Our Adoption Journey:

A Step Out Into Faith

Our adoption journey begins with us traveling to Eastern Europe with friends for a missions trip.

My daughter, Alicia was 16 and we were very excited to make this trip together. We had worked to put together crafts to go along with Bible stories that we could teach the children.

I have to admit that when we left, I had NO intention of adopting! We traveled to a place in Eastern Europe to provide a 4 day Bible camp for the kids- complete with the story, a craft, and music! The kids were so excited about it and they participated with such joy! While we were there, Alicia fell in love with 2 little boys- both 10. I still didn't have the feeling that I wanted to adopt. While my heart broke for these children, I didn't think I would be one that would actually adopt...perhaps I could just share with others about the need. While we were there working with the kids, we had the chance to share a lot of 'first' experiences with them- going to an amusement park, a day trip to swim in a river, even a dinner out for pizza at a local cafe. I not only got to experience some of their 'firsts', I got to experience of lot of my own daughter's 'firsts'.

We left from the orphanage and headed back for a Conference on Children with Disabilities. We were very excited to be a part of this and learn what the needs and desires of the people are for their children. As I learned more and more about this, I had this little voice that began to prod me- softly, quietly, constantly. Why? Why couldn't I forget this one child we had met? He kept being brought to my mind and with each thought I tried to deny that I was hearing. I continued to try and ignore that little voice- you can't ignore God forever! On one of our last nights there, we had a wonderful meal with several of the conference presenters and the orphanage director and a few others from the orphanage. As we were taking a few pictures and preparing to say goodbye I found myself giving in and asking the director for more information about this one young man we had met. She was surprised and happy! I told her that I could not stop thinking of him and wanted more information about him. We soon would learn that he was very close to aging out and we had to act quickly if we were going to do this.

I messaged my husband and told him about the young man and he had the perfect response- "Just one?". He was surprised I didn't want 2 or 3! From the beginning Rich was on board. We had no idea what we were doing, how we could do it, but I was sure that we were being called to do it and for that we had to simply step out on faith. So, we did just that and God has provided all along this journey for our every need. 

So, this is how it all began and I will add more about how God has shown up and provided for us and helped to move the mountains that we have had!