I have been waiting to share this news on the blog for a couple of months now. I think just like in a pregnancy, I wanted it to feel a little farther along and a little more real before going "public." But, I think now is the time, and we are delighted to share that God is taking us down the road of international adoption. We are hoping and praying to bring home two very young brothers (or even twins!) from Ethiopia. I got chills even as I typed that, because I can hardly believe it is true. My, how God can work wonders in one's heart and life. He certainly has in mine.
I am looking forward to chronicling this journey on this here blog. It's hard to know exactly where to start telling this story, especially since we are at the very beginning of the actual adoption. How we got here, however, has been in process for quite some time. I should start by saying, I have never wanted to adopt. I did not think this would ever be part of our story. John has always been open to it. We have always said we wanted 3 or 4 children, with me leaning towards the 4 (which is what I grew up with) and John leaning toward the 3 (which is what he grew up with). Since we found out we were having a second girl, many moons ago, John has been openly joking and saying that we might try for a third child, and if it was another girl, we would be done, or we would adopt for a son. (You can see this is actually on
his bucket list.) He has never wanted to take the chance at having four girls in our family, and I can't really say I blame him. That could be a lot of drama. I always have gone along with the joking, because really, it didn't matter until after child number three anyway.
Which bring us to child number three. Lily and Bella are 21 months apart, which we wanted and have loved. We have always wanted to have children that were close in age. We have continued to put off a third pregnancy because of major trips, like going to Asia. I thought being pregnant on that little jaunt might not be my favorite thing ever. Then, we found out that CFA is taking us on another cruise next February, and you cannot be more than 6 months pregnant and go on a cruise. Probably more details than anyone needs, but we have continued to delay trying to expand our family. Now I can see God's hand even in all of that.
This year, God has definitely been working in our hearts. (You can read glimpses of it
here,
here,
here,
here, and
here) The
weekend of my birthday, we were talking about adoption, and I was telling John that God was changing my heart about the whole thing, that I could see it being a part of our story. By the Monday after my birthday, I was all in and ready to adopt for a third child, instead of trying to get pregnant again. John, amazingly, has been right along with me every step of the way. We decided to take some more time to pray about it, and we decided that we should not take any real action until after we got back from our Asia trip.
I sort of fell into an "Adoption Abyss" as I christened it and began researching like crazy. I wanted to be able to hit the ground running when we got back from our trip. As I began researching, I became slightly overwhelmed at the number of agencies, the different options available and the varying time lines. I read the adoption blogs of anyone I knew or kind of knew or found through web searching and blog hopping that was currently adopting or had recently adopted. I emailed friends of friends asking for more info. We did tell our families and our community group that this is the direction we were headed and asked for prayer.
Then, we went to SE Asia, which was a whole wonderful adventure in itself. After we got back, we have continued to be in prayer about adoption - that the Lord would guide us to the right country, the right agency, the right child. We had thought that we might adopt for a third child and then try to have another biological child. However, the more I got to thinking about it, the more I didn't want our adopted child to feel like the odd one out in our family. I started to think that adopting two children at the same time, from the same place might be the way to go. I kept praying about it, and when I mentioned it to John, he said, "Sure! That makes sense." What a blessing to be on the same page. I am so thankful.
Which brings us to now. We have submitted our application to an agency. Once we are accepted, we will begin the "Paper Chase" phase of this whole process, where we try to assemble every piece of information that has ever existed about us on the planet and turn it into our government and the Ethiopian government. No big deal. Except that it is.
My next adoption post will include the ways that God has changed my heart about adoption. I am so glad to be writing a story that is his.