What a blessing this weekend has been!

Thank goodness it is Monday!  Said no one ever!  This past weekend was such a blessing for our family. On Friday, we were really busy!  First, it was Laurie's birthday and words cannot express how much she means to me and our family.  We are blessed to have an awesome Wife and Mother!

After a morning doctor visit for me, we completed our scheduled interviews with our social worker Lyndsey. Again, Lyndsey is awesome at what she does and made the interviews very comfortable.  We are ahead of the process and hope to have our paperwork sent off by January!

One thing that we realized from the interviews (other than we are introverts), is how much our adoption is allowing us to spread the gospel.  When asked what my feelings were about the adoption process, I sat back and thought about two things. Oh my!  We are consumed with paperwork and training, I almost forgot what the end reward was, A SON, however even with being buried within the process there have been opportunities for us to tell our story.  When we tell our story we cannot even begin to tell it without first mentioning, why we are called to adopt.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 (NLT)

This gives us an opportunity to spread the gospel to individuals who we may have never reached out to on our own.  We were orphans who were rescued from sin, through the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection three days later of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As a living testament to our belief, we are to live as James 1:27 instructs us, go and do, do not sit and listen.  We are not rescuers of orphans, but are the rescued!  The video below is well worth the couple of minutes.

Francis Chan For Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

So beyond bringing home our son and brother, we have been given a platform to proclaim God's glory.

That was pretty much our Friday!
Saturday began early with a trip to Lexington to watch Kentucky football! GO BIG BLUE!  While the outcome was not what we had hoped, the time Laurie and I had together was better than any win. We even had a couple of surprise guest, Jason (BIL) and Carrie (SIL), who secretly made their way to Lexington as well. After a early dinner, we enjoyed a quiet night with no kids! (Even though we missed them tremendously)

A side note to Saturday, my Aunt and Uncle gave us there old living room set, which is awesome!  We are very grateful for their kindness.

As we awoke on Sunday, our nerves began to set in.  We had been asked to speak during our Orphan Sunday Service about our journey.  At first we were reluctant to speak.  With all of the other families who have adopted within our church, surely they were more qualified to speak about the topic, however after much prayer we decided it was important to tell our story.  Without those other families in our church, getting up, and telling their adoption stories over the past two years, we may have never pursued adoption.  The level of orphan care in our church is amazing!  So many families doing as they are called to do!  On stage we had families from (5) nations, including the United States who have or are in the process of adopting!

To our surprise, we were overwhelmed with family members coming to see us talk.  It was awesome having my Nana, Mom, Brothers, Sister, and Niece visiting to hear our story.  Combined with Laurie's Mom, Sister, her Husband and their kids, we truly could feel the support of our family.

As the service began, my emotions started to get the best of me, I NEVER CRY, but the Lord was pulling on my heart.  Our turn came, and with God's power and grace, we were able to tell our story.

While each families story is different, we wanted to express that when God gives you a command, FOLLOW IT!  Do not give in to easy excuses such as, lack of time, lack of love, lack of money, but have faith in the power of our Lord.

“Faith makes all things possible… love makes all things easy.” ~ D.L. Moody

Adoption or foster care may not be for everyone, but there our things you can do to help orphans around the world.

Ten Ways Every Christian Can Care for the Orphan

1. Plead with the Father for Them

2. Speak Up For Them

3. Give Them What They Need

4. Support Those Who Support Them

5. Provide Them a Safe Place

6. Go Visit Them

7. Give Sacrificially to Them

8. Cheer Them On

9. Give Them a Forever Family

10. Mobilize Your Church for Them

So as you can see, our family was truly blessed this weekend!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I have posted.  I am so thankful that Erick is so much better at this than I am.  Well, we finished our first 10 hrs of online training.  Wow it had so much information to process but was so worth it.  As I was doing the readings I was all over the place with emotions.  I am so excited to be in this process and can't wait to bring our little man home, but oh my goodness I am scared to death as well.  I know we are far from actually bringing him home, but it still scares me.  I knew it would change our lives here, but it is going to completely turn his world upside down.  These orphans are in orphanages where they most likely don't have one on one time with anyone.  It's usually 10-15 kids to 1 caregiver.  So they go from that to a family of 5 who will bow to his beckon need.  Could you imagine how that would feel?  The only way I can picture it is me in a room with wall to wall people and not knowing a single one of them, AND I'm expected act like I know them and understand them.  Just thinking about that puts me in panic mode.  My prayers everyday and night are that not only will God prepare us for this wonderful journey, but to be with our son that he has already chosen for us.  I pray that He prepares our son for the life with his forever family and that He prepares him for the endless amount of love that is waiting for him. 

Our church is doing Adoption Sunday this coming Sunday.  Erick and I have been asked to speak about our process.  I do ask for prayers for this because I am not a public speaker but I do feel this is something that needs awareness brought to.  There are 153 million orphans in the world, 5 million of those are in Ethiopia.  That breaks my heart.  During 2008-2009 adoption was at it's peak and every year since then the numbers keep getting lower and lower.  It is our job as Christian, as parents to bring awareness to this.  God has called all of us to care for the orphans, whether that is through adoptions or financials, or however God is leading you.

I continue everyday to be amazed that God has chosen our family to adopt.  I am also very thankful for this opportunity.  Our God has been so generous and merciful by adopting us.  I pray that He continues to bless us through this process so we can show the same kind of love, kindness, and mercy to our little lion man that God has shown us.

Psalm 68:5-6

Orphan Sunday Week

Good Morning,

Not much has been going on with our adoption process, unless you count the hours of on-line training that is waiting for us to finish, pending medical exams and clearances, and the second part of our home study coming up in a week!  We have loved every minute of the process, but we know the worst is yet to come, at least that is what our training is telling us!

We have been asked to speak next Sunday, November 10, 2013 about our adoption journey.  Our church is celebrating Orphan Sunday a week later than most.  This is an intimidating request, since so many wonderful families in our church have adopted or are in the process of adopting.  Surely, they are more

qualified to speak on the subject then we are, we still haven't cracked the shell of our process.  We pray the Lord gives us a voice to speak passionately and tell our family's adoption story.

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were listening to other families tell their wonderful story, not necessarily knowing what God had in store for our family.  It is funny how adoption seems so normal once you begin the process, but how outlandish the thought was before considering it.
You would see the commercials on television, you knew the problems of the world, but none of it had a face. In the book, Radical by David Platt,  he explains how we can be so numb to the facts, "We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.  They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.  It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes..."

We challenge you to have a part in orphan care, and understand who orphans are and realize they need love.


I AM LOVED from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. 
-Proverbs 31:8-9

Learning and Fellowship

Last night we had the opportunity to meet with other Lifeline families from Kentucky who are adopting from various countries.  This was an educational event, designed  to help families prepare the siblings for the adoption.  We received so much valuable information, that we had been seeking, but relished the opportunity to hear stories from other families about their journey.  Everyone was in various stages, and provided insight on things to come.

More importantly between the fellowship and the learning event, Laurie and I concluded we are on the right path.  Our agency is one of the best, and last night proved just how much they care for their families.  While

we have never doubted our choice, we have questioned why we were blessed to have adoption placed on our heart.  We have been blessed beyond measure with three healthy, beautiful children, and could never ask for more, yet the Lord has said He is not finished with our family.  It is so wonderful to know, that through all of the hardships, God continues to bless our family.  As we learned last night, the way we handle the stress of adoption, directly affects the girls.  We are comforted in our strong relationship with each other and most importantly our Lord and Savior.  We have been called to care for the fatherless and it is an opportunity that we as a family could never pass up.

We could not imagine going through this journey without this support group of family and friends, specifically being able to adopt at the same time as our friends.  We have many friends who have previously adopted, just brought their child home, or are traveling the road at the same time as us.  Without them and our family, this would be a more challenging commitment.  It is comforting to see that there is a light at the end of the long, long tunnel, that one day God will choose our time to bring our son home!

On a more solemn note, it was difficult to hear of the challenges facing domestic adoption, more specifically the challenges that birth mothers face when deciding how to handle a crisis pregnancy.  It was said that traditionally birth mothers feel that they only have two options, parent the child, or have an abortion.  While

the latter is definitely heartbreaking, a birth mother trying to parent  without the needed resources is troubling as well.  Lifeline offers an adoption solution to birth mothers facing this challenging situation, and I encourage you to communicate this resource to anyone you know who may be facing the decision. Click the following link for more information. http://lifelinechild.org/pregnant  Also, please check out the newest video released by lifeline.



It is an awesome morning, provided to us undeserving, but by a loving God!  Be a difference maker today in whatever situation you encounter!

Home Study was awesome!

We survived!!! After days of torturing ourselves, the home study came and went. It was rather enjoyable, mostly in part to our very awesome social worker Lyndsey. She made it very pleasant and informational. The girls did outstanding, as we hoped they would, Gabby ended up answering most of the questions, while Maddy and Ally went into shy mode.

So far this process hasn't been half bad. After pouring over many adoption blogs, they state the home study is the worst part, except for the waiting. God has developed patience in us, so we are somewhat prepared for the wait. This has truly been a blessing.

We have no one to Thank other then our Lord for blessing this process. There was nothing we could have humanly done to sway the process, but we are glad this step was successful and is now behind us. Thank You everyone for the the thoughts and prayers.

Please check out the new page tab, LifeSong for Orphans. Each month I will be posting different topics from this organization.

Just received a question about posting comments to our blog.  Mistakenly, I had the comments setting on ultra-high security.  I have since changed that setting and now you can simply chose name/url under the comment section.  You do not have to enter both, just simply type in your name, or choose anonymous.

Thanks!

What day is it??? Home study day!

TODAY is our HOME STUDY!  We are excited and nervous, mostly trying to anticipate each step and question.  Please pray for us through this process.  All of the girls are nervous, but their bedrooms have never been cleaner!  They actually cleaned out their dresser drawers.

Our family pictures turned out great, and we hope to be able to post some very shortly for everyone to see.  It was bittersweet for me, our last family of five photo.  We have been use to the family of five, but are now ready to make it an even six!  We will actually fill up the big table at McAllister's.  We eat there often, so yes that is what we think about.

Please do not forget to check out out adoption fund raising page, if you would like to make a donation to our adoption.  We are planning a few fundraising activities after the first of the year, so be looking for that post.

We have been getting questions from family and friends, "Why Ethiopia?"  We will be posting about this shortly, but in short, it is simply God's plan and His choice.