Ethiopian children have the most beautiful faces and hearts! Every time I see them, I want more than one. And this is coming from a woman who wasn't so crazy about the idea of adopting any kids from any country. I liked my comfortable, fairly predictable life. But boy has God worked His ways in me and given me His heart for the children in Ethiopia.
We received an updated DVD of waiting children in the orphanages our agency works with. We have fallen in love with a few of them. There are moments when I just want to quit all that I do(at work and in ministry) and bring home 10 kids. Then sanity kicks in and I realize that is not God's calling for our family...at least not this week.
On Wednesday night JJ came home from a three day camping trip with Andrew and his whole 5th grade class. The first thing he did was run to the mailbox to see if the DVD was here. And it was! He took a shower and watched the DVD completely through without me. I was doing something (probably blogging) and didn't even know he was watching it.
He made a list of girls that fit in our age range plus a few extra that he liked that are a year or two older. Then he gave me the list and asked me to watch the DVD. I was drawn to all the same girls he'd picked. Together we narrowed it down to nine and emailed their names to our agency.
One set of siblings was already on hold but the rest of the girls were still available. I was hoping God would narrow it down a little more for us. There was only one set of girls (who are sisters) that are within the age range we stated on our home study. We prayed that God would show us what to do. Are these the girls He has for us? Or are we supposed to do an addendum to our home study and adopt one of the others that is a little older?
We both went back and forth. We didn't know what to do or how to decide. So we didn't decide anything. We knew this wasn't something for us to figure out. This was a decision that had already been made before eternity was set in our hearts - before we had ever taken a breath - before we even knew that our lives would become one.
For the past 48 hours we have been praying and pondering all of the possibilities. Our hearts have moved across the board and landed in more than one place. But separately God has brought us both back to the same place and we have made our decision!
We are pursuing the adoption of two beautiful little girls who are seven and nine. We cannot say anything more about them until we hear back from our agency and we are approved. But I cannot wait to share tell you more and to show you the beautiful blessings God has been preparing for us!
We received an updated DVD of waiting children in the orphanages our agency works with. We have fallen in love with a few of them. There are moments when I just want to quit all that I do(at work and in ministry) and bring home 10 kids. Then sanity kicks in and I realize that is not God's calling for our family...at least not this week.
On Wednesday night JJ came home from a three day camping trip with Andrew and his whole 5th grade class. The first thing he did was run to the mailbox to see if the DVD was here. And it was! He took a shower and watched the DVD completely through without me. I was doing something (probably blogging) and didn't even know he was watching it.
He made a list of girls that fit in our age range plus a few extra that he liked that are a year or two older. Then he gave me the list and asked me to watch the DVD. I was drawn to all the same girls he'd picked. Together we narrowed it down to nine and emailed their names to our agency.
One set of siblings was already on hold but the rest of the girls were still available. I was hoping God would narrow it down a little more for us. There was only one set of girls (who are sisters) that are within the age range we stated on our home study. We prayed that God would show us what to do. Are these the girls He has for us? Or are we supposed to do an addendum to our home study and adopt one of the others that is a little older?
We both went back and forth. We didn't know what to do or how to decide. So we didn't decide anything. We knew this wasn't something for us to figure out. This was a decision that had already been made before eternity was set in our hearts - before we had ever taken a breath - before we even knew that our lives would become one.
For the past 48 hours we have been praying and pondering all of the possibilities. Our hearts have moved across the board and landed in more than one place. But separately God has brought us both back to the same place and we have made our decision!
We are pursuing the adoption of two beautiful little girls who are seven and nine. We cannot say anything more about them until we hear back from our agency and we are approved. But I cannot wait to share tell you more and to show you the beautiful blessings God has been preparing for us!
