So many people have mentioned to me that I should start writing a blog about our family's journey. I've never been a wonderful writer, but have finally decided that it would probably be a good idea...if not for me, but so that others can join us in prayer, and that someday our daughter will read this...her story, our story, God's story.
As you may or may not know, God has placed adoption on our hearts in a big way. This has almost always been the case throughout our marriage, yet He has finally given us a time. Do it now! So, we're stepping out in faith and are now in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. We decided to pursue the process in January; applied to Lutheran Family Services (home study agency) in June; applied to Holt International (our International agency) in early August; completed 24 hours of International Adoption training in September; finished our Home Study last week (October) and are now waiting for approval from Holt and the US immigration office. After we receive those approvals, we will send our complete Dossier to Ethiopia and finally get on the waiting list for a little girl--ages 0-2. We are so excited and it is so difficult to wait, but we trust in the Lord each and every day. We are praying that by this time this year, or sooner, our family will have grown from 3 to 4!
Adoption is very expensive due to agency and orphanage fees, legal and translation fees, training, home studies, document fees, and especially travel (we need to go to Ethiopia twice next year). Yet, we know that our God is the God of the impossible and adoption was HIS idea in the first place. He sacrificed everything for us to bring us into His family. We often think of Him as the ULTIMATE birth parent and adoptive parent.
Ethiopia alone has nearly 5 million orphans. Half of their entire population (over 80 million) is under 20 years old. God has called us to this amazing and beautiful country to reduce that unfathomable number by at least 1. Can we fix the country by adopting their children? No. But we can give at least one child a family.
