No, I'm not pregnant :) But just as exciting: Stephen and I are adopting!!! Adoption has been a part of our vision for our life together from early on in our relationship. For us, adoption is not a 2nd choice. It is our calling. While we have both always felt a pull toward the most vulnerable - and have long desired to bring children into our home who do not have a family - the more that we have come to know Christ, the more this desire has grown. We are both deeply moved by the Gospel - that when we were left out and alone, God adopted us into his family through Christ. We feel called to respond to this great love through adopting others into our own family, as God first adopted us.
Over the past couple years this passion has only increased, and the past few months we've felt God leading us to take the first steps toward adoption. Though we feel called to foster, as well as likely adopt internationally at some point, we've felt God leading us to domestic infant adoption for our first child. Through researching and talking to friends, we got connected with a great small agency in Florida and literally only a few days later were tentatively matched with a birth mother due at the end of January! This all happened so unusually quickly and providentially, we truly believe this could be the child God has for us. In order to move forward and bring him or her home though, we need to raise a good chunk of money quickly (specifically, we need to raise the initial costs of the homestudy and agency fees). If you feel led, we'd love for you to visit our site and consider partnering with us in this way. We're partnering with an amazing org called Adopt A Love Story to help us with our adoption, and all donations are tax-deductible. (You can also read more on the website about why we're adopting, our vision for our family, as well as details of the adoption process).
Though we still feel so unprepared in so many ways to be parents (which I've heard never really goes away...), and though many aspects of adoption are overwhelming, as we've learned so much in the past few years- God doesn't ask us to have everything together, or to know "the plan." It's actually the opposite: following Christ is about giving him our lives, giving up control, and living in the freedom that HE is the one who does more than we can ask or imagine. HE is the one who changes the world - and we get to be a small part of it. All he asks of us is that we be willing to love as he calls us. So we're moving forward in this call he has placed on our lives, knowing that he will do the heavy lifting :)
Finally: we know not everyone is called to adopt, and not everyone is called to support us financially. What we truly desire most of all is your prayers. Please pray for the baby's health; pray that God would continue to open doors and provide for us if this child is meant for our family; pray for wisdom and peace for Steve and me; pray for the well-being of the birth mother (one of the reasons we like this agency so much is because they purposefully take on a very small case load in order to help address all needs of the birth mother, to fully support her as she seeks healing in all areas of life. This is a passion of ours as well). Most of all, pray that this baby would be safe and would have the family that God desires for him/her.
And again, if you'd like to read more about why we're adopting, you can do that here.
Love to you all!
Though we still feel so unprepared in so many ways to be parents (which I've heard never really goes away...), and though many aspects of adoption are overwhelming, as we've learned so much in the past few years- God doesn't ask us to have everything together, or to know "the plan." It's actually the opposite: following Christ is about giving him our lives, giving up control, and living in the freedom that HE is the one who does more than we can ask or imagine. HE is the one who changes the world - and we get to be a small part of it. All he asks of us is that we be willing to love as he calls us. So we're moving forward in this call he has placed on our lives, knowing that he will do the heavy lifting :)
Finally: we know not everyone is called to adopt, and not everyone is called to support us financially. What we truly desire most of all is your prayers. Please pray for the baby's health; pray that God would continue to open doors and provide for us if this child is meant for our family; pray for wisdom and peace for Steve and me; pray for the well-being of the birth mother (one of the reasons we like this agency so much is because they purposefully take on a very small case load in order to help address all needs of the birth mother, to fully support her as she seeks healing in all areas of life. This is a passion of ours as well). Most of all, pray that this baby would be safe and would have the family that God desires for him/her.
And again, if you'd like to read more about why we're adopting, you can do that here.
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