Miscarriage Number 2--1995

We had been in Benin for about a year and a few months and I found out I was pregnant. I was only two months along so I did not announce the news to anyone. When I started spotting while we were on vacation in Niger and miscarried in the SIM Guest House I was devastated! Again, 4 years after the first one. We came home from our vacation, and I was still bleeding. When I saw the Dr. at Bembereke, he recommended that I have a D&C there at the hospital. We drove down from Kandi for the procedure and stayed in the guest house. What I remember was the strange dreams I had from the anesthesia! Oh man! Was it wild! It was like I was on a space ship--like in Star Wars! It was really vivid and very frightening. Five years later when I had a breast biopsy at Galmi Hospital, I found out that they don't use that drug at Galmi. And that in some countries it is considered a street drug!

In November of 1995, we traveled up to Niger and flew home for Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Milton's family in Florida and discussed with them the possibility of adopting an African orphan. I then flew home to Oklahoma for a week with my family and discussed the possibility with my brother and tried to talk to my mom about it. Instead I ended up saying something I regretted saying. My mom always fought with me when I was ready to leave. She would always say something really mean about my loving Africans. This time I told her she would see how much I loved Africa and Africans when I adopted one! Oh wow, it was out of my mouth and I could not take it back. That comment would haunt me!

While I was home I also picked up all my past mail that my mother had not bothered to send to me! There were several Moody Monthly magazines that had accumulated. One article in particular caught my eye. I have kept it all these years. It was about international adoptions. A Christian family--I believe he worked at Moody Radio had adopted. This family and other families stories really spoke to me like nothing else! Wow! I began to get excited to see what God was doing!

Our families (other than my mom) was for our adopting. We prayed about a decision and when we returned to Niger (another story in of itself of almost missing a flight because no one told us to reconfirm the flight with Air Maroc and arriving at New York and finding we were put on stand by! We got on the flight but it was a miserable flight to Casablanca in the smoking section with all the college students returning home for the holidays, smoking and drinking before they got home! We had our heads under a blanket most of the trip in order to not breathe the smoke filled air!)

Back home in Benin we put the wheels in motion to pursue an adoption. We knew one or two African families who had adopted, and we knew of abandoned babies so we figured it would not be too hard to find a baby! We talked to the mission leaders and they were o.k. with us adopting.We had to get permission from our home office and they too were in favor. Our pastor at home was fine with our plan to adopt! All green lights! Stay tuned for the rest of the story!