Hope Blanket Baby: Gosnell Family

Thank you to Ashley Gosnell who shares this story from her blog. Did you know that most families can complete the adoption process of a little boy through the China waiting children program in 12-16 months? Families who are open to boys and commonly seen medical needs can be matched while working on their dossier or almost immediately after. We currently have many boys available for adoption and have recently matched all but one of our families who have their dossier logged in and are open to boys, so the need is great! Please pray and consider if God is calling you to adopt a boy through China’s waiting children program. You can view boys and girls who are currently waiting for a family on our Waiting Children website. Please contact our staff at waitingchildren@awaa.org or by calling 800-429-3369 with any questions or if you are interested in reviewing a waiting child.

On January 17, 2013, the Lord revealed His breathtakingly beautiful plan for us. A plan of redemption that He had been working for so long. A plan that began with mourning and ashes.

It all began in February 2004, when we were 7 weeks into our second pregnancy. I had had some spotting and went in for check up. Our fears were confirmed. Our doctor could find no heartbeat. We had lost our baby. So, on Friday, Feb. 13, we went to the hospital to have a procedure to remove our baby. We were heartbroken. 

It was a day of ashes. 

But God's grace is sufficient, and six months later, we were expecting our third baby. God has healed our hearts, and we were so excited about this precious one growing inside. So much so, that, when the due date for our second baby rolled around, I didn't even realize it. It never crossed our minds. But God knew because He doesn't forget our tears. And He wanted me to know that. So, on that day, He set the most beautiful rainbow you can imagine, right over our house. Literally. It was so amazing in fact, that I went out and took pictures, still not realizing the significance of THIS rainbow on THIS day. 




It was not until a year later, when the picture of this rainbow popped up on our screen saver, with the date it was taken on the bottom of the screen, did I get it. In that moment, God opened my eyes, and I saw. I saw this amazing God. On the day that my second baby should have arrived, God put His sign in the sky to remind me that He had not forgotten.

Fast-forward 5 years. God had given us Gabriel, Carter and Cason, and now Hudson was on his way. My due date was mid-February, and all I could pray was, “Lord, don't let him come on the 13th. Don't let him come on the 13th.” I did not want his birth to come on the anniversary of the day that had been filled with such sorrow. So when my doctor planned an induction on Thursday, February 12th, I was greatly relieved. I still didn't see what God was doing. 

It didn't hit me until the next day as I sat waiting for the nurse to release us to go home, holding Hudson in my arms. In that moment, God again opened my heart to see His hand. Five years before, on Friday, February 13th, I left the hospital without my baby. But on this day, this Friday, February 13th, I would indeed leave with my beautiful baby boy in my arms. He had redeemed our loss. He had given beauty for ashes. 

And as beautiful as this was, it was not the end. Because God always does more that we can ask or imagine. 



In November of 2010, God open the doors for us to adopt, and we began paperwork immediately with an local adoption agency. 

Four months later, our adoption took a u-turn. God was leading us to another adoption agency. Because of a much shorter waiting time and policies that would not restrict us from a second adoption in the future, we felt this was where we needed to be. And, although it was a very very hard decision to walk away from all the time and money we had spent, on April 15, 2011, we submitted our China Special Needs application to America World Adoption Agency. 

For the next 5 months, we completed paperwork for our homestudy and dossier. We sent off documents to be verified, stamped and approved. Finally, our paperwork was complete, and we dropped our dossier off to be sent to China via our adoption agency. They reviewed and approved everything, and our dossier was finally on its way to China. As God would have it, China verified that they had received it…on September 13th, 2011 — seven years to the day that our second baby was supposed to be born. Seven years to the day that God set His beautiful rainbow over our house to demonstrate His great love and compassion for us. He was continuing to work His plan.



A few days later, we began our Hope Blanket fundraiser. Many, many people from all over the country sponsored, loved on and prayed over these Hope Blankets and for the babies that would receive them. We then gathered them back together and got them ready to send to China via our adoption agency. On Friday, November 4, on my way home from dropping the blankets off at Fed Ex, God did it again. He put an incredible rainbow in the sky, right over our house. He was continuing to work His plan.