Let the Journey Begin.......

For years David and I have known that someday we would add to our family by adoption. Prior to marriage we had agreed that someday we would be the parents to a child who was mother and fatherless. God obviously has blessed us with four precious children biologically that we have had the honor of raising over the past 13 years. This past December David and I felt that God was placing in our hearts the desire to look into adoption.

We together decided that in January of 2009 we would begin the process of adding to our family. Little did we know that God was up to something so much bigger than we could ever begin to imagine. God has amazed us at every turn of this journey and we realize that this is just the beginning of our journey. In January we started to pray and ask God for wisdom as we seek to follow Him in this process. We began to search for adoption agencies, gather paperwork and pray for our new child. 

David and I knew that God was leading us to adopt from Ethiopia -We have both traveled there numerous times in the past five years and we are in love with this country and the people who live there. We really felt that adding a son to our family would make the most sense and provide Jacob with a brother. All four of our kids were overjoyed at the thought of adding another boy to our family and it has been amazing for us to watch our kids excitement grow during this process.

A few weeks after we decided to move forward this year with adoption Trent Post (who along with his wife adopted a precious girl from Ethiopia a year and a half ago) approached me alone on a Sunday morning and shared with me that Shimeliss from Hope Adoption Agency had contacted him about a set of 5 year old twins who needed a family. As Trent walked away I started to cry knowing that the children he had just told me about were going to be my children. I just knew from the moment he told me that God had these precious kids that He was going to entrust to us. Trent also shared this news with David that same morning apart from me and David felt the same way that I did. When we got into the car to drive away from church that Sunday David and I looked at each other and just knew that God was adding not one but two more children to our family.

The next day we contacted the adoption agency to find out more information on our kids and to begin the process of paperwork with this agency. I will never, ever forget the feeling as a looked at their photos for the first time. Precious sad faces filled with fear. Fear of the unknown, pain of loss, and uncertainty was written clearly on both of their faces. My heart broke as I looked though my tears at my new son and daughter. I remember the first time that I saw each of my children on the ultrasound screen the realization of their precious life and how God had blessed me with them. These same feelings I felt as I looked at these photos of my two beautiful children. A feeling I will never forget........seeing for the very first time our precious twins.