"Fruits"

So, by now all of you who follow our blog have come to realize that this process is a slow one. It 'pulls and yanks' at our patience and we couldn't do it (even just beginning) without strength from the Lord. We shared in the last post that we'd be sending in our pre-application to be approved for our home study from Catholic Charities and so we did. It has been sent and we're just waiting for a response, but with Christmas and people being out for the holidays, it may take longer than we expected to hear a reply back from them. And so everyday God works on our "fruits of the spirit", patience, joy, ...well you know. To be patient when all you want is to be onto the next stage of the process. Joy when you feel stressed about the amount of paper work required or the thoughts everyday that our child is somewhere with no mommy or daddy to tuck them in at night.


Trey and I had purchased the book 'Adopted For Life' by Russell Moore a couple of years ago, but never really started reading it. Now, seemed to be as good a time as ever! The book is a powerful tool to discover God's plan for our lives to take care of those orphaned around the world, but most importantly to realize that we have been (and some of us still are) orphans at one time, but through God's sovereignty and grace and the belief in Jesus' death and resurrection we have been adopted as His children. And that's just in chapter one and two. So, if you have it and haven't read it yet I recommend starting and if you don't own it, I recommend getting a copy!


 We are so glad you are along for the journey and look forward to one day sharing this blog with our son or daughter and letting them know how you helped in bringing them home!

The Journey Begins

First and foremost I would like to say that we would not be at this stage in our adoption journey without our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Since this is our first blog post, I would like to take a minute and tell you a little bit about ourselves and how we decided on adoption. Trey and I have been married for over 3 1/2 yrs. and have 2 beautiful little girls. Before we even ever got married, Trey and I talked about the future: how many kids we wanted to have naturally, how many kids we would like to adopt, and where we would like to adopt from. We have always felt a call to missions, traveling to Africa several times, the desire to help orphans around the world has always been something we've taken to heart. Scripture is so clear about how we, as Christians, should be helping the orphans and we knew/know just how God has called us to help. One of the ways we have felt God call us to help is through international adoption. We've prayed and sought God for the timing, and so here we are! We have chosen Holt International Adoption Agency, out of Oregon, and we have decided on the Ethiopia Adoption Program. On Sat. Dec. 4, 2010 we sent our adoption application out and on Thurs. Dec. 8th, 2010 we were contacted and told WE WERE APPROVED!!!! How do I describe our excitement? Well, it was as if we had just found out we were pregnant! (that's the only thing I can think of to compare it to) We then contacted a local agency to conduct our home study. A home study is a 2-3 month process in which a social worker comes into your home, asks questions and investigates everything about your life, you go through adoption training, and you fill out a whole bunch of paper work and pull together endless amounts of documents. So, that's where we are. We are 2 days away from sending in our pre-application for our home study. Once approved (which should be about a week or two from now) we will then schedule our International Adoption Training sessions that will begin in mid January and go through mid February. Please continue to pray for patience, as this is a long and seemingly exhausting process, but it's definitely well worth it! GOD IS SO GREAT and we are so blessed to even have the privilege to adopt. Allow this blog to keep you updated on all that's going on with our Ethiopian Adoption Process and to allow you to be a powerful part of our journey through prayer and financial contributions.