Needle and Haystack Life

Sometimes it is easy to make life too complicated. As Christ followers we've made the decision that our life is not our own and we've surrendered that. We 100% believe that God has plans for us and our goal is to know that plan and follow it accordingly. It would be easier, I think, if we were to get a letter or a set of directions explaining the plan and how it would all fit together. But as it is, we live each day with a knowledge that we just get to see the plan live as it unfolds. It is assuring to look back and see that indeed there is a plan and how the steps we took, the joys and the low times we have experienced all fit together perfectly. We have our plans for the future, having children and someday living in Haiti as full time missionaries, and we are constantly praying that we are following what God has for us. It is somewhat of a fine line to walk. You can't just sit on your keester day after day and expect things to just happen and on the converse side of that you cannot run head first into things and ask God to bless what you are doing (instead of seeking what you should do). But I think at times we over-complicate it. Sometimes we won't move because we think we aren't supposed to or we wait for the neon sign in the sky to tell us what to do. When we live within God's will we have some latitude in what to do. Sometimes we just have to honor God by making a decision and moving in faith. On the radio the other morning I heard a great analogy about this. The guy was saying that sometimes we are looking for God's will like it is the needle in the haystack, but really God's will for us is the haystack. It think God gives us more latitude than we often realize. So the prayer I have for our future and any of you who may read these words is to find the happy medium - to search for God's will but to realize that at times it is not one specific thing, but it could be one of many different things.

One year later

It was a year ago today that the workday was coming to a close and my co-worker Joanie said, "CNN says there was an earthquake in Haiti". I wondered what part of the tiny country it had hit and I immediately thought of the missionaries I know who live there. I texted Brittany and told her the news, but she had not heard anything either. I drove home from work and turned on the television to see if any of the news stations were reporting what had happened. It was then that I found out the severity of the earthquake and I felt sick. And I really wondered what God would allow this to happen, why poor Haiti?

I kind of wonder if I am even worthy to write about Haiti. I have friends who serve there day in and day out and I have been there a grand total of 8 days in my life. But I also know that it made a huge impact on both of our hearts and it hurts when someone, or a country, you love is hurting. So though I am no Haiti expert I still felt a sense of shock, loss, and horror as the events from a year ago today unfolded.

Now we are a year removed from that and we have seen Hurricane Tomas again strike this little country and we have seen a disease that can easily be controlled wreck havoc on this counry. Anderson Cooper and Dr. Gupta and Brian Williams and all of their cameras are no longer in Haiti and we no longer have the nightly reports live from Haiti. The celebrity hosted telethons are over. And most of us felt sorry for Haiti and then moved on with life. Meanwhile, for the last year the people of Haiti have lived in conditions that are probably what most of us would consider hell. There are still tent cities and piles of rubble and missing family members. We continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti are for those there to help. And we pray that we will be able to again go to Haiti.

Hello Blog!

Dear Blog,
How are you doing? It has been awhile...life keeps moving on but I forgot to keep you and the three people who read this filled in. I figured today was a good day to come back...I am going to try to come by at least once a week...

Another Step...

With each passing day the reality that we are going to be parents sinks in a little more. Sometimes it is overwhelming, but it is exciting. This evening we had our first meeting with a lady from the agency that will do our home study. It got a little overwhelming as the pile of papers she handed us grew larger and larger. As much as I typically enjoy paperwork I think this will give me a run for me money. After being given a stack of papers and forms and then two very large binders full of what I'm sure is useful information I was holding a pile of stuff nearly a foot tall. There are so many forms to fill out and everything has to be done in a certain span of time, so after the meeting we went to Target to buy a dry erase board to keep track of things and it will be a good place to write down questions that we want to ask so we don't forget them. We also made our second trip to the post office tonight. We mailed in our adoption agreement and a few other papers and the first of many checks that we'll be writing. We thought that buying a house involved a lot of paperwork...we had no idea!

I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. John 14:18

After 2 months of driving around with the adoption application in my car.......we finally decided that Father's day would be a great day to send it off. Those 2 months were filled with fear of the unknown, anxiety, and wondering if we were really ready to be parents. It took us 2 months from actually filling out the application to mailing it.....but we are READY! We can't wait to bring our sweet baby home. Here are some pictures of us mailing the application. June 20, 2010.

Our Adoption Journey

As we go through this journey we want to document as much as we can. We have been taking pictures through the process and wanted to share them.

These first ones are the day we actually filled out the application. April 18, 2010.

A New Journey Begins

June 20, 2010 - Father's Day, that is the day we will remember as the beginning of this journey. For many years, spanning back to before we even knew each other, we both had this desire within us. Through God's perfect plan and timing we finally made it to the starting point. On June 20th we walked into the post office and dropped off our application to adopt a child from Ethiopia! In approximately 12 - 18 months we will have a new member of our family. As we stand here at the starting line I don't know what all our future entails. I imagine there will be moments of frustration, moments of discouragement, and moments when the journey seems tough. There will also be ah-ha moments when we learn something new, moments of dreaming as we think of our future, and moments of joy as we take steps toward beginning life with our child. Our child - it makes me a little weak in the knees, I get a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my heart skips a beat as this really sinks in - OUR child. We are excited to begin this journey and are so expectant and what the end of this journey holds.