beginnings

because i never do things in order, we'll just call this the beginning...but it's really not.  since i missed the window of sharing @ the beginning, we'll just start here...1 year in. 

let's just get this out of the way.  we are normal people.  our marriage isn't perfect, we have kids who act up & are way naughty @ times, and our home life probably looks a lot like yours.  if you have a cluttered house & struggle with keeping paper piles organized, that is.  we just love Jesus & have talked about adoption as a distant possibility in the future since the beginning of the marriage.  a very normal thing to do, as statistics show that over half of couples consider adoption at some time or another.  and as the years are passing by, i've realized that i have a choice to move forward with that conviction or just continue to sit on it & do nothing.  but moving forward is uncomfortable, filled with a world of unknowns, & a ton of saving & fundraising to make it happen. 

so how did we make the decision?  nope, no amazing story to go with it.  just a deep conviction as we prayed that we need to be obedient to do what God put on our hearts.  and the unknowns were big.  after we shared we were moving forward & started raising funds, we realized we had no idea what we were doing.  i had no idea i was supposed to choose a country to adopt from before we chose our agency. (!)  that was a huge task for us.  we're the couple at the restaurant that asks the waitress to come back at least 2 times...b/c choosing our meal is just an overwhelming task.  kinda weird...but that's us!

we took 6 months to figure that out & seek God -- and honestly we still had no huge obvious message from God as to where to go.  so we went with our gut & the country we felt led to... ethiopia.  i love african babies & children and my heart has gone out to the impoverished of africa for years.  i always thought i needed a deeper reason than that -- but i finally grasped that a desire to make a difference in the life of an orphan is enough of a primary reason. 

then came the work of researching adoption ethics & figuring out what adoption agency to go with.  but this summer, we finally took the leap to go with AWAA. this fall we are lined up with our local home study agency & moving forward again.  and i cannot contain my excitement.

they call this stage the paperwork pregnancy -- and i've always thought the term was SO weird.  but here i am, acting like a typical momma.  my way of nesting when we are waiting for more adoption paperwork has been to prep like crazy for Christmas.  it's crazy & i was laughing at myself for my frenzy.  but then this past week i received a hefty pkg from our home study agency...telling us that we have just over a month to complete 18 hrs of joint online adoption education &  a bunch of other paperwork.  thank goodness November's Christmas shopping is done, b/c it's going to be busy with other work!