Big News!

A few years back Paul and I had the discussion I imagine most young parents have … is our family complete or should we add another child to the mix? At the time we decided our family was full; we had 2 beautiful children and felt it was enough. We have a busy life, a challenging business, lots of things we like to do. Plus, why push our luck when we have it so good? As is the case so often in life, God had other plans for us!

Last fall we got a phone call. A friend wanted us to join him and his wife on a trip to Africa. We had been contemplating doing something “missional” for awhile, but nothing felt like a good fit. When Peter called, we knew it was from God. I don’t say things are “from God” very often, because in my life the voice of God has never been booming. It’s usually still, small and I have to really listen to hear it. With Africa, though, it was loud & there was no denying the message. We knew without a doubt God wanted us to travel to Africa with Peter, Shawn & Mike. We weren’t sure why, just that God was leading us & we were willing to follow.

To make a long story short, this past spring our journey to Africa broke our hearts. We’d heard the stories of orphaned children. We’d heard the stories of injustice. We’d heard the stories of extreme poverty and of the AIDS pandemic. We thought we were” aware”. After spending a few seconds on the ground in Johannesburg we discovered we had no clue. To stand in a young mother’s shack, hold her hand, look into her eyes, and know she will be dead soon of AIDS is life changing (another word I hardly ever use). To see a group of preschool aged kids walk hand in hand down a sewer filled street, with no parent in sight, is heart wrenching. To realize that even the brightest, strongest, most resilient kids have virtually no hope for a future is devastating. Our hearts were broken, and we were forever changed.

When we got home, the main question in our minds was “Now What?” We know that we will continue to ask that for the rest of our lives, and are striving to continue to ask that question in light of what we have been shown.

It has been so cool to discover that God has been answering part of our “Now What?” question to each of us in the same way … individually … but with the same voice and message. We realized not too long ago that both of us, independent from each other, had been thinking of what it would look like to take one of those little kids into our lives. What it would be like to add to our family; to adopt a child from Africa and teach him about Jesus’ love, teach him about family, teach him about security & safety & a world where he can be all he was created to be. We both have a passion to give a child a life where he is free to hope.

We know that investing in 1 child is not going to save the world; that Africa will be no different because of us. We're not making a political statement or trying to save the world. We just believe that every life matters. That God created each and every one of us, and loves us all the same. We know there are millions of children out there who are suffering. We can at least help one. We have been given so much, and others have so little.

Our journey is continuing and we have begun the adoption process. We know God already has our little boy already picked out. We know the process will be long. We know it will be hard. We also know that the best things in life are sometimes the hardest, and so we will take 1 day at a time and continue to listen to that still, small voice. We will put fear in it’s place, and lean on the strong hand of God. We will choose to live a life with no regrets.

For those of you who like the details … here they are so far. We’ve chosen Adoption Associates for several reasons; mainly because they have been doing adoptions in Africa for over 3 years and have been very successful at it. They work with kids from Ethiopia so that’s where we’ll be adopting from. We have completed the initial application, gone through the awareness meeting and have completed the 36 page formal application. We will begin the home study soon which will take 6-8 weeks. Next comes the USCIS stuff (finger printing, FBI background checks, etc.) which will last 2-3 months. Then we prepare the paperwork to send to Ethiopia and wait for our referral (the child that’s chosen for us). That will take 3-5 months. A court date is then set and after the legal stuff is complete we’ll travel to Ethiopia to pick up our new son. We’re still debating about whether Noah and Ella will travel with us. The process is estimated at 10-14 months (with delays to be expected). We have requested a boy ranging in age from 2-4 years old.

Noah and Ella are excited and have already begun praying for their new brother. Our families are 100% supportive and for that we are so grateful! We’ll keep posting on this blog and will keep you updated as the journey continues.

Kids we met while in South Africa