A Journey of Grace

By Simeon Nix
Bell Shoals Baptist Church
Brandon, Florida 33511

In October of 2000, I turned 40 years old. At that point, Beth and I had been married for almost 15 years. We had already had an incredible journey in marriage and ministry. Turning 40 did a lot of things that I had no idea would happen. One is that I had begun to squint a little when reading! (Well I thought this would never happen to me.)

I thought turning 40 was going to be really hard. However, it was an incredible year! My wife sent me on an Alaskan fishing adventure, I was asked to sing at the Brooklyn Tabernacle (the highlight of my year!), Scott White asked if our choir and orchestra would sing at the Southern Baptist Convention, and a pitcher for the Yankees, Sterling (and Carrie) Hitchcock asked if they could pay for me to do a new recording at Gaither Studios. Wow! What a year!!!

Turning 40 also made Beth and me think more than ever before about being childless. I really wanted to have children before I turned 40 and it just did not look like that was going to happen. We had a few conversations and basically had decided not to go the fertility route. We felt that God told us to simply wait. I, of course, wanted to debate God about the age thing and, of course, God reminded me that if He wanted us to get pregnant then it would happen, if not then He had another plan. The problem was we had talked about adoption here in the states and I was against it. I had lived in an orphanage from around the age of 18 months old to 4 years old. Some wonderful people, Willis and Iva Burgess, decided to take me in as their foster son and later wanted to adopt me. The long and short of it was that my biological mother struggled with such guilt over leaving me and my 4 siblings that she would not allow any of us to be adopted. My Foster parents went through a lot of emotional stress over the years never officially gaining full custody, having to live from year to year not knowing if I might be taken away at any time. This and the recent wave of court decisions to give adopted children back to their biological parents (sometimes even after being with the adopted parents for four years) caused me to not even entertain the idea of adoption. I can't imagine what this 6 foot 5 inch, 300 and none of your business pound man would do, if someone tried to take his kid away! I thought our only option for children was for us to get pregnant. God had another plan.

In December of 2000 Beth and I received a combination Christmas card and prayer request from some very good friends, Rob and Misty Matchett. They wished us a merry Christmas and then they added a "PS," and asked for a specific prayer request, "Pray for us, we are in the midst of adopting two little ones from Russia," and then they added, "Maybe we'll get one for you too!" Thus our "Journey of Grace" began. That day Beth asked me if I had seen the card (which I had!). I played dumb for a while making Beth think I didn't know what was she was talking about and what was so special about the card. Finally I admitted to knowing what she was talking about. I will never forget her next question "So, what do you think about adopting from Russia"! My wife is not one to mince words or beat around the bush. I told her I thought that it was wonderful what they were doing and we should pray for them. Beth then said, "No I mean us, what about us adopting from Russia?"

I have to admit the first thing that I thought was there is no way we can afford to do this! God said "You're right--you can't, but I can! Remember, I own the cattle on a thousand hills."

I thought that it was a little unfair that God took Beth's side before I could even have a chance to tell how financially impossible this would be! God had another plan!

We called Rob and Misty and began to talk about the process. Before we knew it were getting paperwork and paying our first $250 of the more than $32,000 it would eventually cost us. At first we were only going to adopt one child, a little girl. However, God had another plan.

On Saturday February 10, Beth and I decided that God wanted us to adopt not one but two babies (I couldn't believe I was agreeing to this!) I still struggled whether we should or shouldn't but on Sunday morning our confirmation would come. Dr. Ken (our pastor at the time) announced to the congregation that morning that we were adopting "a" child from Russia (we had not had time to tell him that we had decided to adopt two babies). The congregation went nuts every service. After the 11:00 service, a senior adult lady came and spoke to me. She said she was a little concerned about the adoption because ever since we had put it in the prayer room she had been praying for us. She said God had told her not to pray for one but for two children and that specifically she was to pray for a little girl and a little boy. God gave me confirmation (He knew it was me that needed convincing) that we were to adopt a boy and a girl. Everything was falling into place. There was still one slight problem: we didn't have any of the money needed for the adoption.

We had a garage sale to get the first $250 we needed to send in with our first paperwork. We made a little over $200. I thought, "Wow this is great! God provided almost all of the first payment needed to get us started."

However, I should have thought that God never does anything halfway. He always finishes what he starts! Not long after the garage sale a senior adult in our church (who wanted to remain anonymous) said in a letter, that she was on a fixed income and that she couldn't do much but that she wanted to be among the first to help with our adoption. Her gift was a $20 bill and a $5 bill. I can only imagine that she pulled this out of some secret place put away for a difficult day or a special need. This $25 became the 'widow's mite' in my life helping me to believe that God is faithful in everything. Even in the small but significant gift of a senior adult God used to bring forth a powerful faith to help us along each step of the journey. So often, I would return to the face of the senior adult who said we were to adopt two children not one and the gift that completed the need for our first payment. How good and how gracious our heavenly Father is. How wonderful are His mercies, for they are new every day. His grace is sufficient for our every need! One other gift that came was from a Minister of Music friend, Manny Garcia. He and his wife adopted, and simply said that he understood the financial strain this would be, so he wanted to be among the first to help. God planted another seed of faith and confirmation, that He is able to do abundantly more than we could ever imagine. There were big gifts that simply blew us away. Some were at such times that we were without any means to pay the next payment, and the day before or on the day we needed the money, someone would say, "God told me to do this," and they would hand us a check for the exact amount needed. Only God can provide like this!

We played the waiting game sometimes wondering if this would ever really happen. Originally, we were only supposed to go one time to Russia and get our babies. The law changed and required us to go on 2 separate trips, one to see the children and then 8 weeks later we would go and get them. Imagine traveling half way around the world to see your children and only being able to see them for a total of 8 hours. Then turn around and leave them and go back home for another 8 weeks not knowing when or if we would get a court date to adopt them. Also we were told in June of 2001 that we would receive a referral of our babies. We called all our family and friends and told them. But this would be one of many ups and downs of our wait.

It went from June to August to probably early 2002 before we would get a referral. We got to the point we didn't tell anyone what we had heard because it just seem to set us up for disappointment. So we decided to go on with our lives.

We planned major events at the church and at our home for the holidays. It's just like the Lord to work while we go on with our plans.

While we were in Mississippi with my parents for Thanksgiving, we got a message to call from Rob and Misti. They were in Russia seeing their children for the first time. We called them at 3 a.m. Russia time! We asked about their children, when Misti exclaimed, "We have seen and held your babies!" (I forgot to mention we were in a restaurant when we made the call.) We both screamed and the cashier about had a heart attack. We could not believe it! We went and told my parents and started calling our other family and friends. Thus started our journey to Russia in December, right in the middle of our Christmas program. (Thank the Lord for our new Associate Music Minister, Rich Nelson).

We would arrived in the orphanage to see a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who screamed for the first 2 days we visited her and a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy who was lethargic. We were overwhelmed to say the least. (I think if my wife could have gotten on a plane right then she would have gone home). We spent a lot of time crying and praying. But God did a miracle.

On Sunday, I was able to hold Bre'Ana for the first time and Sterling started showing much more activity. Remember when I said that turning 40 turned out to be a great year? Well, far greater than I ever imagined! You see the week that we received the Christmas card from Rob and Misty was the week, if not the very day that my son Sterling Andrew was born in Ivanavo, Russia (December 8, 2000). Three months earlier on September 21 my daughter, Bre'Ana Alysse, was born. I turned 40 on October the 8, 2000! Both were born in the same year that I turned 40! Essentially I became a father before I turned 40. God is good all the time!

The process of the adoption took about 13 months. It was a journey filled with emotion, fear, faith, courage, defeat, victory, sickness and joy…but most of all, God's sustaining grace. On February the 13th (my wife's birthday) we went to court in Ivanavo, Russia, and then three or four hours later we were on our way to the orphanage to get our children. Once again we would see a miracle.

We arrived to an inactive, lethargic little boy and a fearful little girl. As they stripped each of them of all their clothes and handed them to us, it seemed as if I was standing in the waiting room of a hospital and the doctor said, "It's a girl!" and, "It's a boy!" It was as if we had given birth. (Beth sure liked it that way: no pain, no gaining a bunch of weight--just walk in and here you go!)

Once we walked out of the orphanage God did another miracle! When we left for Moscow (seven and a half-hours on horrible roads, in a small Russian van and no car seats) we would never hear Bre'Ana scream in fear again like she did, and Sterling is quite the opposite from inactive. He is into everything. Did I say everything! Wow, our lives have definitely changed. My wife and I could write a book about all the incredible stories as a result of the journey we've been on during and after the adoption. We are so thankful for a very special friend, Melody Holland, who was willing to go back to Russia with us and help us with the children on our journey home. We felt the prayers of literally thousands of people all over America as well as others around the world. It was this prayer support that gave us the strength to go on when things seemed impossible. We are eternally grateful for all who prayed and for all who encouraged us along the way. Thanks to J&J Music and all our music ministry friends for praying and encouraging us along the way. Also, thank you for the privilege of sharing a little of our journey. Through all of this we have claimed this scripture for our children, Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future." This has truly been a "Journey of Grace."

If you are at all interested in adopting, Beth and I would count it a blessing to pray with you and encourage you along your journey.

In His Steps,
Simeon Nix