The Stack Family

Our story begins in 1996 with the birth of our first daughter. We began to realize more fully as we held a fussy baby through the night, that there were so many children with no one to hold them as they cried. As the years brought more children, God used each one of our biological children to draw our hearts toward adoption. We had been praying about adoption many years when a friend informed us that we “were doing it wrong”. That friend told us that we needed to take a step forward! We thought that we would know for sure that this was God’s will for our family when confirmed by a miraculous circumstance. We were reminded that there are times that God requires a step of faith. Remember the priests carrying the ark had to step into the Jordan River and get their feet wet before the water “stood in a heap” and the ground became dry? (See Joshua chapter 3)

When our youngest child approached his 2nd birthday, we began this adoption journey. Once Christian World Adoption was chosen (through references), the choice of country had to be made. After seeking council within the agency on many of the country programs CWA offers, we waited for an answer from God. It seemed that some of the lengthy travel times were going to hinder us—and some of the programs only had infants. Then we noticed on the website that a new program had opened up...Kyrgyzstan. “Where is Kyrgyzstan—and how do you even pronounce that?” were our first thoughts. It resonated with our desire to have a child from an orphanage in the 3-5 age range. After more prayer, God answered us very specifically that Kyrgyzstan was the program for our family.

The Kyrgyz program began with a photo list which brought us more need to hear answers from God. I knew that I couldn’t proceed without knowing for sure that God was the one who handpicked our family for this child and this child for our family. That assurance was the only thing that could give us courage to face adoption problems that may lie ahead. My husband informed me that he “was not shopping for a child” referring to the photo-list. “I’m not picking the cutest, smartest, healthiest child”, he said. After weeks of praying over that list by myself and asking for information on several of the children, God revealed to me during prayer that Sultan was the child He had for us (and us for him). I had not even asked for information on Sultan. I was so excited, but I needed confirmation from Phil that this was a word from God and not my own thoughts. I kept quiet and specifically asked for God to reveal this name to my husband in a dream so that we could know for sure that we should proceed with Sultan as our referral. Three weeks later, Phil tells me about the dream he had….about Sultan as a grown boy! We called CWA and were able to proceed with Sultan (now Joshua) as our referral. We are so thankful that God answers prayer and is patient with us.

We were so thankful to be part of a fast-moving program. We received this referral in September, 2006 and traveled to pick-up little Josh (3 years 8 months old) in February, 2007. We messed us on our paperwork a lot and had to re-do lots of stuff, but Anya was very patient with us. We even had a flat tire on our first flight out of Greeneville, which caused us to miss 4 (3 international) connecting flights, causing us to be stuck in Istanbul, and causing us to miss our first embassy appointment! We leaned on verses such as Isaiah 26:3 during this process “He keeps him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him, because he trusts in Him.”

We were so thankful for the training requirements of CWA and the professionalism of the staff. We are thankful for Anya, Michael and all who worked the front-lines of this adoption program. We were excited to be able to travel with Anya and two other families. We were impressed with the cleanliness of the orphanage that Joshua called “home”, for the first part of his life. We are thankful for the reunion at Myrtle Beach where Josh could see and play with a few other children from his country (and even see his orphanage director again).

My husband said it best: “I think he’ll be a bigger blessing to our family than our family can ever be to him.” This little guy is so sweet, and adaptable that we are amazed by him everyday. He’s been home five months at the time of this writing and he’s learning more and more English everyday. Not bad for a child that didn’t speak during those years in the orphanage. He is gaining weight, gaining strength, gaining courage, and smiling most of the time. We wish you could meet him.

Phil & Tiffany Stack