An adoption miracle in South Africa

Written by Lena, an adoptive mom in South Africa

My husband, Velile, and I both spent the latter part of our childhood in Botshabelo, South Africa. In 2005, we met and got married—and hoped to start our family.

But for 19 years, we couldn’t conceive a child. I even underwent an operation that was supposed to help.

When it didn’t, we prayed and asked God to grow our family. Eventually, God did answer our prayer, but in a different way than we had expected—through adoption.

In partnership with Bethany Christian Services, Setshabelo Family and Child Services (SFCS) walked us through the entire journey to our son.

He was born in Kroonstad, about three hours away from our home. When we traveled to meet him for the first time, he appeared to have many of the same physical features of Velile!

When I lifted our son into my arms for the very first time, he took my face in his little hands and kissed me. That was the moment we knew he would be our child.

The adoption process went faster than Velile and I had expected, which made us hesitant. We feared that we wouldn’t develop feelings for our son as quickly as we would need to—that we would not be able to love this child the way he deserved.

But with Bethany’s constant support and our families’ encouragement, we moved forward and welcomed our son into our family, hearts, and home when he was 10 months old.

Our families were both supportive of the adoption and even held a traditional ritual for our son to be introduced to our extended family, clan, and ancestors.

We have experienced God’s goodness, favor, and faithfulness every step of the way. We are grateful for our family of three and are blessed by the love and care we receive from family and our friends at SFCS.