Today is the Day!!!

A sweet friend gave me an adoption devotional to borrow a few days ago and I finally sat down last night to take on Day One with Isaac. It was written by the musician Steven Curtis Chapman, who I love, and his words made me realize that if I truly want to know the Lord I am going to have to dive in to this beautifully messy adventure head first. Today we are jumping off the cliff and have faith that the Lord is going to guide us, give us strength, and provide for all our needs along the way! Today we are finally submitting our application!!!

In the devotional, Chapman says that God told him that He "delight(s) in setting the lonely in families, so I 'm going to keep pouring out my love for orphans, and I'm looking for hearts to pour it into. I'm looking for people who really want to do what I'm doing" (Chapman, n.d.). When I read that, it just felt like a verbal expression of what I already knew the Lord was telling me in my heart, but I just hadn't found the words for it. Chapman goes on to say that there are so many waiting children around the world, roughly 210 million orphans, because they are all "opportunities for God to show up and reveal His glory. They are each an invitation from God's heart, saying, 'Come and know Me. And I will make myself know through you, members of the body, the church, as you experience the miracle of adoption'" (Chapman, n.d.). We were both inspired by these words and can honestly say YES we are willing to follow God wherever he leads us and asks us to go in order to get to know Him and His heart more fully so that we can in turn share it with others! We are praying that this journey would be not only an inspiration to others, but also an opportunity to share God's glory with our friends and family.

We're Adopting!

Several months ago, I got the call to adopt from the Lord. It has been a roller coaster of a journey just getting to this point and it is a loooooong story! :) Needless to say, the Lord has also been working on Isaac's heart. In short, we were told that the Lord has two little girls in China that belong to our family and we are excited and anxious to bring them home! This blog will serve as a place where we will share our story with you, our friends and family, so that you can keep up to date on the progress we are making along the way. At this point, there is not a whole lot to share other than we are working on our approval, followed by a home study, and brainstorming lots of fundraising ideas!

The little Chinese proverb in the picture above is a beautiful representation of just what we are feeling. Even though we don't even know who our daughters are, the love for them is already growing in our hearts.