Zoe Akili 2009

Zoe Akili
2009

On 6 October 2007, Timothy and Rory attended an orientation meeting at Family Connections Christian Adoptions in Oceanside, CA. What they learned from this meeting was that adoption could take several months, if not years, and placements of healthy, newborn baby girls were almost unheard of. Timothy and Rory resolved themselves to open their hearts to whatever the Lord had planned for them, even if that meant adopting toddlers.

God, however, had a plan that defied everyone’s preconceived ideas, including those of FCCA. On 10 December 2007, Tim and Rory received a call explaining that a three-day-old African American girl was relinquished at the hospital by her birthmother. The couple was asked if they would be interested in applying to adopt her. God chose this day carefully, so that Tim and Rory would not miss that He wanted for them to have THIS little girl. It was, in fact, 1 year to the day of their son Logan’s original due date. The couple knew that this was the match that they had been waiting for and applied, with numerous other families, for the opportunity to parent this child.

On 13 December 2007, a mere 2 months from the beginning of the application process, Tim received a phone call informing him that he and Rory were chosen as Zoe’s forever family. They headed over to the adoption agency at 3:30pm to sign paperwork and to meet their new daughter for the very first time. With faith in the Lord, they agreed to adopt Zoe without ever having seen her, not even a photograph. And the Lord blessed them dearly with a girl more beautiful than they could have ever hoped. They chose to name her “Zoe Akili,” Zoe meaning “breath of life” and “Akili” being the Swahili word for “wisdom.” This blog serves to chronicle our daughter’s life as a permanent member of the McKellar-Mullen family.