Chapter 1: How it All Began (and How God Showed Us Some Really Cool Things)

Hello, we’re the Greens and our story begins in August 1984. There are three of us, soon to be four. Thus, the title “Green, Party of Four.” Connie and I were married on August 25th, 1984, in Athens, AL. After several years of blessed marriage, the Lord sent the most awesome child into our lives. Matthew “Austin” Green was born on November 15th, 1993. Now, God is expanding our family again. This time through the miracle of adoption. On July 18th, 2006, we anticipate traveling to Jiangxi Province, China, to bring “Lily Grace” home to be with her forever family, forever. This is how it all came to happen. Please pray for our family, that we will be safe as we travel to China and back.

At the time Austin was born, we didn’t fully appreciate the blessing the Lord had given us, but we have come to know that Austin is one of the most awesome soldiers in the Lord’s army. It was Austin who led us, as a family, back to our brothers and sisters in Christ and, amazingly, even now teaches us some incredible lessons about the beauty of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Austin has taught classes on “Revelation” to his peers and friends and just this week, lead several younger children on a Vacation Bible School journey to get to know Jesus. He loves the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and all his mind. It’s funny, he and I play a little game where I’ll ask him “Who’s the best Daddy in the world?” Of course, he always answers God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. If I’m lucky, he’ll drop me in somewhere after that.


When's Lily Grace Gonna Get Here?

Even with the wonderful son that the Lord gave us, we always knew that He had more planned for us. We just didn’t know the details. We have always had a desire to share ourselves and our blessings with other children. We taught children’s church and Sunday School to Austin’s friends as he grew up. But still, the Lord kept telling us (mostly Connie) that there was something else, something more for us. As the Lord began to share His plan with Connie, I was immersing myself into the activities that Austin pursued, including soccer, then baseball, then basketball. While I was coaching Austin’s sports teams, the Lord was developing a plan and sharing it with Connie. And at the same time, Austin was always asking Mom and Dad for a brother or sister to play with.

Probably one of the most important events in our lives occurred as Austin was about to enter the first grade. He really wanted to play basketball, but the local league did not allow first graders to play. He was devastated, but just a few days later, came home from school with an application for Upward Basketball at Isom’s Chapel UMC in Athens, AL. God’s timing is simply Awesome! (By now, you’ve figured out that Awesome is one of my favorite words). Upward Basketball is a Christian-based league that teaches children and their parents about the love of Jesus Christ, while the kids learn to play the game. It even has Cheerleading! Austin has been a part of the Upward Basketball program ever since that first day he brought home the application. At the end of our first Upward season, Austin gave his life to Jesus and has never looked back! Furthermore, I became a coach and eventually co-director of the league, while Connie focused her efforts on the concession stand and cheerleaders. Brother Eddie Gooch was my assistant coach during that magical first season and was serving the Lord as Pastor at Tanner United Methodist Church. He has since become Pastor at Isom’s Chapel and is one of the best friends and role models a father could want for his son. Through the Upward Basketball and Cheerleading program at Isom’s Chapel UMC, Connie and I came to know and love many, many children.

It was during this time that God’s plan for our lives began to really blossom. Connie began sharing bits and pieces of the plan with me. The plan, she explained was that we would adopt a little girl. What? I was not sure that God’s plan included this for us, so I know Connie must have thought initially that I opposed the idea. And so she waited (on God’s time). As the years passed, it became apparent to me that God really did have something in mind for us and that it had to do with a little girl. Connie would have one or two of her “little cheerleaders” stay over and God would show both me and Austin how awesome (there’s that word again) and sweet they were. Austin felt very important because the little cheerleaders would look up to him and it was apparent to me then that Austin was being trained by the Lord to be a big brother – I just didn’t know how.

We know from Romans 8:28 that all things work for the good of those who believe in Him, even though it might not be apparent how that can be true. I always wanted more children in a biological way, but Connie would say “Let’s wait.” To make a long story short, the Lord finally decided that it was time to share His plan with me. In the summer and fall of 2005, He showed me many ways that parents can be parents. Not just to their biological children, but to all of His children. The children of Upward were more of a blessing than I can even begin to describe. And during this time, it was usually the little girls who would grab my heart and run with it. One little girl would spend every Upward Saturday hanging out with me and calling me all different names just for fun (she knew what my name was) because I once mistakenly called her by the wrong name.

It was also during this time that God began to show us as a family what it would be like to have “girls” around as part of the family. Austin needed a baby sitter during the summer and it just so happened that Kristin needed some summer work. And her little sister, Kaitlyn, needed something to do. Kaitlyn is a year older than Austin, but they are so much alike that if you didn’t know better, you’d think that they were brother and sister. Anyway, Kristin kept Austin all summer and Kaitlyn would come over and play with Austin. They essentially became members of our family and Connie would refer to them as “her girls,” sometimes taking them to get their nails done and to have a pedicure – hey, what about me and Austin! Kaitlyn would eventually spend every weekend with our family during Upward season, helping Connie in the kitchen and helping Austin with halftime devotions during games. It was really cool to have her around. Even though their biological parents claim them on their income taxes, we tell them that they are ours!

Our Little Girls

Connie was really sharing this plan with me at this point and had even taken me and Austin to an Adoption Fair in Florence (about an hour and a half drive) to “just check into the idea.” She had begun telling me that we were to adopt a little girl from China. We met Dustin Britt from Lifeline Children’s Services and also Drew and Lori Jamieson who were organizers of the Adoption Fair and members of the church hosting the fair. Drew and Lori’s little girl followed Austin around that day and it amused both him and his parents. These were some really nice people and I think right then and there, Connie was ready to signup. I, however, being the “let’s don’t rush into this” type, said let’s think about it. And so Connie waited (on God’s time). Just to let her know that I supported the idea, I surprised Connie with a book for her birthday in October. The book was called “The Miracle of Adoption” and had several adoption stories in it. Connie was overjoyed to receive it and hardly noticed any other birthday presents. All aboard, the train is now leaving the station!

“Check this out,” said the Lord. Connie and I don’t always make it to church on Wednesday nights because we sometimes don’t get finished with work in time, but there was this one particular Wednesday that Connie called me at work and said we have to go to church tonight. I said OK, I’ll try to leave work on time and you get Austin ready. We didn’t know it yet, but God had sent a special messenger to church for us that night. We had a guest speaker, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot on leave from his service in Iraq (in case you didn’t know it, these are some of the coolest people on earth!). He spoke and had this incredible message about what was happening in Iraq. Yet, the most incredible thing that was happening that night was that his wife and daughter, a little girl adopted from China, were sitting in front of us and Connie and the little girl were becoming the best of friends. “Mary Beth” spent quality time with Connie after the service – so much quality time that I began to worry whether or not Connie was going to return her to her parents! We were in the middle of Upward Basketball and Cheerleading signups, so we signed up Mary Beth’s big brothers, William and Ryan, to play. Connie was excited that she’d get to see Mary Beth all during Upward season – I was worried that she’d do something crazy like try to take her home with her! We became good friends with the Bill and Lori McCoy and they have been very supportive and helpful in our journey. Lori even had Connie babysit Mary Beth all day one Saturday!

Mary Beth and Her Fans

As if that weren’t enough, God was still working on me! As I mentioned, we were having Upward Basketball and Cheerleading signups the very next day and something else amazing happened. My day at work was very frustrating that day and I was late getting to church, which frustrated me even further. Not only that, but everyone else who was helping with signups was late as well. In fact, when I pulled into the parking lot at church, there was only one car there. As I was rushing into the church to get things setup, the driver of the lone car asked if she could signup her daughter for basketball. I said yes ma’am, just bring her in and I’ll get to her as soon as I get setup. Then the little girl came running out of the car and she was the most beautiful little Chinese girl you could imagine. Not only that, but she had a big sister, also from China and equally as beautiful! Immediately, my day had turned from frustrating to unbelievable. Julia was full of energy and I had none, having expended it mostly at work that day, but I did my best to keep up with her and complete the evaluation. I even recruited her sister, Amanda, to help with the evaluation since no one else had arrived yet. After we had completed the evaluation, the coolest thing happened. Julia and Amanda’s mom said that Amanda would like to play to if we had a team she could play on. So we signed her up and just like that we had two more beautiful, little Chinese girls to spend time with during the Upward season.

“Not convinced yet?” Asked the Lord. OK. One of the families in our church got notice one day that they would eventually have to move to Illinois. The problem was that they had children in school here in Athens. A boy in high school and two girls (twins) in college. Their plan (God’s plan?) was to have the girls stay here in Alabama, while Joseph would move with them to Illinois and finish school there. An arrangement was made with another family in the church for the girls to live in an apartment above their garage. Only problem - it might not be ready when the family needed to move (God’s plan?), so the father asked me one night at church if the girls could live with us until it was ready. I was caught off guard, because Connie and I hadn’t discussed this at all, but I knew that the only possible answer was “Absolutely!” As it turned out, the apartment wasn’t ready on time (as predicted by the father, as planned by the Father!) and the girls ended up moving in. We were blessed to have Amanda and Emily to live with us from October 2005 to January 2006 and during this time we came to love them as if they were our own (God’s plan?). We even got to celebrate Christmas with them before they traveled to visit their family. Eventually, the apartment was ready and they moved out. But even today, they come over and have dinner with us and visit us frequently. We tell them that they are our girls and no matter what ever happens, we’re here for them as a mother and father would be. And just like that, God had taught us that you can love an adopted child as much as you can a biological child if you just trust Him and rely on Him. To this day, Austin calls Amanda and Emily his big sisters and they treat him like a little brother.

Wow Emily, We Got Stockings!

Of course, by this time, I was fully convinced that God’s plan for our family was to adopt a little girl from China. OK, it took me awhile to realize what God was planning and I’m not always quick on the uptake, but I finally got it! So on December 1st, 2005. Connie, Austin, and I traveled to Birmingham, AL and met with Dustin Britt at Lifeline and signed up for the Adoption journey! All aboard….