A New Adventure

I am so excited to share with you that my husband and I are pursuing adoption! Over and over again, God has shown me that His ways are higher than mine and that His plans for my family are beyond what I could ever dream.

When I was young, I imagined what my life would be like, and honestly, for the most part, I am living that dream. I have two beautiful children, a husband that loves me well, and comfortable home, and the love and support of family and friends. What more could I ask for?

But how many children long for this very life that I am living? As they are tossed from foster home to foster home, they pray every night that God would give them a forever family. All they want is parents and siblings, pets, vacations, memories made. And here we are, living this wonderful life, able to give all of that and more to a child who is waiting.

When I shared our plans with my mom, she was pretty shocked. She thought it was great, of course, but I had never mentioned adoption to her before. Ever. So to her, it seemed to come out of the blue. But the truth is, God called me to adopt almost five years ago when I was in the middle of a fertility battle and so unsure of what the outcome would be.  Here is an excerpt of a journal entry I wrote on December 13th, 2012:

God has been speaking to me lately about adoption. There was a time a few years ago when David and I talked about it briefly. I told him that I had always kind of thought that maybe I would have a couple of kids and then adopt one. It just seemed obvious that if God had given me this great life I should share it with someone who might otherwise have a terrible childhood and grow up to be less than they could have been. It seemed almost selfish not to adopt.

But then time went on and God gave us Penny. She has been the light of my life and I adore her! And now we have gone through nineteen months of secondary infertility laced with ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage. It has been such a roller coaster. I really feel in my heart that our family is not complete - that God has something more in store for us. And honestly, I feel confident that he will allow me to give birth to another child.

But over the last month or so God has been giving me these nudges. Well, thunderclaps really. These moments come in which He is so obviously telling me to consider adoption. . .

. . .Today a friend posted a video online about the power of adoption and the meaning of family. And in the middle of that video, it was like God looked straight into my eyes and asked, “How many times do I have to show you? When will you submit to me?” And I said “Yes, Lord. I will do it if you will only show me how. But you have to show my husband. You have to lead us. You have to show us when the time is right and where we should go.”

I had no idea how this would play out. I was nervous that my husband would think I was crazy if I could even summon the courage to talk to him about it. But here we are, almost five years later, submitting paperwork, preparing for a home assessment, jumping through the many hoops required to adopt a child from foster care here in Oklahoma.

I can't wait to share this journey with you all! And my prayer is that as I share our experiences, God will move at least one family to join us on this journey toward adoption.