Here We Go Again!

Earlier this summer we felt adoption coming up again for our family. We didn’t know who we would be adopting, or where from, but we knew something was coming. Much of that was inspired by this sweet thang who wandered into our family for a few months……
Our whole family became attached to this little girl quite easily. Justice wanted to get her unbuckled from her car seat and carry her into stores, if Jayla saw her crying she would say, “Mommy, get her!” and she also loved the day-to-day taking care of ‘C’ like changing her diapers, filling up her sippy cup, and giving her baths. JJ LOVED to play with ‘C’ and hand her toys, chase her around the house, or jump on the couch with her. My heart would skip a beat as I watched my kids interact with ‘C’ and care for her so naturally. When Sam came to live with us over a year ago, I realized then that you just never know what could be around the corner and who God might choose to add to your family. Because of that experience there were times when I wondered if ‘C’ would be coming into our life more permanently. I had some very touching conversations with C’s dad that reminded me that people are hurting, and we talked often about the hows and whys of adoption. I came to love it when ‘C’ would come to our house, and each time she had to leave my kids would ask me every day when she would be back again. Eventually though, ‘C’ wandered out of our life, and I found myself left with a little spot carved out deeper for helping families in crisis through adoption.

Around the beginning of July I heard a whisper in my heart that we should start an adoption savings account. It felt a little crazy to do this since we were not anticipating any extra money to come in and since we were also struggling financially at the time, but we did it anyway. My birthday rolled around and I received some cash gifts, so I threw the money in the savings account which I had labeled as our ‘future adoption fund’. I had some items sell on my grandma’s garage sale, and pretty soon our adoption fund was a little richer. We got a random/unexpected refund back on our utility bill, and decided to send that into the account too.

August rolled around and we were off to Ghana to complete the medical clinic and library projects. What we didn’t know, was that God was going to use this trip to introduce us to our daughters. :)

Like I said above, you just never know what could be around the corner (literally), and who God might choose to add to your family. Many of you read this post after our August trip and got a first-hand glimpse into what my heart was feeling when I met these little orphans. But, there was something I didn’t tell you in that post, which I’ll get to in a minute. Now, it’s no secret that the plight of orphans is absolutely piercing to my heart. But, it’s also not feasible for Jake and I to personally adopt every orphan we come into contact with. That is why I keep this blog up, because I hope to moblilize other families to adopt! And some orphans can be helped in ways other than adoption too. All this to say, when I felt adoption coming up for our family again over the summer I had been praying that God would make it crystal clear to me when we were supposed to adopt again, and who. I remember often saying in my prayers "How will we know Lord? Please make it clear."

So, back to the scene in Ghana when I walked around the corner of that shack, looked into the eyes of those girls, heard their story, and held them. On the outside it probably looked to be quite the emotional set up. But, what I didn’t tell you in that post, was that the Holy Spirit was speaking to me in those moments as I was confronted with the reality that there was no mother to hand crying baby ‘A’ to….I heard 2 words that still echo in my mind…“You’re it.” Now, if you don’t have a relationship with God, then you are going to think all that a bit looney. But if you do have a relationship with God then you will understand what I mean when I say the Holy Spirit was speaking.

After we headed home from Ghana, I did start questioning what I had heard. Why do I always do that?!?! My fears started flying in and I started doubting! We can’t afford another adoption yet! What if I let these girls into my heart only to find out that adoption isn’t the plan chosen for them? And two girls – I had only been preparing for one! Thankfully, God is so gracious and patient, even in our doubting. In His grace, He spoke again through another series of events once we got home, and Jake and I knew without a doubt that we were to pursue the adoption of these girls, should social welfare choose adoption to be the long-term plan for them. And they did. On August 26th we sent in our application to our agency to get the process underway. We are using a different adoption agency this time, so I had not yet taken a detailed look at the breakdown of the fee schedule. But what a surprise to find that their application fee was $300….and that sitting in our ‘future adoption fund’ we had scrapped together $319.88. Do I think that was a ‘God-thing’? OF COURSE!

Now, we all know that it takes more than $300 to fund an international adoption. So, by now the next logical question would be, “How on earth are we going to afford another adoption?!?!?!” Well, you know my slogan ~ GOD FUNDS WHAT HE FAVORS! And He is! I will hopefully be able to share on that tomorrow!

Now, a few quick sidenotes: I have SO MUCH to blog about right now, but I am finding it really hard to make the time to get my lengthier posts put together. My blogging might be kind of sporadic for awhile as I try to fit in some other things into my day like conquering our adoption education training!!! Also, for the protection of our girls, it is an agency rule that I am not able to show their photos online until after we pass court…..and to be honest I will probably wait until our adoption is completed to post any pictures of them up online. Oh boy, that’s going to be SO HARD! But, if you want to see their sweet faces, I can show you their pictures in person. :)

So, I now sit here nervous, excited, and curious about how this adoption will play out! Honestly I am feeling much more laid back this time around compared to our first ride on the adoption roller coaster. We are so, so, so excited to be able to give these little girls a family. When we told our kids that we were adopting again Justice just about shot through the roof in excitement. The first thing he said was, “Now Jayla will finally have the sister that she’s always wanted!” And then immediately after that he asked if we were going to change their names and what their new names would be. :) JJ’s first question was “Where will they sleep?” He’s definitely the practical one. Jayla can somehow say the girl’s African names with perfect pronunciation (and their names are hard to say). She’s been running around telling everyone that she is getting two new sisters and then she rolls their names off her tongue like it ain’t no thang! Most people have no idea what or who she is talking about so it’s kind of funny.

So you can see the excitement is building around here! We have a long ways to go, but already we are really enjoying that our kids understand adoption and what will be coming! So, I guess I can now say it’s official….here we go again!