Friday, June 28, 2013

What we've been up to...



It’s about time, I know. Writing new blog posts is so intimidating, for whatever reason, so it gets pushed to the back burner again and again. We are finally well on our way into this journey, home study complete, and working on dossier paperwork...always working on more paperwork. 

All in the last three months we have been called to adopt, wondered if we were crazy, wondered how we would fit all of us into our 3 bedroom home (well, wondered a lot of things to be honest), decided to move and put a contract on a new house, changed our minds and begged out of the contract with new resolve that this house would work just fine, worked on home study requirements, attended an amazing adoption conference where we learned way more than we wanted to learn (we did walk away more prepared, encouraged, and with confirmation that God has indeed chosen us to bring these 5 special boys home, so it was certainly worth it), worked on more home study requirements, began our first fundraising endeavor (tshirts!!!!), and are now awaiting our official referral (at least we think that’s what we’re waiting for)! 

God is teaching us to trust Him, and is patient with us even when our impatience gets the best of us. Brent is more worried about the financial part of adoption, and where we will put everyone’s “stuff” so that chaos doesn’t take over. I am more concerned about how our daily lives will work...feeding everyone, bathing everyone, schooling everyone, laundry, and other day to day logistics. While we both know that the Lord has it all under control, it’s so easy these days to find ourselves in a panic. We sure like quick and easy solutions to all of our questions and problems, and even as I write this I know that this is what we hoped for when we began this journey...complete dependence on God. And we’re just getting started!

So, keep us in your prayers! Specifically, that we are able to trust God as we push through the last of our paperwork, and begin focusing on fundraising. It’s humbling to know that God’s plan involves other people coming together to financially help bring our children home to us. It’s mind blowing when you stop and consider it all. Adoption really does involve so many people. We have amazing family, friends, and church family that have been so encouraging and supportive, and we know what a blessing that is. So thank you all!

Well, until next time...

-Amy

Oh, and buy a tshirt...they turned out so cool!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

The journey begins...

I don't really remember when we started thinking or even talking about adoption. It is something that has always just seemed to be understood...that we would someday eventually adopt. We talked about wanting to adopt well before we had biological children, and had even talked about adopting a sibling group because it has always broken our hearts to think about siblings getting split up.  My wife grew up in a large family, and has always teased that we would one day have many children. I, on the other hand, grew up as an only child, so four children already seems like ‘many’ to me. As a teenager, I experienced first hand the impact that someone can have on a child's life. I feel that my life was completely changed by having a family invest in me, show me a different side of life, and model how to be a husband, father, and provider. So although I feel that God has been preparing my heart for adoption for a long time, I was not prepared for the journey that He would place us on....
While God had placed adoption on our hearts years ago, it was our oldest daughter, Avery, that God used to encourage us along. She has developed a heart for orphans, and has become very passionate about it in the last couple of years as we have watched family friends experience adoption several times. She spent lots of time looking at ‘Waiting Children” profiles and would often tell us about sibling groups that she found. One particular group of girls from Ghana really touched her and she began praying for them daily and talking about her ‘sisters’ frequently. (She even printed off their pictures and put them in a frame.) She continued to check their profile for updates or new information until the day it happened...they were gone. I called to check their status and sure enough they were in the process of being adopted by another family. This obviously was a good thing, but my daughter was devastated. She cried for days. Briefly, my wife and I questioned whether or not we should have considered the girls for adoption  ourselves, since Avery felt such a bond with them. But we knew that God had not led us to pursue those children, and that He had a greater plan in the works. (I’m not gonna lie though, it’s hard to watch your child hurt and makes you question yourself).

God revealed His plan to us several months later, long after my daughter was over the initial hurt. She received a card in the mail, with tickets for an adoption fund raiser featuring a Christian comedian. Turns out that during the time that she was praying for and growing to love these girls, she had several opportunities to share about them. During a valentines party at our house, Avery showed the pictures of her “sisters” to the moms there. One of them was so moved by her passion that she went home and signed up for the Rainbow Kids site and is now in the process of adopting a little boy. The card explained in detail how my daughter was the driving force that God used to start the process. It was amazing to see it all come together in Avery’s head...that God had really used HER, and that His ways are higher even when we can’t always see it at the time.

Encouraged, she began pouring through the waiting children again. I remember the day she told me about her new “brothers”. I was standing in the kitchen, and she said she had found our new kids. She was kind enough to tell me it was a sibling group of boys...five of them! My first response was "Can you add?...five plus four is nine!...there is no way!" For those of you that know me, I am a very concrete person. I don't shy away from a difficult situation, but I have to be able to visualize how it works, and this didn't work in any area of our life...house, transportation, school, day to day. I just could not see how it would work, but the seed was planted nonetheless. 

When God calls you to do something, you can ignore Him, question Him, procrastinate, bargain with Him...and we certainly did all of the above! Still, it seemed that every time I turned around, something was pointing us back to these boys. (And we didn’t even have to get swallowed up by a big fish!) Hesitantly, my wife and I started talking about the "what if".  It was always in a joking manner (ha!), but our heart was being changed. It progressed to serious talks in the bed at night (with the lights off so we didn't have to make eye contact) and lots of prayer. We would get up the next morning and not mention another word about it all day. We both felt that God was telling us the same thing, and finally we were able to admit it to each other. He confirmed it to us on the evening of March 17, at a service at church where he very clearly said “Trust me” to both of us. Still, we drug our feet a little telling the kids because that gave us time to change our mind. Ultimately, the only decision we had to make was “Would we be obedient?”

So here we are! Turns out the joke was on us! We have officially started the process of adopting these five brothers from Ethiopia! They range in age from 4-10 years old. Our prayer and desire is for God to be glorified through the process....this is not about us. He has already shown His faithfulness by turning our fears into excitement and filling us with love for our boys! We are looking forward to seeing how He brings this all together and works out all of the details.  We are asking for your prayers as we walk through this journey. We get lots of questions, lots of “you’re crazy” looks, and lots of encouragement too! (Thank you!) We don’t know exactly how all of the details will play out, and we certainly question ourselves sometimes, but we know that God is faithful and will see us through. Our God is able! Please pray for our family, the boys, and all of the orphans waiting on a forever family.

To be continued....
-Brent