"I think I want to Adopt" - Greg & Chantel

Sawubona! (Hello in Zulu!), We are the Denie family.

We have been married for 12 years and in 2016 we became a family of 3 when we adopted our son Ezekiel from South Africa. Our adoption journey began, unknowing to us, in 2015 when we boarded a plane, a part of mission team, going to South Africa. Adoption was not on our radar at that time at all. We were in South Africa for about 2 months on that trip and each day our love for the people grew expeditiously; we spend a lot of time with youth and children. One of our last days there, we visited an orphanage and as we left, the house erupted with an anonymous cry. 

This broke us.

“God, what are we suppose to do?” we felt. 

Now, there are moments in life when you think you hear God and then there are moments you KNOW you hear God. What happened after was the latter. We went back to the place we were staying and we both looked at each other like, “Who’s going to say it first?”. “I think I want to adopt.” I, Chantel, said. To which Greg replied, “Me too.” That was it. We both just knew. We had no idea what that looked like, or if that was even a possibility from South Africa but we knew we had to try. It was so clear to us and that this was our path. We came home met with some friends who had adopted and they told us how to begin the process. It took us about a year to complete the home study and all the other needed paper work before our file arrived in South Africa in April 2016. (We actual were back in South Africa at that time with the same missions group.)

We were told the wait was about 2-3 years and so we tried to just put our anticipation on slow-motion not to get too excited or ahead of ourselves since the wait was so long. Two and a half months later we got the call! Haha It was crazy and awesome and exciting and terrifying and surreal all at once! We flew to South Africa and on July 28th, 2016 we officially became a family of 3. Since our first time to South Africa in 2015, we have returned 4 other times, one to bring our son home and 3 other times for missions. South Africa has rooted itself deep in our hearts and feels like our second home. We love the people, the culture, the country,  just everything! We are now in the process of adopting our second child from South Africa. Our son is now 4  and excited to have a sibling to play with. All of our paper work is in and we are currently just waiting for a call. The wait time is completely unknown and we are told it is long again. We know and trust that God is in control and the details are in his hands. This is nothing that we can do but wait, trust and pray (a lot)!

We are so grateful for the support of ABBA Canada. Adoption is expensive and there are not a lot of organizations that give financial assistance for it. This grant is such a blessing and we are so thankful for all who give to help and support families like ours. Thank you!