After three years of marriage Mark and Liezel realized they couldn’t have children of their own, so they decided to adopt one. And some time later, to adopt yet another one…

When both of them were in their 30’s, Mark and Liezel had always believed that a family was not complete without children. But even if they had prayed for a child to come, after three years of marriage they found out they couldn’t have children of their own.

At this point that Mark came up with the idea of adopting a baby. Mark shares, “I felt that for us to understand if it was really the will of God to raise an adopted child, we had to make the decision together.” Liezel immediately said “yes.” Although it was certainly up to the couple to make a decision, they also consulted their parents who all agreed.

They soon heard about a child who needed a family. “He was only one year old,” Mark recounts, “and we were so happy to welcome him into our family.” After a while, though, they realized that their son needed and wanted a baby brother or sister. They, therefore, decided to adopt another child who could keep their son company.

Liezel recalls: “A little baby girl was presented to us. Although we wanted to adopt her, we knew that it would take three years before we would be allowed to adopt her legally.” In the meantime the child was welcomed into the new family with much warmth. However, after a month, the couple heard that the child’s biological mother wanted her back. She threatened the couple, saying that she would file a case against them if they wouldn’t give her up. Mark and Liezel didn’t really know what to do.

“We recognized in this instance,” Liezel remembers, “a face of Jesus, who was also forsaken on the cross, the same way we were feeling in that moment. We wanted to love him, so we realized that out of love for the mother, we had to return the child to her.” The child knew that she was to be sent back to her biological mother, yet she resisted. She would even close herself up in a room so the couple had to explain to her that she had to return to her real mother who loved her very much and didn’t want to lose her. Finally, she agreed. Mark narrates, “We accompanied the child to her home province, although we knew that to meet her mother would be a painful ordeal. Yet, we always believed that the love of God and His wisdom were behind it all.”

Then Mark and Liezel met with the child’s mother, to turn over the child back to her. They went back home sadly.

“But three days later,” Liezel continues smiling, “we received a call from the mother who wanted to give back the child to us. She had been counting on the support of some relatives to raise her child, but they had not backed out. The mother had also discovered how much her daughter had developed, both physically and intellectually, during her stay with us.” Thus, because she really loved her daughter, she decided to entrust her to Mark and Liezel.

“We felt at peace all those days,” says Mark, “to always have followed the wisdom of love and to have tried as much as possible to forget ourselves and only seek the good of the other.”

C.M.G