Reviews and Blurbs
"Children of Dreams is an
exceptional tale – part adoption story, part confession – as she weighs her own longing to be a mother against
the pressure of obstacles put before her..."--Christian Book
Reviews
"Children of Dreams is a very much recommended read for Christians considering adoption."
--Midwest Book Review
"The story is compelling, heart-warming,
thrilling, and to describe it as an adventure is an understatement."
--Carol DeMar, American Vision
Experience the journey as Lorilyn takes
you through the adoption of her two daughters. Watch her grow and learn to trust in God. This unique book is a must read for
anyone. It gives a greater appreciation for the analogy the Bible uses when we are called the adopted children of God.
--Eddie Snipes, President of the Christian Authors Guild, author
of I called Him Dancer
Children of Dreams is an endearing story, a real page-turner, about the
power of love and the power of faith. We are all God's children, adopted and loved equally. Children of Dreams is also a story
about adoption and the difficulties often presented when trying to adopt a child overseas. Children of Dreams is highly recommended
by:
--Emily-Jane Hills Orford, Allbooks Reviews.
Roberts' story
is riveting and a journey many adoptive parents have to take. Her faith in God pulled her through the tough and worrisome
times making her stronger as time passed. And, there is a happy ending.
--Irene Watson, author of The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, and adoptive mother
I
can honestly say that I'm proud to, even slightly, be able to say that I know someone with such a strong belief in God's will
and one so brave. Her oldest daughter sums up her appreciation for her mother with these perfect words: When Manisha, Lorilyn's daughter, from Nepal was asked "What does it mean to you to be adopted?" Her
answer was, "It means I didn't grow in my mommy's stomach, but in her heart."
--Martha A. Cheves, author, Stir, Laugh, Repeat
For anyone considering adopting
a child from a third-world nation, this book should be required reading. It is a very honest account of the difficulties involved
in the process. However, it is also an inspiring testimony to the One who is the restorer of dreams and healer of broken hearts.
Excerpt
from Children of DreamsTwenty-Three
This last deception will be worse than
the first
Matthew 27:64
December 6, 1999, 5:00 P.M.
I felt exhilarated to have landed safely. All of our bags arrived in one
piece, including the one with the broken zipper, and we checked into our room, number 504, at the Lillie Hotel without any
problems. I had no tours of the red light district of downtown Hanoi as I had in Bangkok.
Aside
from being tired and hungry, my adrenaline had kicked in as I anticipated receiving my baby. I walked back downstairs to the
lobby to get more information from the desk clerk on when that would be. The young woman at the registration counter knew
Anne, my contact person, as many adoptive mothers had previously stayed at the Lillie Hotel. I was surprised to see the other
two ladies from the airport already in the lobby. They were crowded around a young man that I did not know. The young Vietnamese
lad spoke very broken English
“Your baby be here soon,” he said to the
young lady I came to know as Jackie. She had a husband and five-year-old son back home in Canada.
So that’s how it worked, I thought. Anne had a contact
person at the hotel that would have the babies dropped off after the adoptive families or mothers arrived.
He looked at the second Canadian lady, who was an older woman, and said, “Your baby be here soon, too.”
I was excited for them and could hardly wait to hear the same words spoken to me. My heart fluttered in anticipation
to meet my new baby. This was the moment for which I had waited so long. The other mothers cleared out of my way so he could
address me with news about my baby.
“There is problem with baby,” he said to
me.
“What?” I asked. “What problem with my baby?”
I thought he meant some sort of medical problem. My excitement to be in Vietnam and anticipation of receiving
my baby evaporated into worry and fear. He started to explain more but because of his poor English I couldn’t understand
most of what he said. I briefly reflected back to Nepal and how fortunate I was that Ankit spoke English so well.
“When will I receive my baby?” I asked. I could feel my blood pressure rising as I tried to control
the tone in my voice. The receptionist at the desk tried to help with translation, but the most I could get out of either
of them was that he didn’t know. Anne would call me tomorrow.
“Tomorrow?”
I repeated. That was totally unacceptable.
“Please have her call me tonight,”
I yelled at him, “immediately!”
I was visibly upset that I was talking
to him and not to her. How could she do this to me? How could she not let me know what was going on and send this guy who
spoke such poor English to be the bearer of bad news? Being fatigued and jet lagged from the trip did not help. I felt slighted
that the other ladies were receiving their babies and I wasn’t.
The time difference
made communication back to the States difficult. It was too expensive to
call so we had to rely heavily on fax and email. No one had met us at the airport and I didn’t know who this young man
was that was speaking to me. In my anger the only word that seemed to fit was “crony.”
I sent an email to Jill, the International Adoption Coordinator at the adoption agency, notifying her that we
had arrived safely but there was a problem. Could she please contact Anne and have her phone me. I related to her what I knew,
which wasn’t much, and asked her to please find out what was going on. Nine thousand miles away, I didn’t know
what help she could be. The Midwest wasn’t that much closer to Hanoi than Gainesville.
Because
the hotel was so small, it was easy to detect other activities of the guests. I discovered the two women whom I had met earlier
had their babies dropped off within the hour. I could faintly hear the sounds of a baby crying down the hallway from my room.
Jenni and I sat in our hotel room not knowing what to think. I felt badly that she had accompanied me all the way to Vietnam
on what was supposed to have been a wonderful experience of adoption and Vietnamese culture. We emptied our suitcases and
watched Vietnamese television without interest. The excitement of being in a foreign country had lost its appeal and dissipated
into emotional survival, one hour at a time.
“Maybe we will hear something good
tomorrow,” Jenni tried to encourage me.
“Yes, maybe,” I responded,
still feeling unconvinced.
Jenni quickly dozed off into sleep land but no matter
how long I closed my eyes, my mind kept replaying the scenes of earlier in the day. At 3:30 a.m., wondering if anybody had
sent me an email or fax, I gave up and went downstairs to the hotel lobby
to check, but I found no faxes. I asked the night attendant if I could check my email using the computer in the internet room.
In the middle of the night there wasn’t a line waiting to access it. He turned it on and gave me the password, making
a note on my account to charge the nominal fee for email use. In comparison to phone calls, it was a pithy penny, but no emails
had been received in my inbox either.
I felt like we had been abandoned and forgotten. If it was 3:30 a.m. in Hanoi, it was
3:30 p.m. in Gainesville. The adoption agency would have received my fax, so why hadn’t they responded? I went back
up to my room and climbed into bed.
I finally succumbed to a restless sleep with lingering
thoughts of the other women with their babies and fear that I may never receive mine. It seemed like only moments later that
I was awakened to Jenni moving about in the room. My nightmare returned as I came back to reality.
“I am going to go down to check my email again,” I told her. I grabbed some clothes, quickly dressed,
and hurried back downstairs to check the computer.
I found this email sitting in my inbox
from the adoption agency:
Children of Dreams, Adoption Stories, by Lorilyn Roberts
Lorilyn Roberts is an inspirational author and enjoys telling stories about life. She often uses
animals, homeschooling, parenting, poetry, politics, closed captioning, and current events to encourage creative thought with
a Christian worldview. Lorilyn loves to share her knowledge of marketing and creative writing with others and formed the John
3:16 Marketing Network to help Christian authors promote their books.
Lorilyn grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently lives in Gainesville,
Florida, with her two daughters; her dogs, Sirius and Molly, and four neurotic cats. As a media professional, she provides
broadcast captioning for television. She makes time to pursue her passion for writing and will earn her Masters in Creative
Writing from Perelandra College next year.
Homeschooling
her daughters for the past fifteen years has been a blessing, though challenging as a single parent. Now that one is in college
and the other is almost in high school, she hopes to spend more time writing books. She has published three: The
Donkey and the King, a children’s picture book about goodness in the world; the best-seller adoption book,
Children of Dreams; and How to Launch a Christian Best Seller Book. All of her books have
earned five-star ratings on Amazon.
