When a Thing Is from God

I have not touched the adoption topic since I found out I was pregnant with Marilee. I realize that this may appear to be an indicator that we no longer plan to adopt. That is incorrect. Whether or not we adopted never hinged upon whether or not we would be able to have more biological children. We will adopt because God has called us to do so.

Yesterday was Orphan Sunday, and as I watched this video, the awareness that our family is not complete struck me again. This is how I know a thing is from God - when it makes no sense; when it is the LEAST convenient and/or do-able thing I can imagine in my life right now, but I am still inexplicably, undeniably attached to it, absorbed in it, swept away by it. Then I know that it really and truly is a thing that is holy and divine. It is a thing that beckons me to obedience.

So, yes - we are still adopting...most likely from Honduras, which currently has a 2 to 4 year wait period. We are hoping to start the paper work in January!  We ask you for your prayers as we nail down a country and begin preparing for another addition to our family - whenever God so chooses.



What is beckoning you to obedience today?

Where We Are At Now

2011 has been a rough year. We're ready to look it in the eye, throw up two fingers and shout, "Peace out, 2011. It's been real." 

That's not to say we aren't grateful for 2011 and all that we learned within it's parentheses. 

Release. Submition. Gratitude. Contentment. Trust. Faith. Hope. Love. 

They've all made their presence known the past twelve months, maybe more flamboyantly than they would've been had we not walked through the junk of the year. In fact, if it weren't for the occurrences of 2011, we would not have arrived here. Knocking at the door of adoption. Ready and willing to trust God for the support, the will power, the faith, and the love to bring another child into our family...a little differently than we originally planned. 

To be clear, this does not mean that we have stopped hoping for more birth children, it means that God has stalled us just long enough for us to realize that He has an exciting adventure planned for our family. Somewhere, somehow we have a child that is not made of our DNA...but we are convinced that this does not make him/her any less ours. 

We have decided to adopt internationally. ONLY because we feel in our spirits that it is what God is asking us to do. I've always leaned toward domestic adoption, to tell you the truth, but for whatever reason God has bent Josh's and my heart toward foreign lands for this child. We are considering Honduras but are not settled on any one country. The obstacles are great. Gigantic, actually, but we believe that God can do whatever He wants [Ephesians 3:20]. And if He asks us to do something, He'll provide a way to do it.   

And that's it, really. We just wanted you to know where we're headed...because it affects all of you. You are our family. An extension of who we are...or maybe it's the other way around. Regardless, we want you on board! This is exciting! We are adding to our family! In a very different way than we can even fully wrap our minds around right now. 

Would you be praying for us? For wisdom and guidance and clarity concerning which country we are to adopt from. I'll fill you in as we know more, and I'm so grateful that I get to take you along on the journey :)

Heathen Heart Time

Here I sit in The Hunk's immaculate and homey office. On a Sunday. During LIFE Group hour. I know - I'm totally a heathen. But sometimes it's nice to be able to steal away and read Ephesians 3 four times through. Uninterrupted. In utter silence. And something very close to mood lighting. A Grande Caramel Macciato sits beside my Bible and I take time to quiet my thoughts. To make sense of the whirl of it all.

Snapshots of these faces float across my minds eye.

Photo found at honduraschildren.org.

Photo found at soschildrensvillages.org.uk.

Photo found at agros.org.

Will one of them be ours? 

And I pray for God's protection. His provision. And His power - to help us grasp the width and length and height and depth of His love. To help our children grasp it as well.

I see this house that I cannot get out of my head. 

Will it - should it - be our home? I pray for peace and direction and confirmation or denial.

I see  my sweet, precious girl. Who is testing the waters of independence and plucking at the remaining strands of my patience. And making me squeal with joy all along the way.

And I pray that she will see God in us. Every. Single. Day. That we will blatantly talk about Him. Brag about Him. Lean on Him. So that choosing Jesus will be natural. So that life without Him will seem impossible because, honestly, it is.

These are the things that are filling up my world right now. And I haven't blogged about all of it because I found myself living life as if it was one potential blog post after another. People - that is not really living. So, I've chosen to make this writing thing less important than the above listed things. Today I just wanted to tell you about life and my heart and the adventure of adoption that our family will be embarking upon soon. More about that tomorrow. 

Until then...I better get back to being a good church go-er :)

Keep on keepin' it down and dirty. Love y'all like crazy!