So far

We met with Lifeline a local Christian adoption agency on Sept 12. We went not knowing if we wanted to do domestic or international adoption. The woman told us that with domestic there are families waiting on children and with international there are children waiting on families. That was all it took for us to make up our mind and go with international.

We first looked into Bulgaria because it seem like the travel time and age/marriage requirements worked for us. After talking to Sella from lifeline we learned that with Bulgaria you are looking at severe medical special needs. She told us about Taiwan. Everything looked like it would work for us. We left her office ready to start the process. I got on their website again and I noticed that it said the age requirement for Taiwan was 30. All the papers we got from Sella said 25. I emailed her and we found out that the age had recently been changed to 30. I have never in my life wanted to be 30 years old so bad! We tried really hard not to let that get us down. A friend posted on facebook...He is never early..He is never late...His timing is perfect and so is His direction. I try to keep this on my mind. We know that God has lead us here and when He is ready everything will work according to His plan.

I've been reading a couple books about adoption. Adopted for Life by Russell Moore and Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton are awesome books! Its so amazing how much God loves us. "The gospel and adoption are beautifully woven together by the gracious hand of God. In Christ, God has shown His love for us as our Father. He has reached down His hand of mercy to us in the loneliness of our sin, and He has raised us up as members of His family. Consequently, one of the clearest displays of the gospel in this life is when redeemed men and women extend a hand of mercy to children in need and bring them into their families." by David Platt (forward to Orphanology) As Christians we have been adopted. We are no longer strangers to God's family. We are now His children. Isn't that amazing!

We are now looking into Ethiopia. We meet the age/marriage requirements, the travel time works well for us.. So it looks like this is the one. I have to admit at first I thought what will people think. I was reading Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and he wrote "God is not a bigot: He's not a racist; He loves to reverse social-class distinctions because His love knows no boundaries." So it really doesn't matter what people may think. I live my life for God and not this world. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." -Romans 12:2

We are trying to raise money for the application fee and for the home study. So be on the look out for fundraisers to help us bring our little one home. But for now keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Where do I start...

This is probably a surprise to most people. Only immediate family and close friends knew that we were thinking about adoption. We've had it on our hearts for awhile now but I can't keep it in any longer. So thats why I started this blog.

I guess I will start with how this all came about. We have some really good friends (I know God put them in our lives for a reason) that adopted a precious little girl from China. Well for over a year now I would catch myself going to the website of the adoption agency they used to bring their little girl home. I would go there at least once or twice a month just to find out more, reading the same things over and over again. I guess I was very curious you could say. Drew would ask me what are you looking at and when I would tell him he would just look at me and walk away. Finally I said something to him about how I felt God was leading me to adopt. I told him all about adopting from China (which you have to be 30) and he said When we turn 30 we will talk about it then. So that kept me quiet for awhile but again I would go to the website and read the same stuff over and over. It just really hurt my heart to know that there are so many children around the world who need a family to love them and care for them. So I brought it up again this time we talked more about it. And his main concern was the expense of the adoption process (which I understand) So I was reading a post on the agency's facebook page where someone was going through the same thing with her husband. They told her to pray that God would give him wisdom and guidance...well thats what I started doing. I didn't push or force I prayed. And now a year later Drew came to me and said lets find out more about adopting. Wow, God is good isn't he? Its been a couple months since we really started talking about it together as a family...And boy has it had its ups and downs already. Please pray for us as we set out on this amazing journey of faith, hope and love.