]

If you, if you care for the orphaned or the downtrodden or those who are hurting or needing love in any capacity. And you want to hear a really powerful testimony and story in that vein.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Listen to this episode.

[A]

Hey, photographer. Are you on the struggle bus to find your editing style? Do you feel like you spent hours upon hours on one photo in Lightroom and still don't like the final product you send off to your clients? As photographers ourselves, we can say we feel your pain.

[C]

We have been there.

[A]

It can be hard finding an editing style that you love that feels honestly like you?

[B]

Yes. And here's the truth of the matter. Every single photographer goes through this. Everyone struggles at one point or other in finding and honing in on their perfect style. And that is perfect.

[C]

Perfectly normal.

[B]

But today we do not want you to stay stuck. Which is why we want to chat through our top eight pieces of advice to discover the editing style that makes you and your clients hearts sing. Visit theheartuniversity.com style to utilize our eight tips to nail your editing style.

[C]

Hey. Hey.

[A]

I'm Lindsey Roman.

[B]

And I'm Evie McLeod. And we are family and legacy focused serial entrepreneurs and the founders of the Hart University, a business education company with a mission to help you thrive in your business and life.

[A]

Welcome to our entrepreneur cocktail hour where business and marketing strategies meet faith, real talk and raw in life changing conversations.

[B]

At the end of the day, we are all in this together, figuring out how to navigate the ups and downs, the messy and the beautiful and everything in between. This is a community where you can come as you are, get inspired and walk away equipped to build a legacy filled life.

[A]

You're listening to the Heart and Hustle podcast. Cheyenne and Colton. Oh my gosh. Welcome back to the show. This is a beautiful little Part 2 situation from our first episode years ago. I'm going to shout it out right now. It was episode 290. So if you have not listened to the first part of Cheyenne and Colton's story of them coming onto the show and sharing kind of the beginning of their adoption story process, go do that right now. Pause this episode and go listen. They're gonna recap it a little bit, but just wanted to throw that out there before we get started. Go listen to episode 290. And Cheyenne and Colton, welcome to the show again.

[C]

Hi.

[D]

Thanks.

[C]

Such an honor to be on for a second time. It's always a joy to get to talk with you guys and just. Yeah, we're so honored to share a story that only God could have written. And we're just really hopeful and prayerful that listeners will walk away loving Jesus more than they did before and that more children would find families. So those are our two goals.

[B]

So I love it so much.

[C]

About halfway through our process as it was becoming really clear that this was a much bigger story than what we had even anticipated when we started and things were getting quite dark and just very hazy, I prayed very specifically, lord, would you turn this story, that a beautiful story to start out with, Would you turn it into a miracle story? And he did, like tenfold. So we're going to try to fit this into a podcast episode. But who knows, Maybe there'll be a book or some point. At some point.

[A]

Yes, we're gonna. Yes. Call that into the. The Universe, world and say that you're gonna do that to start off, could you. For the people that aren't gonna listen to my advice and go back and listen to episode 290. Can you give, like, a three minute recap? Yeah, that might be hard because that was also of, like, what even got you into the process. Oh, by the way, you saw this. If you clicked on this episode because it's. We're talking about adoption. Okay, great.

[C]

Yes. But.

[A]

But can you get a shoes? I can't talk today. I'll just shut up. Can you tell the story of, like, kind of what that episode was about and what got you into the story of what made you want. Okay, I'll stop.

[C]

You get it.

[D]

You're good.

[C]

You're good. Happily. Yeah. We got married and always knew that adoption is how we wanted to grow our family. We wanted to have biological, biological children as well. But God really highlighted at one point to both of us on the same week that instead of biological children first, that he actually wanted us to reverse our plan and adopt first for a very particular reason that could not wait. And there was no convincing of each other. It happened to both of our hearts separately on the same week. And when I presented the thing to Colton, he was like, yeah, I'm down. God did the same thing to me this week. So, yeah, it was never a question of if we wanted to, but when. And God really made that clear. And my siblings are both adopted from India. So growing up, adoption was my normal. And I feel like as a child, you can't really go into an orphanage and see and experience the things that I did without it shaping the way that you are raised after that and the way you view the world. So that was always in my heart and how I wanted to be a mother. And. Yeah, and we. We really landed on India. It was December of 2021. God really made it clear after some months of praying to kind of, you know, get direction on where God was leading us. Specifically, he highlighted India. And I remember literally losing sleep in the middle of the night because it was daytime in India, knowing in my spirit that I had a. I knew I'd cry, but I didn't think it was already knowing that I had a daughter alive already. Wow. And she was born that month. Yeah. And she was fighting for her life. It doesn't make sense to any doctor how. How she survived when she was born. But, yeah, we. We just have a heart for advocating for the fatherless and kids that don't have a voice. I are like the Core of what we believe is that kids should be with their birth parents. That is ideally what, you know, that's. That's God's best. But we live in a very, very broken and fallen world. So therefore, kids need families, period. There's 150 million children worldwide that are orphans. And in India alone, which is what we're talking about, there's 30 million in India alone that are abandoned. And we don't view, from a biblical point of view, we don't view caring for orphans as a suggestion you should think about, but a command. And obviously, that looks different for everybody. We just view adoption as an outpouring of the love that we've been shown because we've already been adopted into God's family. And it's just like an overflow of what God has already done for us. And we don't view it as us being saviors, but he saved us first. So we just want to live our life, whether it's with our children or anybody around us, just in an overflow of that kind of love. And adoption is just such a good parallel to that type of love. Did you want to say something, Colton?

[D]

I'm just going to continue on with that. Yeah, I mean, that's that huge need there, and it's just completely not being met. I mean, it's not being met by anyone, but specifically us as a church. I mean, as just big church, you know, all of us, we're just failing so hard. And I mean, just international adoptions. In 2004, there was 23,000. That's pretty small. But by 2023 now, there's only 1,300 per year coming to the US of international adopt. So we just said that number. 30 million in India alone, there's only 1300 kids, and that's. That's any country.

[C]

So there's only a couple hundred that come to the US From India every year.

[D]

Yeah. So there's more and more all the time. I mean, that. That number is just staggering. And the amount of people that are doing it is so, so small.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So listen to the other episode if you want more of the details behind why we were specifically drawn to India. But there is more orphans there than anywhere else, so. Yeah. So that's kind of a recap. Does that kind of question. Yes, 100%.

[D]

Just also, one last big important point is that the fact that just adoption shouldn't be just your last resort. I mean, it's amazing for families who can't have kids, for that to be an option. I'm so glad that that's there for them. But that shouldn't be the only people that are adopting. I mean, it should really be on all of our minds to do or like we talked about some too. And maybe if you're not going to adopt, if you're just not set up for that, whatever, then there's still ways that you can support it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So yeah, that's, that's where our heart is. Yeah. We just view these kids as. They're not second rate, they're not plan B humans. They, they deserve to be chosen first for in some stories. So anyway, that's.

[B]

I love.

[C]

That's where we're coming from. And then we have incredible story to share.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So well, let's, well, let's get into it.

[B]

Are you guys willing to share a little bit about how you matched with your daughter and that journey in that process? Because I know it is a crazy God story and we're here for it.

[C]

Yes. Are you here for seven hours? Because that's what we.

[A]

We're ready to Joe Rogan this.

[C]

Let's go.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

So yeah, we started our adoption like I said it was. It was December of 2021 and the first couple months until May were just like lightning fast. There was so much provision from the Lord, we got really quick government approvals. It was just like this dream of an adoption process at the very best that it could possibly be going. And then we came time to register with the government of India after we had all of the US Side of the legal formalities done and we ran into an IT glitch. Our agency did. And they've been an agency for decades and never once had it happen to anybody else. So without going into too many details on that because we don't have time.

[D]

Just to be clear, it wasn't our agency's issue. It was the Indian government.

[C]

No, it was. Yeah, we want to be clear on that. Yeah. Anyway, it stalled our process with no movement for nine months.

[A]

Just because like of a tech glitch.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Kind of, kind of a long story, but yeah, we were, we were in a standstill. So that was May of 2022. So exactly three years ago. Right. And anyway, we had just seen God's hand in the story up until then. And even though we were frustrated and discouraged, we just kept knowing, like, like, at least for me, like deep in my bones, there must be some reason for this. Like, God, I believe your hand is even in this. Even though it doesn't make any sense right now. And a Couple weeks. Maybe a month. Maybe a month. A month or so. We very unintentionally found out about our daughter and fast forward, she wouldn't be eligible for adoption for another two years. And if we had not run into that gl, we would have proceeded with our process matched with another child. And Swati would never have been adopted and most likely wouldn't live from her medical needs. She would have never had the surgery with us that she needs. So anyway, God's hand absolutely was in it. Yeah, so I have chills.

[A]

Like, it's like. It's just like such a beautiful picture of, like. No, she was meant for you.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, we've. We've definitely felt that from the beginning. So anyway, it's just wild how God works. For anybody that is interested in adopting. Don't learn from how the process works from this story because this is. We're just a very, very. It was out of the box. Very, very bizarre how it happened. But typically you're given, like, a very formal referral of a child from your agency and you can go over their paperwork and all the different things. And guys, I was literally on social media, probably when I should have been working, and I followed a particular home for children and saw a post and they don't. They don't. You can't show their faces or anything. Literally all I saw was her hands. They were her little precious hands. And I have seen many, many children because of my upbringing who need families. That was not new for me and. But there was something different about this. And my spirit just, like, left in that moment, and I knew I needed to find more information out, and we weren't eligible to match with any child. She. I had no information about her. Nothing. So a wild turn of events happened, and within 24 hours, we learned her story and we had just the right connections that we needed that were just, yeah, very out of the box. So anyway, she was actually at one of the only Christian orphanages left in India that hasn't been closed by the government. So she was in wonderful, caring hands. But we learned her story, and most of all, we learned her medical needs. And we had signed up for special needs adoption. But in our mind, you know, at first we were thinking like, okay, maybe like a cleft palate that's fixed in one surgery done. And when we learned her medical needs, our heart just absolutely broke. And we, I think of both of us at first, we're like, okay, first of all, never mind. Second of all, we've been given a wonderful opportunity to Pray that this child will find a family, because surely someone out there is more equipped than we are, more brave, has more money, more medical knowledge, like all those things. And it was a five day wrestle with the Lord, because I think I knew from the beginning what he was asking us to do. And just being honest and it scared me. It absolutely terrified me. I think, Colton, you can say the same, right?

[D]

For sure.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Way more than I was anticipating.

[C]

It would be a lifestyle change for us. It would be traveling the entire time. We raise her to specialists that could help her that live very far away from us. It would be surgery after surgery. It would be daily medical maintenance and medical supplies in our home that we have no training in. It was going to be, I'll just say, different than what we thought. But after five days, we could not shake the feeling of what if no one else does say yes. This condition that she has is fatal if not treated early on, and it is lifelong. But you can at least have the opportunity to manage it well if you do have the medical treatment. And it just really came to our mind that, you know, she's not scary. She's just a baby girl. That's all she is. And she's just as worthy of a family as any other child. And she, you know, we are, yes, might be the only thing standing between her and her getting to live. And I was five days into it, I was on a prayer walk and I remember sobbing and finally told the Lord, if you give me the opportunity to be her mom, because there's a lot that stands in the way of that right now, legally, I will say yes, and I will not give up until that happens. So from then on, we pretty much committed our life to her and we really felt the Lord speak. She will be your daughter. She will be your daughter. That's all you need to know. We didn't know the story that was going to unfold after that, but it was almost like he had so much grace on us to give us the end of the story. He gave us this little nugget of what was going to happen in the end. She is going to be yours. You just have to trust me until then. And no matter what happens between here and now, you just have to know how it's going to end. So anyway, we dove into learning about her medical needs and preparing our everything for what that was going to involve. Learning all we could. Colton, you want to say anything about that? That season.

[A]

It.

[C]

We're honestly. It's still so fresh. We're still processing it Anyway.

[D]

I'd say the first, the first few months there were relatively easy because. Because we were still waiting on our. On our it glitch thing to. To. To resolve. So. And like, we were just kind of like, well, it's out of our hands, so we're just going to sit here and wait.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

It's probably after that ended that it really got harder because at that point it was, okay, we're eligible. We could move on with, with any other random kid and we could just be done with this. We would have to wait anymore. But the fact that we already knew about her obviously changed that.

[C]

So for sure. So can I ask one clarifying question? Yeah.

[A]

So it wasn't that you matched with her. It was that like, you had saw her and then started digging into like the medical.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Details of everything. And so at this point, had you been ready, you weren't ready to match with a kid because of the tech glitch.

[C]

Yeah, we wouldn't be ready to match until February of 2023. So. Got it later.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

So anyway, it was just a season of falling in love with her from afar. She honestly felt like our daughter from the very beginning. And we had just the right God connections to receive, you know, updates about her and receive photos. And I will say something that I'm really thankful for in the story. We didn't even see a photo of her adorable little face until after we had had that prayer walk and committed our life to her. All we had seen at that point was like the back of her head and her hands. So it was just like, I don't know, I feel like I can tell her one day. Like it was literally like heart to heart. Like it was. There was something much deeper that made us fall in love with you. There was nothing superficial about it. So anyway, we. We just kept up with her orphanage. Actually, we had an opportunity to become her sponsor family. So just like you would through Compassion or World Vision or something that was similar to that. So we were able to get updates the same as any other sponsor would. And it was just incredible. I mean, we got to see her grow. We got to know when she said her first word, when she started crawling, when she started walking, which she never was supposed to walk, which was really amazing. When we got that update, that was.

[D]

Only possible because we were waiting and not officially match with her. Actually, once that becomes illegal, actually once you are matched, because then there can't be any transfer of money between you and the orphanage because bribery has been such a big issue. I mean, there's there's all kinds of shady stuff that's been involved with that. So because.

[C]

So there's a lot of rules in place to eliminate anything that is unethical or shady. So we were able to do this. And then the moment we matched, everything had to stop. So then things became standard procedure again after that. But until then, it was just an incredible opportunity. So anyway, we. We did feel crazy. I mean, honestly, we were like, we're just flying at this full, full steam ahead, believing that this is our daughter, when there's a lot that has to happen to make that happen. And there would be times where, you know, we would be discouraged. Like, lord, did we hear you right? You know, this. This is so wild. And every time we would ask him for some type of sign, it would come. Like, there would be someone that comes into a coffee shop I was working in, and someone would be from her city and a missionary and just speak life into the situation and pray over the situation and talk about the need that is in that city. Another really amazing encounter was I had been crying again on a prayer walk. I just cry on prayer walks all the time. And I had asked the Lord specifically for a sign that she would be our daughter. Because at this point, I think it was October. And, you know, we had been in it, oh, for six months. That felt like so long at the time. I just said, God, will you. Because I'm weak and my faith is really weak. Will you please give me another sign? And I woke up to a message from someone who was in the story and in the situation. And they said that, you know, I'd been waiting to share this with you until I knew she was your daughter. But when she first entered the orphanage, speaking on this person's behalf, they just really were grieving and wrestling with, lord, why would you allow this to happen again to another child? This child's not going to live. No one is going to see her for who she really is, and no one's going to want to be her family. And God just, like, very miraculously just spoke to her and said, you have to give this to me. I'm working. I'm going to finish what I started in this child's life, and I'm preparing a family right now. And I saw her hands and inquired like a week or so after that, which was just amazing to hear that. So we were like, okay, God, we're going to keep after this. Anyway, so our it glitch was fixed and we moved on with the process. And that was February of 20, 23. And at that point, she was still like, a year and a half from being able to match with us. I think, yeah, the paperwork system just has some. Some ways that it's not efficient, and there are definitely some corruption involved. And she had just gotten caught in the middle of it, and here she just. She wasn't going to live with the way things were with her body, and she was just at the mercy of paperwork that was stalled for her. So anyway, we just, like, kept in prayer and kept in conversation with each other. And even our agency, who's wonderful, they said multiple times, you guys should probably think about moving on. There are other kids waiting. I don't think this is going to happen. And we almost did. But it was Colton that said, why would we give up on her? Why would we give up on her? Why is a little bit of waiting or inconvenience or heartache on our end? Like, every bit of it is worth knowing she's going to get to live and have a full life and make it to adulthood. So our agency really respected that, and we just. We kept on. And it. Right about then, I think, is when we there. There just was a lot of. A lot of warfare around us. It was turning into a really, really dark season. We decided to leave social media. We really felt God asking us to, at least for me, speaking for me, strip away anything that I was using to distract and numb myself. So for a year, I didn't touch social media, which honestly kind of hurt our business at times. I mean, like, it was a big leap of faith to do that. And I also got rid of any form of sugar for a year because those were my two weaknesses. Like, if I was feeling discouraged, I would, you know, go eat ice cream or something. A lot of times it was still, like, sweetened with maple syrup. But even that, like, God was like, no, get rid of any sweet flavor. Get rid of social media. You need to run to me with this, because the story is not something you're going to want to miss out on. And if you're distracted, you're going to really miss what I have for you in the story. So anyway, we kind of were in this, like, dark hole for about a year at that point. And honestly, the darker it got and the more attacks we got for a while, I mean, Colton, do you agree? We were just kind of. Everywhere we looked was bad news being thrown at us. Many things in our life took a hit. I mean, even, you know, marriage felt tricky at times. Bank account felt cheeky. Like any area you can think of in our life felt like it was crumbling, and we kept tying it back to basically, like, how do I say this? There is so much persecution happening in India right now. It just kept being highlighted. To me, if we're linking arms with this wonderful nation that is also under attack, it kind of makes sense that some of that attack would be kind of, like, filtering into our home, too. And it just kind of really made us wonder, like, who is this child going to be that has so much opposition against her right now? Like, I just. He kind of told me in my spirit, just, you just need to wait. It's going to make sense one day. When you see the plans that I have for her and the things that she's able to fulfill. Because you were steadfast and because you said yes and because you waited and the enemy does not like it, you know, he's going to do everything he can to not have this child be in a forever home. So, Colton, you want to say anything at this point to that?

[D]

No. I mean, it's just very clear with the signs that we had, just a couple of stories that you told and then just. Yeah. Darkness that we felt, the attack on that that. I mean, there was such spiritual war going on there. I mean, luckily, our God's bigger and eventually had victory through that. But I'm just.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. And I. I just want to talk. I feel like we could spend this entire episode talking about fasting and the power of fasting and the power of prayer and the miracles. You can see, while in a season of fasting, we. Honestly, I had grown up knowing the Lord, but until I really dove into. Not just like a day of fasting, which is common, a year of fasting. I have never heard the Lord more frequently and more clearly ever in my entire life. His voice just became. Not that he needs that he can speak however he wants to, but it's like our human mind. There's so much in our society that is constantly distracting us and pulling us away from the Lord. I just wonder myself and I wonder about society. How much are we missing that God is trying to tell us because we're so distracted? So it was just like a year of constant communion with the Lord. Constant. We decided just to continue on as if she was our daughter. We set up her nursery. We continued preparing in many tangible ways like that. We had our little clothes lined up in the closet, Kept up with how big she was to make sure we had the right size.

[D]

We went on a prayer walk most days and also ended every day and sitting in her nursery praying and listening to worship music.

[C]

We had worship music playing every day. We would pace her room. I would have my guitar in there. Cool story. I literally like that pick that I used for that guitar was like my weapon of choice for three years and the first time I played guitar for her in that room while she was in there, years later that pick broke. Which is just like God. Like God saying like you don't need it anymore. It's that battle has been won anyway. So kind of a little tangent but fun.

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[C]

Yeah, so we. We would just pour out our heart, and I feel like year one of our adoption was really kind of about. Like it was when we were on the podcast with you guys last. It was about advocacy in general, you know, speaking up for. For children that don't have voices. But as we entered year two and we stepped off social media, and things started really becoming clear to us how big of a story that God was writing and how there was so much going on that we couldn't see. It just became clear that it was time to not no longer be a loud voice, but to fight hard for our daughter, to fight for her life and to fight for our family. So we worshiped our heart out every day. I've never cried so often. There would be times where we were just in heaps on the floor, and we would get medical reports that were so incredibly grim. I mean, in the natural, it just didn't seem like not only she was going to be in her family, but that she was going to live, that she wouldn't even live to see the day that her paperwork was cleared. But, you know, God says the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. And every time we stepped in her room that was just so illuminated for us, and it just became like a little sanctuary in there. Sometimes we would, you know, laugh at his goodness, just, like, enjoy, like, joyful laugh, and the next moment, we would be sobbing, and it was just a very, very raw experience. And that's just pretty much how our home was for a very long time as we navigated a lot of different stuff going on in our life that didn't even have to do with adoption. I mean, at one point, I had some pretty serious health conditions come up. And we were advised even after, like, surgery, stress is really making this.

[B]

At.

[C]

Least making it worse, if not bringing it on from the start. And we were advised even from medical professionals to stop what we were doing for the sake of my health. And, you know, that would have been straight up disobedience from the Lord. And I just believed that he would sustain everything that we need, and that, you know, a little season of suffering is absolutely worth it to know that she doesn't have to suffer the rest of her life, which would be a very short life. So, anyway. Did you want to say anything at this point, Colton? Yeah. So it became a season of preparation for her, but also the more he started speaking to us honestly, like, through dreams and visions and things that I have to say. I didn't even believe in growing up. I always had loved the Lord, but it was a different side of the Lord that was really highlighted to both of us during that time. And it was really the prayer I had prayed a long time ago. Will you make this story a miracle story? And that is when this started happening. He just really asked us to start preparing, and he gave us. We won't go into too much detail on this, but he started revealing some future assignments for our family that were even past her coming home. So he said, you know, I want you to prepare for those right now. I want you to prepare to be her parents, but I also want you to prepare for these things that I have for you in my kingdom. So we started learning about so many different things. We started learning Swati's language. We started, like we said before, learning about our medical needs, obviously, but we started just learning more and more about Eastern culture, just like India, specifically the Middle east religions that are prominent in that part of the world. A lot of testimonies, we just poured ourselves hours a day. Like, I would sit there editing, and I would just be listening instead of to the type of, like, you know, business podcasts that I would listen to before. I would listen to, like, testimonies of believers in India, and I would learn about the persecuted church, and I would just. I would just inundate myself with it every day. And it was just a really, honestly, like, a sacred season of, you know, making our waiting be productive, if that makes sense, and continuing to worship while we wait, continuing to prepare while we wait. And it was during that season that God really used the life of Abraham to really speak to us very directly. And when God gave his covenant to Abraham, that, you know, your descendants will be more than the grains of the sand and the stars of the sky. And you know how the story goes, nothing in, like, the natural physical world looked like there was any logic in that happening with his age and all of those things. But the word, it's an ancient Hebrew word that he responded to the Lord with. That is not used anymore. It's not Amen. It's different. It's aman. It's aman. And basically was like the root word of the word, the original word of the word faith in Hebrew, but it was broader than the faith that we know. It was, I believe in your covenant, and I believe you will do what you said you would do. And even when Paul, later on in the Bible is talking about Abraham, he said he didn't waver. He believed that God would do what he said he would do. So when we would go up to her room every night as India was rising and we were going to bed, that became the cry, like, of our heart. We would just cry, aman. That's, you know, like, there were times when that's literally the only word we could squeak out was just, we believe you'll do what you said you would do. We believe you'll do what you said you would do. So, by the way, her. She has two middle names. That's a story for another time, but one of them is the word amana, which is the feminine version of that word. Anyway, it was just a season of being stripped of a lot and walking through a lot of fire. And we really learned, especially through the life of Job, what it looks like to worship and grieve simultaneously and what that looks like. So, anyway, let me see. Where was I going with that? Yeah. Enemy tried to thwart everything that the Lord was doing, but he's no match for the Lord. So none true. After. There's one more story I want to highlight. At one point, this was December of 2023. We believed more than ever, we felt so on fire that we were absolutely where we were supposed to be. But in all honesty, we were feeling very, very drained and broken and not just of waiting for her, but all the things that were happening in our life. We just felt absolutely a rock bottom. And a friend of ours prayed over us that week and said, lord, would you do something just completely wacky? And will you affirm your call over their life and encourage them through a stranger this week? And I just remember hearing that. And I was like, I've never thought to ask that of God, but okay. I mean, sure. And I was in a coffee shop again maybe five days later. And this is also a long story, making it very short. A man walks in saying that he had a dream about a little girl in India, and he was prompted to go to this coffee shop. And when he found out that I was adopting a child from India, and he found out a few of the details of the situation. He said, my dream was supposed to be for you. You need to know that she's covered, and you don't need to worry. Wow. And we would find out later that day, a medical report that confirmed she didn't have much time left. And I just remember looking at Colton and feeling that brokenness come back, even though God had liter just like prophesied through a stranger's dream. And here I am again, starting to break again at this news. And Colton said, thank you, by the way, for this. God prepared us for this. Like, literally, you were on cloud nine a couple hours ago. This stranger comes in and prophesies that this daughter of ours is going to live, that she's covered. And God knew we were going to get this news later today. I mean, he knew that this. And how gracious of him to prepare us for this news. Yeah. So anyway, amazing.

[D]

That was the one where she was hospitalized for 11 days. Is that the one previously?

[C]

That was a different time previous. But, yeah, we did walk through virtually a lot of hospitalizations with her and her orphanage. Like we said, they were believers. And it was the most wild feeling. Like we would get photos of them literally, like face to the ground, like begging the Lord, like in group prayer, begging the Lord to spare her life. And here we are 8, 000 miles away doing the same thing. And so it was around this time that we. There was a. Like a. A daily alarm that went off for dozens of people and not all of them knew the details of the situation. They just knew vaguely that there was a child in a lot of need. And it was like Swati's morning prayer. And everybody at the same time, no matter where they were in the world, there were multiple countries involved. Everybody's alarm went off at the same time and everybody in unison just covered her in prayer and asked the Lord to finish what he started because she couldn't wait much longer. So 32 months after we had started our adoption and 21 months after we had seen her face, we eventually her paperwork was done and we were able to legally match with her. And for those of that don't know what that means, that basically means that she was legally, she wasn't our daughter at that point, but she was reserved for us. And her paperwork was done just to.

[D]

Wrap up that section of the story. I mean, after our IT thing was finally resolved, then obviously, like we talked about, we were just waiting on her paperwork to get done, which that took, I forget how long, but that was a year and a half of her paperwork that was stalled out in India. We eventually, eventually found out that essentially she was forgotten by the system.

[C]

I mean, our agency said that she may never, ever be eligible to be adopted because of this paperwork that just pretty much got lost. And it's such a large country and there's definitely ways it could go more efficiently that it was just not going to happen in their minds.

[D]

So through some stuff that happened in India that we won't go into the details of, she eventually got put back on their radar and they move forward with her paperwork. She got uploaded into the system and this whole time, even though through all of those things that God was confirming that she was going to be ours, it was still nerve wracking because if she did get uploaded, I mean, she just goes up onto the website where any agency could match her with a family. So it was a little nerve wracking. So we were up. Literally.

[C]

We knew that statistically speaking, her needs are not readily accepted. Yeah. So we knew that there was not a likelihood of, of, of her getting adopted by another.

[A]

Is it like you're waiting there, you're waiting there on, on like a website for her, like profile for all intensive businesses pop up and be like mine.

[C]

There's a precious list of. There's usually between 1 and 2000 children on this list at a time and it's under lock and key from the Indian government. But if you're in that part of the adoption process, you do get access to that list. So during that time it was actually, it was heartbreaking to see those same faces on that list every day and see people not matching with them. And I just kept telling Colton, like, if we were in a different story right now, like, this child, this child, this child, like they're all so precious. They're just sitting here and who knows what is going on in their life. And you know, it's within people's grasp to meet these needs eternally. And it was hard for me, us to see those kids every day. But it really gave us an incredible opportunity to pray for them. I still know them by name. I still think about them and just trusting that, you know, God loves them the same amount that he loves Swati. So if he can do it for her, he can do it for them. But it was Colton's birthday, his 31st birthday, when we matched. We were in a coffee shop and all of these big moments have happened with coffee. Anyway, yeah, we got the email and I've never been more unwell in my life.

[D]

Just completely collapsed basically onto the floor and was sobb.

[C]

And I mean people, people probably thought someone died. Yeah.

[D]

But now it was actually joy. So it was, it was great. I eventually kind of picked her up and took her out of the coffee shop.

[B]

You're like there, there's, there's whispers of calling an ambulance.

[D]

We should maybe leave.

[C]

Wow, this is so powerful. So, yeah, I Mean, it was just. It was surreal. I feel like I was in a constant state of happy tears for. Okay, so now we're almost 10 months after having her in her home, and I've narrowed it down to maybe I cry about every other day happy tears. So at that point, it was like every few minutes, I was just. It was all coming back. It was honest. It was like whiplash. It was just all one way. And then all of a sudden. I mean, the best way I can describe it, I thought about this last night. Hopefully none of you guys have experienced this, but I have been in a tornado. And when you're in it, the sound is just so chaotic. Like, it's terrifying. Wait, you mean.

[A]

Do you mean metaphorically or, like, literally?

[C]

Literally, yes, literally.

[A]

Oh, you've literally been in a tornado.

[C]

Yeah. But then the silence afterwards is, like, just so striking and almost eerie, but wonderful. You're so thankful you're out of it on the other side. Anyway, it was just, like, just so wild that our life literally changed in a moment. And every bit of it happened just as the Lord had said. There was so much rejoicing happening across, like, so many people that have been walking the journey with us. And honestly, it was like once there was finally breakthrough. Like, floodgates just opened, and there was just. It just happened so fast after that. Once you match with a child, it can sometimes be a year before you go get them. We were on a plane less than three months later.

[D]

Yeah. So April 6th was that match day on my birthday, and we were in India on July 3rd. So less than three months.

[C]

July 1st. Yeah. So we had a really fun night in Qatar on the way. Was really fun. And then we had just a little bit of, like, time zone change adjustment once we got there.

[D]

We had one day where we just kind of hung out around one of the bigger cities of her area.

[A]

I have, like, a random logistical question, and I feel like I. I remember us having a friend chat way before back in, like, I think it was probably 20, 21.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

About how I remember you guys mentioning, like, because you don't know, obviously, when you're gonna match, and then you don't know when you can legally, like, go. It's like you can't buy a plane ticket in advance. Is that true? Like, where it's like, you almost have to be open at any time.

[C]

Open. And another thing that goes on with that is, like, we had to literally keep our life the same for three years because I was like, as wedding.

[A]

Photographers, how really hard we.

[C]

We did have to hire some associate shooters while we were gone. Just the only way to do it.

[D]

Yeah. Being gone for a month, for about a year.

[C]

There are two. Anytime someone would book, we. We had to add, like, a clause or whatever you want to call it to the contract of, like, here's our situation. Are you still okay with hiring us, knowing we may not be at your wedding? And every. We didn't lose one booking because of it. Everybody was absolutely good with it.

[D]

So anyway, yeah, like, one thing that's crazy, too, during that whole waiting period, is that I would. With. You couldn't change hardly anything. It was like you were literally frozen in time, because if you change anything major in your life, if you get a new job, you move you.

[C]

Or if we'd have a biological child. We had.

[D]

We had to ye. Yeah, we couldn't. Couldn't get pregnant. That would pause everything, too. So it was all just like your life was frozen for that whole period of time. And if you could change anything, you could redo your home study, which cost thousands of dollars. I mean, we already had to do that once during that waiting period just because documents expired. But if anything else would have changed, then you have to spend thousands more dollars.

[C]

And so, yeah, I mean, at one point, you know, Colton was feeling like he wanted to do a job change. We really wanted to be parents. At one point. We were like, well, we could just get pregnant and then, you know, start the adoption again. You know, those kinds of things. But, no, we had to keep it. So, anyway, we had a long rural drive to get to where she was in her orphanage. And that feeling of just knowing that she was moments away from being in her arms, I honestly felt like the last 20 years of my life, from the time I went to India to get my sister, like, everything had been pointing to this moment, and it was not anything I really know how to put into words. And when we got there, everybody was waiting outside for us. All the kids, all the caregivers. They were dressed. They're in their best sarees, and they had flowers in their hair, and she was right at the entrance being held by one of the caregivers. And we had prayed so much for her heart in that moment. We had FaceTimed with her quite a bit from the time we matched when it became legal to when we went. So she knew who we were, but we still.

[D]

She actually had, like, instant recognition and, like, kind of vaguely smiled at us, basically, because she's like, I know you guys. I've seen you on the. On the screen.

[C]

One of the last times we FaceTimed with her, she looked at us and she said, coming. And we were like, yes, yes, we're coming. She spoke fluent Telugu, but she did not speak any English. So that was a big deal that she had learned that word and someone.

[A]

Knew what it meant.

[C]

Wow. But, yeah, we were given a tour of the orphanage and a very quick crash course on what her medical needs looked like, treating them and caring for them day to day. And they had a ceremony where they had a slideshow of her whole life, and they just had a really precious speech and prayed over her life, and they grieved so much that they were losing her. I'll never forget that. But in their speech, they just said, we. We believe that God has very beautiful and big plans for this child that she can't fulfill in this orphanage. So we know that she needs to have a family, and for that, we're rejoicing. So her main caregiver that was kind of in charge of her, she didn't speak a word of English. She was an older woman. And the moment we made eye contact, she came. I don't think I can get through this. She came, and she absolutely bear hugged me, and I bear hugged her. We were both sobbing. And it was this moment that, like, transcends language needed. No language needed. It was gratitude from me for what everything that she had done to keep our child alive, and it was gratitude from her for what we were about to do.

[A]

So.

[C]

So anyway, it was really, really precious. So we had, soon after that, a pretty traumatic situation in a hospital. She needed to be seen by medical professionals every three weeks. And we realized that it would be in her best interest to never once again step foot in that hospital because of the treatment of what they did to her. So our agency took it, made it a priority to make sure that three weeks after that, we were back on US Soil, which. Which we didn't think would be possible because we had planned to be there multiple months, but they pulled a lot of strings, and they actually got the Indian government to issue an expedited, like a medical expedite to expedite the remaining paperwork that we needed. And so, anyway, while we were waiting on that, we got to explore her area of India, which is southern India, and absolutely fell in love with it. We definitely left a big part of our heart in India. And then we traveled to Delhi, which is the capital, and while we were waiting on those final documents, we got to explore more and just fall in love with every part of the culture. You can imagine. And we got to do something called the Golden Triangle, which was amazing. Just a cherry on top, but it's where you, like, start in Delhi, and then you go to the Taj Mahal and then you go to Jaipur, which is where the. The Pink palace is. I don't know if you guys have seen photos of that, but it's also very iconic. So we got to see that and then took a train back to Delhi. And it was incredible. We made precious friends along the way, and she attached to us very, very quickly, I would say the parts of us being in India. And her adjustment was just learning how to care for her medically before we had seen any medical professionals in the US because we were just blindly going at it, and that was a lot of pressure. And she was having some pretty severe things going on.

[D]

Yeah. The first day that we had her, she initially had that brief moment of recognition, but then she got fairly nervous after that for a while. And then. And there was some holdups with government stuff because.

[C]

Just.

[D]

Because I won't go into the details of that. But eventually we did make it back to our hotel that night. And then she started attaching and becoming comfortable pretty quickly. I mean, the one little.

[C]

You'll bond really quickly while picking lice at each other's hair.

[D]

So that was one little jump. First was, all right, everybody likes treatment because there's bugs crawling through her hair. That's nice.

[C]

And that was something we. We knew to expect. But she was like, okay, you guys, you know, I'm. We're going to bond really quickly right now. But anyway, yeah, she. She just. She seemed to know instantly who we were, which does not always happen. That part of adoption is sometimes really, really hard and long attachment. And she just. She just bonded to us instantly, which was just. We were so, so thankful for that. So we. We flew back home. She did incredible. Never been on a flight before, and she did incredible. Incredible. We had a bad situation come up in Rome. That's a whole other podcast.

[D]

The short version of it. It was that we looked into it. We had a. We were gonna have.

[C]

I don't know if we have time.

[D]

Okay, 30 seconds. We had. We had to have a layover on our way home because, you know, 24 hour flight basically from India. So it was going to be in Italy on the way back home. We were gonna have a night there. We were gonna go out into Rome and just spend a little bit of tourist time. On the way home. We looked it up. US Citizens don't have to have a visa but even though she was a US citizen, she only had an Indian passport at that point. So the Indian passport document, basically we get there, we get the customs and they take us to this like shady back room of the airport with the airport police and they put us in this room, tell us to stay there.

[C]

They told us that we were about to have an issue with the police and that we needed to get out of the country.

[D]

You want to have a problem?

[A]

You're like, we're trying.

[C]

And she guys, she had a fever currently from her medical needs. She needed medical care quickly. Anyway, a US Senator ended up contacting the Italian government and said, you do not treat American citizens this way. You escort them onto a plane right now and get them home. So it got intense.

[D]

The police chief eventually comes to us like head in hand and gets us on the next flight out of Italy.

[C]

Wow, it was wild. We want to redo Italy at some point because we do believe it's wonderful there. We just had a wild go back and redeem that. But anyway, we flew straight to Ohio, which is where her medical treatment has to happen and her body could not wait any longer. We didn't even go home. And my family got to come there and she got to know them, which was really precious. And she had the first small of many surgeries just to basically get her body to where she could go on a few weeks longer until we went back. So we came home then and it was so precious getting to see her in her room. I mean, just more surreal than I could put into work. And we had to go back to Ohio then and she had a nine hour, totally open, very invasive, very brutal surgery that ultimately saved her life. And we were hospitalized for a long time. Since we've been here, I think we've been in Ohio for a total of seven or eight weeks at this point.

[D]

Yeah, for about the first 3ish months that we were home from India, we were actually in Ohio more than we were home. I mean, it was that big surgery she just talked about. We were hospitalized for a total of 11 days. And that was, you know, a month and a half, half after meeting her. And then we're in Ohio, you know, eight hours from our home in a hospital for 11 days. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

For a while I think she, like, she knew we were home, but geographically she did not understand where home was.

[B]

Yeah, understandably.

[C]

Yeah. But anyway, I think the hardest part of her medical journey was, yes, the physical, medical side of it, but. But she has a lot of medical trauma. She's been through Some really, really stuff we won't share about, but it's not things that any of us could comprehend.

[D]

The hospital situation there was just really bad. I mean, they treated her abusive. Yeah, we've heard stories. I mean, we don't know her full story with how she was treated in the hospital. We can guess. And we know that some of the ramifications of it from the trauma that she does had, but we know stories of adopted kids. I mean, some of them are basically treated like science experiments when they're orphans because there's no accountability.

[C]

So it's like all different kinds of abuse that happens. So she didn't think this hospital was gonna be any different, and who could blame her? But from the time when we first brought her into Ohio, when a panic attack started just from them putting a medical bracelet on her wrist, that's when the panic started to. Now she'll go up and give her surgeons a high five, which is just. We've seen so much healing happen. I mean, physically, yes, but emotionally, just so much trust and healing.

[D]

We'll go across the street to the park, and there's a fire truck that she likes to drive, and we're like, where are we going? We're going to the hospital.

[C]

Ye. Yeah. Like, she just willingly wants to, like, have that be part of her play.

[D]

So much healing there.

[C]

Yeah, so much healing the Lord has done just above and beyond what we could ever imagine. And yeah, she has learned English so fast. She's so intelligent. She's hilarious. Very close to my family, and it's so sweet to see my Indian siblings with her and have them be so close. And getting back to work has been much slower than we expected because with her trauma, I really. I can't leave her really, ever right now very much. And I also her. Her medical needs need to be monitored by a trained eye pretty much 24 7. But the first time I did leave for a session and I went five minutes away and she was with my mom. She had no idea the life I had had before getting her. And my mom said, yeah, Mommy's out taking pictures. And she got really quiet. And she said of what? Swati's here. Oh, what else is there in the.

[A]

What is there to take photos of if not me, not me?

[C]

You're like, oh, baby, yes. Oh, I love it. Anyway, so that kind of brings it up to current day. We're just absolutely loving life with her. There are definitely hard parts of our household, and trauma doesn't. Doesn't easily leave you. That's always A part of any adopted child's journey. But you know, the gospel changes anything that it touches. You know, you can't, you can't know the Lord and come out unaffected and unchanged. And we've just seen the goodness of God and his healing hand in her life. And although, like, we'll never belittle or forget what she's been through, it's not possible for her to forget that. We're just really thankful for the healing and restoration that we've gotten to witness just by knowing her and just. Yeah. How God has worked in her life.

[D]

So, um, I was just going to tell the story about her spine.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[D]

I mean, so, I mean, that's one of the literal biggest healing miracles that we've. I mean, personally, it's the biggest healing miracle I've ever witnessed firsthand. But she, one of her diagnosis had to do with her spine.

[C]

And I will say this was a repercussion of a much, much, much bigger and more severe diagnosis. This was just like an offshoot because she has so many things going on.

[D]

But anyway, yeah, so she had a diagnosis with her spine. She was diagnosed with it in India. And we were expecting to have to deal with it pretty soon. We did the big surgery.

[C]

It requires big surgery even just to fix this on her spine.

[D]

Yeah, it's this kind of surgery where spinal surgery, totally open and you have to basically remain motionless for three days. So for a three year old is basically to sedate her the whole time. And they would be hospitalized for probably another two weeks or something like that, I'm not sure.

[C]

But so we were going to Ohio. We were on our way and God had prompted me the whole week before that to pray for healing, physical healing in a way that I never had before with her. And at first, I mean, like the kind of stuff she deals with, that's not the kind of stuff people are seeing be healed every day. And at first I was like, what do you mean, God? You want me to ask you to just take it away? And he said, I just want you to ask me to take it away. Just ask me. And I interceded on her behalf for hours that week leading up to going. And we stopped at our church on the way to Ohio, bags packed in the car and everything. And they laid hands and you can't make this kind of thing up. I literally felt her back shift as they were praying. And the MRI that we were going to do showed that there is. There's no trace left of what had.

[D]

Been of that condition. Yeah, I Mean, she still has some. Some differences in her spine, but as far as something that had surgery, it.

[C]

Was gone and it had very much been there before.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

So. So, yeah, we just hope that people just view the power of the Lord as truly not having any limits, just from knowing the story. That there is absolutely nothing that he can't and won't do for his children that he loves. And there's nothing like the length and depths he'll go for one child is just extraordinary and has changed my life for the rest of my life.

[A]

Wow. Okay.

[B]

Well, I only cried about five times going through that. I'm pretty impressed with myself.

[A]

I hope if anybody's watching the YouTube, I think it was on you most of the time because, like, at the beginning when you first started crying, like a minute two in, we had some tissues and I, like, grabbed it and.

[C]

Then I tore it in half.

[A]

I tore it in half and I was like, here you go, Evie. Here's mine, here's yours.

[C]

We're just like sitting here wiping our.

[B]

Eyes the whole time. What a powerful, powerful testimony of just your obedience. And I know you guys wouldn't probably choose to highlight that, so I want to of like your obedience and willingness to stay stand firm in what you felt God call you to and like a modern day, you know, example or representation of the story of Abraham and of, you know, saying like the Amman and. And that is a beautiful testimony to all believers. And then, you know, the story with your precious daughter and the journey of getting her and just God's power in that and the mountains he moved. It's so powerful to see it and to hear it. And I can't thank you guys enough for sharing it.

[A]

Yeah, that was incredible.

[C]

Are so thankful just. Yeah. For the opportunity to be able to share. And I think if, if listeners could have any takeaway from this.

[A]

I'm glad you went there because I was literally, I was specifically gonna say if anybody out there has been thinking of adopting or wanting to, what would be like your final kind of encouragement? You could obviously get it to them or to listeners in, in general.

[C]

Okay. I think, Yeah, I would. I think, I think. I think something we've seen that we have fallen into. We're not putting ourself on a pedestal. We're a work in progress every single day. And God has really chipped away at layers that were not attractive on us the past few years. And I truly feel like a different person than I was before. And there's still a long ways to go, but we've seen with ourself and with society that one of the biggest idols that people have put in their life right now is themselves. And it's like, you know, our comfort and our convenience and taking the road with less resistance. It's, you know, choosing, you know, the perfect vibe and aesthetic and the bank account you want and the home you want and all these different things, even our own dreams, and all of those things are good. I'm not saying those things are bad, but if you are putting those in the forefront of your life and not radically following Jesus the way the early church did, the way that, you know, some of the believers right now in the most persecuted nations are. Those are the people in the communities that are seeing the most miracles from the Lord. We've become very, very lukewarm and asleep in the West. So I would just encourage you, whether you are considering adoption or just to ask the Lord maybe outside of adoption, just what is it in the kingdom? What is my role to play to truly ask him and to absolutely be willing to do whatever it is that he says, even if it literally terrifies you. The miracles that come and provision and the favor that comes after a yes, even a broken yes, is something that you won't walk away unchanged from. And I just, yeah, want to encourage people that there's so many needs in the world that are absolutely, like, beyond our control of ever really changing. And I know that sounds so pessimistic, but the orphan crisis is. It is within our control. Because what is it you, you know, like, what is the math? I mean, I think it's like, if one person of the world adopted a child, there'd be no orphans left. Like, wow, that. I mean, I don't even need to say anything else. So, yeah, we just encourage people not to ask, you know, you know, if we should care for orphans. But how. How is God asking you to care for orphans? How is God asking you to open up your home and open up your heart in ways that you maybe never imagined you would? But I heard an adult adoptee recently say, like, it will require more of than you can imagine, but it will be more worth it than you can possibly imagine? And I. Our story is just such a testament to that.

[D]

But not everybody is called to physically adopt like we talked about a little bit before. Way, way more people should be than they are. But that's just. It's. It is impossible for everybody. That's understandable. Some people are not of age. There's all kinds of reasons why. But prayer is free. It's. It's free. I don't know if you know that, but you can always do that. Just the simplest thing. It's the simplest thing to do. And now I actually feel more comfort saying this because we're not in the adoption process. I always felt a little squeamish when we were in the process, like hey, you can give money to this adoption. It felt a little, a little weird to be saying that when we were potentially going to be receiving that. So that felt awkward. But now we're not. So give money to people that are adopting. I mean that's something statistically the people.

[C]

That are adopting usually are the people that it makes the less like the least amount of sense financially to be adopting. So if you know of somebody adopting, adopting literally we were sometimes given $5 gifts that would bring tears to our eyes. It does not matter the number but it really felt like like a community brought Swati home and got to celebrate it. So did you have anything to say?

[D]

No.

[C]

But yeah, I think just whether it's adoption, whether it's however you're living your life, whatever you're called to do, invite the Lord into it and be willing to follow him radically. And I think it's just should be on the forefront of everyone's mind that we will be judged one day for what we did, what we said. Obviously I feel like within the church everybody knows that but something that's not talked about as often as well, I think we'll be judged for what we didn't do. And yeah, that's our messy thoughts.

[D]

We're not sugarcoating it either. I mean it's been amazingly hard as much as it's been amazingly beautiful. I mean the joy and the beauty of it all will far out way for sure.

[C]

And I think Lindsay know you were talking that sometimes adoption can be like sensationalized, you know, where it's like almost like this, you know, big story that people are gawking at and you know, like oh, the child was in distress and then the heroes come in and then you know, it's a fairy tale. Happy ending is not how it is even in the slightest. It, you know, adoption is there because of trauma, because of severe brokenness and you know, you shouldn't sensationalize a story that starts from such brokenness and you know, shouldn't ever share the story for, you know, the sake of an image or heaven forbid likes or even for the sake of advocacy. I've had to really talk myself through that of like I can't, you know, just share my daughter's story over and over again for the sake of advocacy when it is her story. There's so much personal things going on and stuff that she's working through and will be her entire, entire life. But just like I said before, you know, even more than that, the Gospel changes anything it touches. And the Lord is healing and restoring and speaking and fulfilling promises to this day just as much as he was in biblical times. And if you want to see God move in incredible ways, adopt a child. It's truly, truly amazing and hard. But the best things in life are often the hardest. I love it.

[A]

So retweet my mic drop quote. All the things I. I literally. I was about to say that. But, like, the. The hardest things in life, the things that require the most struggle and hardship and sacrifice. And sacrifice are usually the sweetest and the best.

[C]

100. And the more you view it through the eyes of the Lord, the more it feels like a joy and not even a sacrifice. So. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, that's so good. I often.

[C]

I'll.

[A]

I'll end with this. Also, I. I often think when you. You are physically birthing a child, you labor, and I feel like maybe I heard this from you, actually, I probably heard this from you online, as if this was an original thought. But it's like, I feel like y' all labored in a completely different way and also longer. Like, I complain about my labor being, like, a few days, but, like, y' all labored for, like, three years.

[C]

You know what? My. We're actually the third generation in our family that is adopted, and my grandma experienced both. She adopted internationally, and she gave birth to my mom. And. And she. Exactly what you said. She says it's labor either way. There's sacrifice that goes in either way. There's hard things that come in either way. I think one of the most hurtful things that have been said to us now a bunch of times is, oh, you guys chose the easy route. You skipped over all the hard things.

[A]

Let me just say, I would laugh.

[C]

In the face any parent, no matter what their story is, but definitely don't say it to an adoptive family because you have no idea what's going on behind closed doors. But, wow. Not to say it is absolutely just so worth it, the ignorance to say that, though. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not even gonna participate in the conversation.

[B]

I'm sorry. The nerve to say that to anyone. Yeah, like, who has the nerve to.

[C]

Say that to anybody?

[B]

Yes, anybody.

[A]

I don't care if the thought was like, oh, because Physical labor is hard, which, yes, that is hard, but that's. You just when you don't know, something just shut down.

[B]

No, I'm just even thinking of, like, saying it to like a. A mom who seems to have, seems, quote unquote, to have a very easy, like, right. Pregnancy. And she seemed to have, like, had an easy labor. Like, I don't care what the story is. For the nerve to say to somebody you skipped over. I would literally, I would just stare at them. I would blink.

[C]

I wouldn't know what to say. Takes a lot of self control. One of the comments happened in front of her, so that, that. Yeah, there's a whole element there of. Yeah, anyway, conversation for another time. But yeah, be careful with your words. We'll end on that. Yeah.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

And God's power, he moves in.

[A]

Thank you guys so much for coming and sharing part two. I feel like we could keep going, but I don't want to take up too much of your time. But thank you for sharing just the beautiful story of your story of adoption, but then also, just like your testimony.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Your testimony of obeying God and following through and fighting tooth and nail and hand and foot for your daughter and bringing her home. That is just such a beautiful testament. And I hope it encourages everybody that listens and that hears your story, whether they're called to adopt or whether they're just encouraged by your obedience and, and faith through your story and. And that helps them in their own story.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's been such an honor to chat with you guys. Thank you so, so much for having us on. And we hope people are encouraged.

[B]

You guys are the best. Thank you for your time.

[C]

Thank you, Sam.