When did our journey begin?

Our journey of adoption officially began January 13, 2011. That is the day we sent our application in to Holt International. Holt has been a great agency to work with by the way. However God planted the seed for this in our hearts over 10 years ago when we lived in Birmingham. Ann and I were at a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and he talked about the adoption of their daughter and the charity Show Hope they created to help others adopt. After the concert we both felt like we needed to look into adoption. We looked and researched and prayed and talked about it for several weeks. We decided it was not the right time for us for several reasons. One, we just never had peace about it. Also, we knew we were moving soon and that would throw some kinks into the process. We have also felt a pull towards international adoption and at the time we were in our mid 20's and in most countries we were too young to adopt. 


The idea of adoption never really went away. Every so often one of us would bring it up. We would then spend weeks praying, talking, and doing a little research. For some reason it just never felt like the right time. Sometime in the summer of 2010 we began talking about it again. I'm not sure exactly what brought up the conversation this time, I think it was actually the result of several things. It seemed like every book I read talked about adoption. Each time I read about it I felt we needed to be doing something. A friend of ours (also named Steve, but no relation to the previous Steve mentioned) and his wife had adopted a few years earlier and on several occasions he had shared with me about their journey. We had also become increasingly aware of the number of orphans. The estimates vary, but a good estimate is somewhere around 140 million worldwide. The reality of what happens to many of these orphans when they age out of the system is heartbreaking to us. Many become involved in crime, drugs, prostitution, or are trafficked for either slavery or sexual exploitation. We wrestled for a while about how to be involved. There are some good organizations that are dealing with these problems, and we thought maybe what we should do was support them. But we continued to feel more and more that God was calling us to adopt. It seemed like everywhere we turned adoption was there. In the fall I had the opportunity to go to Haiti with my brother and a group from his church in Gardendale. It was truly a great trip for many reasons; we helped finish a church, we had the opportunity to share the gospel, but for me it was good to see a group of people truly living out the gospel in various ways. Of course we were on a missions trip, but to see people that lived out the gospel each day. Some living it out in their job or community, one couple who were literally selling all they had to follow Jesus, others who were in the process of adopting and fostering. At this point no one knew we were considering adoption and had no idea how encouraging it was for me. It was great to hear these guys tell how God directed them to follow Him in various ways. One was in the process of adopting a son from Uganda, which before they finished ended up being two sons. As we were there one got a call from his wife that they would be foster parents before he got back. Another one of the guys is fostering two kids and in the process of trying to adopt one of them. As I look back at how all the pieces have come together and the people that God used to bring us to this point it is truly amazing. We understand that we can't adopt every child, but we know that we can adopt this one and see where that leads. Hopefully just as we have been inspired and encouraged by others, we can encourage others to do the same. We also understand earthly adoption is not the end. More than a loving home, clothes, food, and a warm bed we want to point them to a heavenly Father who has much more to offer. What we are doing only mirrors what He has done for us. In a later post I'll talk more about that, but it is summed up in   1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."


A quick update on where we are in the process. Not much has changed in the last couple of weeks. We have received our visas to enter the country. The kids were excited to see the page inserted into their passport. We are still waiting on the US Consulate to issue our Article 5. Hopefully that will be issued soon and we will receive travel approval and be able to book travel. It is looking like the possibility of traveling next week is quickly dwindling. If we do not travel next week the next possible travel date is the first week of April.


Many have asked what to pray about specifically, here are a few things. The Article 5 and travel approval and of course the actual date that we travel. We are anxious to travel as soon as possible, but know that God has a plan. Pray for us as we wait, these last couple of weeks the waiting has seemed the hardest. Pray that upon meeting Addie she will bond quickly with us. Pray for her transition. Although we know this is for her good she has no idea what is about to happen. It has the potential to be a very traumatic experience for her. If you can only imagine that all of a sudden she is pulled away from everything she has ever known. We look different, we smell different,our food tastes different, and we sound different.(Even in my most fluent mandarin I'm sure it still has a southern twang to it. So far I've mastered Ni hao which is hello) Then we will fly her half way around the world and she's awake when she used to be asleep and sleeping when she used to be awake. Her world has literally been turned upside down, and there is nothing familiar to her. Thanks for your continued prayers as we walk down this road.