After over 4 years of waiting, we will be Ethiopia bound this weekend. Our court date for Cole's adoption will be next week! Cole's homecoming is truly a miracle. We have seen God answer specific prayers and move giant mountains. The Lord has been faithful and we are forever grateful!
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
He's coming home!
The past few months have been a whirlwind in the adoption world. We received our MOWA approval this past April and expected to travel soon after. As most of you know, adoption in Ethiopia came to a screeching hault and we weren't sure if Cole would ever come home. Those of you who sent letters to the ambassador, texted your senators, and signed petitions, thank you! Your energy and excitement to advocate for our family and Cole was a blessing to this mama's heart. We are so thankful for you!
Monday, February 6, 2017
Home stretch!
Well, I'd say this is quite the overdue adoption update. A lot has happened in our adoption and family since I posted an update over 3 years ago! I'll try to catch you up quickly...
We received a referral in August 2015 for a sweet baby boy and continue to wait to bring him home today. We have watched him grow through pictures from a wee little one into a toddler. Ever since we opened his file and saw him in August, we have prayed the Lord would protect him, keep him healthy, and surround him with love from his caretakers until he was in our arms. The Lord has answered our prayers! He is healthy, loved by his nannies, and he turns another year older this month. I feel like my emotions are all over the place. I'm so thankful he is growing well but am so sad that we continue to miss milestones with him.
Good news! We are so close to traveling and bringing Cole home. We are waiting for one last positive letter that will grant us travel approval. We would love you to pray with us that we would receive our travel approval very soon and be able to go to Ethiopia to meet our boy. We are believing and trusting the Lord that we will have all 4 boys together soon! The Lord has been our rock and has sustained us during this almost 4 year wait. We are thankful for what He has taught us and continues to show us through this whole process.
Thank you for praying on our behalf. Thank you for supporting us and encouraging us along the way! We are ever so grateful for the way so many people have loved our family over the last years. I am hopeful the next update will be to let you know we are boarding a plane to go get our boy!
We received a referral in August 2015 for a sweet baby boy and continue to wait to bring him home today. We have watched him grow through pictures from a wee little one into a toddler. Ever since we opened his file and saw him in August, we have prayed the Lord would protect him, keep him healthy, and surround him with love from his caretakers until he was in our arms. The Lord has answered our prayers! He is healthy, loved by his nannies, and he turns another year older this month. I feel like my emotions are all over the place. I'm so thankful he is growing well but am so sad that we continue to miss milestones with him.
Good news! We are so close to traveling and bringing Cole home. We are waiting for one last positive letter that will grant us travel approval. We would love you to pray with us that we would receive our travel approval very soon and be able to go to Ethiopia to meet our boy. We are believing and trusting the Lord that we will have all 4 boys together soon! The Lord has been our rock and has sustained us during this almost 4 year wait. We are thankful for what He has taught us and continues to show us through this whole process.
Thank you for praying on our behalf. Thank you for supporting us and encouraging us along the way! We are ever so grateful for the way so many people have loved our family over the last years. I am hopeful the next update will be to let you know we are boarding a plane to go get our boy!
Monday, August 12, 2013
We all have a story.
We all have a story
As our Sunday school teacher reminds us often, we all have a story. A beautiful story that God writes for all our lives. Adoption was not a part of our story...so I thought. Adoption was a wonderful thing....for somebody else.
The Lord began to work. Over a period of a year or so, I could sense the Lord giving me more and more of a burden for the little boys and girls without a mommy and daddy to love on them. This was a scary thing because I didn't want to adopt. I felt the Lord may be leading us down a path I really didn't want to be walking down. I talked to Kellie about it secretly hoping she would have no interest. That would solve that. To my dismay, her response was, "Yeah, maybe." We have a comfortable life. We have 2 beautiful little boys. Why would we even consider this? Although my desire was not there, I became overwhelmed with this burden to seriously consider it. I committed to praying that the Lord's will be done. Period. Lord, your will be done.
The Lord began to reveal His will. It was on a mission trip to Haiti that the Lord began to confirm in my heart that this is His path. The awesome thing is that this huge "burden" turned into excitement about the Lord using our family in such a way. We committed to begin our adoption journey.
I can't say that we had this overwhelming faith and no fear. Quite frankly, it was a very scary place to be. Lord, are you sure this is Your will and not mine? Lord, if you really want us to do this, you have to show us. You have to give us confirmation that this is Your will.
After telling our parents and getting their blessing, we felt that was the Lord's confirmation. We began to have a peace. That's when the Lord decided to really show out. It was the next weekend at a college friend's wedding in Nashville, TN, 275 miles away from home. We were at this big rehearsal dinner with a room full of people we didn't know. In walks a couple with a little baby that just happens to sit at the table right beside us. Yes, that baby was just adopted a few weeks back from Ethiopia! Yes, that baby was a little boy about the same age we requested! And yes, those strangers from a different town just happened to use the exact same adoption agency out of Utah that we are using! Wow! Wow! Wow! Coincidence? I think not.
We stand today amazed at the faithfulness God has shown us in just a short period of time. He has taken this "burden" and turned it into something we are truly excited about. Although there have been many anxious moments and many yet to come, we have full confidence in the author of our story.
As our Sunday school teacher reminds us often, we all have a story. A beautiful story that God writes for all our lives. Adoption was not a part of our story...so I thought. Adoption was a wonderful thing....for somebody else.
The Lord began to work. Over a period of a year or so, I could sense the Lord giving me more and more of a burden for the little boys and girls without a mommy and daddy to love on them. This was a scary thing because I didn't want to adopt. I felt the Lord may be leading us down a path I really didn't want to be walking down. I talked to Kellie about it secretly hoping she would have no interest. That would solve that. To my dismay, her response was, "Yeah, maybe." We have a comfortable life. We have 2 beautiful little boys. Why would we even consider this? Although my desire was not there, I became overwhelmed with this burden to seriously consider it. I committed to praying that the Lord's will be done. Period. Lord, your will be done.
The Lord began to reveal His will. It was on a mission trip to Haiti that the Lord began to confirm in my heart that this is His path. The awesome thing is that this huge "burden" turned into excitement about the Lord using our family in such a way. We committed to begin our adoption journey.
I can't say that we had this overwhelming faith and no fear. Quite frankly, it was a very scary place to be. Lord, are you sure this is Your will and not mine? Lord, if you really want us to do this, you have to show us. You have to give us confirmation that this is Your will.
After telling our parents and getting their blessing, we felt that was the Lord's confirmation. We began to have a peace. That's when the Lord decided to really show out. It was the next weekend at a college friend's wedding in Nashville, TN, 275 miles away from home. We were at this big rehearsal dinner with a room full of people we didn't know. In walks a couple with a little baby that just happens to sit at the table right beside us. Yes, that baby was just adopted a few weeks back from Ethiopia! Yes, that baby was a little boy about the same age we requested! And yes, those strangers from a different town just happened to use the exact same adoption agency out of Utah that we are using! Wow! Wow! Wow! Coincidence? I think not.
We stand today amazed at the faithfulness God has shown us in just a short period of time. He has taken this "burden" and turned it into something we are truly excited about. Although there have been many anxious moments and many yet to come, we have full confidence in the author of our story.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Our Journey of Adoption
We are so excited the Lord has chosen this path of adoption for our family! We are also nervous, unsure of what's coming our way, eager, and a list of other emotions.
Our journey begins....
As Bain and I talked about having a 3rd baby, he blurted out, "What do you think about adopting?" Huh?? You mean adopting a baby? But as far as I knew, we could have another. Adoption is for people who can't have children. Immediately, these thoughts began running through my mind. I think Bain even second guessed what he had just suggested. Although there weeks many weeks without talk of a new baby, I couldn't stop thinking about what he said. "What do you think about adoption?"
Over the next few months, we discussed over and over a possibility of adopting. It seemed like everywhere I went, I ran into stories of adoption. I would turn the radio on and someone was telling their adoption story. We met several families who were in the process of adoption. The Lord was making us aware of his desire for our family.
It was just another Sunday morning... or so we thought. As we walked into our Sunday school room, Betsy was there. Now Betsy, a college student, has never joined in on our "young married" class. So of course, I was glad she was there, but wondered what she was up to. She began to tell us Her summer plans and asked that we would join her in praying for her as she traveled to Africa to work in an orphanage. As you can imagine, those adoption thoughts started flowing. That day, Bain and I discussed, for a while, adoption again. We were still unsure, even after God had been showing us all this time. We prayed that God would make it totally clear the direction he wanted (as if he hadn't made it clear already). That night at church was the last meeting of the Lisa Turkeurst series. She basically, through a video, told her families adoption story. She spoke about how God had made it so clear but they felt so unsure until they submitted to God' will for their family. I could barely keep myself together to finish that class. There He was, giving me that conformation that we begged for just a few hours earlier.
Fast forward to today! We have mailed our paperwork and waiting for it to be authenticated. We are adopting a precious baby boy 24 mo. or younger from Ethiopia. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. How old will he be? What will he look like? Why has he ended up in the orphanage? How long will we wait? We love him so much already!! The Lord has confirmed 100 times over that this is His desire for us. And oh how I am so thankful!!
We have learned so much about trusting God and following Him. We have no idea what is in store but we are trusting in God's promises. I have realized more now than ever before about our own adoption as children of God through His saving grace. Just like our orphaned baby boy, I was orphaned and without hope. I am so thankful that despite my sin, Jesus gave me hope through His death on the cross and salvation!
Please join us by praying! Pray for our little guy. Pray for his birth parents and the situations they face. Pray for our family. We have a LONG wait ahead of us. We have tried to prepare Ross and Reid for their new brother who will look so different from them. Ross has watched every Ethiopian adoption story on YouTube. Each time he asks, "Is that my baby brother?" It is so sweet to hear him pray every night for his baby brother in Ethiopia.
Thank you all so much for the support you give! We couldn't do it without you!
Our journey begins....
As Bain and I talked about having a 3rd baby, he blurted out, "What do you think about adopting?" Huh?? You mean adopting a baby? But as far as I knew, we could have another. Adoption is for people who can't have children. Immediately, these thoughts began running through my mind. I think Bain even second guessed what he had just suggested. Although there weeks many weeks without talk of a new baby, I couldn't stop thinking about what he said. "What do you think about adoption?"
Over the next few months, we discussed over and over a possibility of adopting. It seemed like everywhere I went, I ran into stories of adoption. I would turn the radio on and someone was telling their adoption story. We met several families who were in the process of adoption. The Lord was making us aware of his desire for our family.
It was just another Sunday morning... or so we thought. As we walked into our Sunday school room, Betsy was there. Now Betsy, a college student, has never joined in on our "young married" class. So of course, I was glad she was there, but wondered what she was up to. She began to tell us Her summer plans and asked that we would join her in praying for her as she traveled to Africa to work in an orphanage. As you can imagine, those adoption thoughts started flowing. That day, Bain and I discussed, for a while, adoption again. We were still unsure, even after God had been showing us all this time. We prayed that God would make it totally clear the direction he wanted (as if he hadn't made it clear already). That night at church was the last meeting of the Lisa Turkeurst series. She basically, through a video, told her families adoption story. She spoke about how God had made it so clear but they felt so unsure until they submitted to God' will for their family. I could barely keep myself together to finish that class. There He was, giving me that conformation that we begged for just a few hours earlier.
Fast forward to today! We have mailed our paperwork and waiting for it to be authenticated. We are adopting a precious baby boy 24 mo. or younger from Ethiopia. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. How old will he be? What will he look like? Why has he ended up in the orphanage? How long will we wait? We love him so much already!! The Lord has confirmed 100 times over that this is His desire for us. And oh how I am so thankful!!
We have learned so much about trusting God and following Him. We have no idea what is in store but we are trusting in God's promises. I have realized more now than ever before about our own adoption as children of God through His saving grace. Just like our orphaned baby boy, I was orphaned and without hope. I am so thankful that despite my sin, Jesus gave me hope through His death on the cross and salvation!
Please join us by praying! Pray for our little guy. Pray for his birth parents and the situations they face. Pray for our family. We have a LONG wait ahead of us. We have tried to prepare Ross and Reid for their new brother who will look so different from them. Ross has watched every Ethiopian adoption story on YouTube. Each time he asks, "Is that my baby brother?" It is so sweet to hear him pray every night for his baby brother in Ethiopia.
Thank you all so much for the support you give! We couldn't do it without you!
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