Zeke and I have always loved adoption. In May of 2014, I detailed that love here on my blog. And God, in His infinite wisdom (and with his infinite sense of humor) probably cracked a smile. A few weeks after that post, we were headed to the beach and discussed that, although we loved the idea of helping others adopt, we both still felt called to adopt ourselves--even with the carload we carried of a one year old, two year old, and nine year old. We talked about our "elephants"--what we each felt we needed to do/work on before we could adopt. We stopped at Peach Park, and lo and behold, there was a woman in the park with her adopted baby, who engaged us in conversation. Umm...yes, God? We got back in the car, laughed it off, decided to start working on what we felt like we needed to work on to prepare, and keep thinking and praying.
Fast forward to April 2015. Really no progress on the "work" that we had outlined for ourselves to prepare for adoption. Still praying, still loving adoption, but no real debt being reduced or people getting healthy. Courtney and I headed to Birmingham for the weekend to hear our BFF Jen Hatmaker at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, and I left that day spent after wrestling with what God said, and finally, in tears, saying yes. There is not a doubt in my head that God spoke so clearly that day--NOW is our time to adopt. Not later, not when we are healthier and have less debt, not when our kids are a little older, but NOW. I even wrote it on my rock, see?
On the way home, I decided not to tell Zeke just yet. He was my "fleece". If you know me, you know that I tend to get a little bit excited about things, and I wanted his call to adopt to be as real and clear as mine was, not simply a result of my excitement. A couple of weeks later, he surprised me during prayer time in our Sunday School class as he asked our friends to pray for us as we prayed through the possibility of adoption. I had butterflies! A couple of weeks after that, we talked to Kinley about our decision to adopt. She was over the moon! She asked if we could tell people, and although I think I said let's wait until we are approved, she swore she never heard that part. Her sweet teacher burst into my classroom the next morning by 8:10 to tell me that Kinley had shared the best news with their class! I am so glad that my baby girl is excited about our adoption--she has been a huge catalyst for keeping the idea at the front of our minds all of these years. Our girl wants a sister, y'all!
We officially applied with Lifeline in July, were approved within a week, and then were accepted into the China program a week later. These were all fun phone calls--we decided that it would have been awkward if we hadn't been approved, since there are three children already in our house!
So, fast forward to now. We have finally sent in our first set of paperwork and are preparing for our home study. We had awesome adoption photos made and are beginning our first fundraisers to support our adoption. And we are praying so hard, every night, for a little girl on the other side of the world who we can't wait to meet!
I am planning to keep up with our adoption process here on the blog. I already have two stories to share that didn't make this post! If you would like to be notified when there is a new post, please click over on the right side of the blog and enter your email address. Thank you for following our journey! We covet your prayers as we prepare our hearts and our home for our new addition!
