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Adoption is something we've both talked about before. It was always "there" in the back of our minds, although we obviously made the decision to have biological children first. Little did we know just how many of those God would send us, especially at once!

Adoption still remained, just pushed back a little farther. We pretty much thought we have our hands full now, so it would be something to consider when our girls all got older. Somehow, that just made sense. That would be the practical thing to do, you know.

Amazing how God can speak. He can do so through events, other people's words and actions, dreams ...

Well, He did speak. And He said, "No, now."

He said so through the events in Haiti after its earthquake. He said so through a blog that I "happened" upon about the need for parents to adopt children of minority races. He said so through Bailey Ann and her desire to be a big sister again. He said so as I have sought clarity on where He wants me to be regarding my role in preschool ministry in our church. He said it and just kept saying it.

So much so that I can only describe it as a burden. I was burdened to do something, so I started looking on the internet for adoption related articles, blogs, etc. That search led us to the Share His Hope conference in Asheville, NC in March.

We both knew with a certainty that God was up to something. We headed to the mountains with an eagerness to know what He wanted us to do. It was strange how that burden was completely lifted when I hit the send button for our conference registration. We had taken a first step.

We did find a ton of valuable information and met some incredible people at the conference. We attended several breakout sessions that answered a lot of questions we had. We had time to talk through what we were taking in and feeling with each other. We definitely gained clarity over those two days.

Then, we came to the final session. Chris Wheeler with Show Hope (Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman's organization) was there to lead us as our closing keynote speaker. He began by saying, "You now know what you need to know." That was it. We both knew it. There was no way God was going to let us go home and do nothing.

So, the verse that he introduced to end that conference is the one that we have chosen to use as we begin our journey ...

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts, and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act.
Proverbs 24:12

Our Blog Title

Our calling to adopt began with a simple prayer request. We have loved this song since first hearing it, and we had the opportunity to hear Brandon Heath sing it live. Since then, it has become a prayer prayed each time we listen to it.

We asked God to give us His eyes. Be careful what you ask for!

There's still a bit more explaining to do in our next post. For now, here's the song ...

Finally!

As far as Bailey Ann is concerned, we should have adopted yesterday! Her heart is so full of excitement and joy as we begin this adoption process. It is only fitting that she was the one to drop our forms for our formal application in the mail box. This is actually step # 3 of many more to come, but we are at least underway!

In case you're wondering, we completed step #1 by attending an informational meeting at our agency's office. (We then had a really nice dinner afterward ... made it a date night!) Our step #2 was to complete an initial online application to determine if we meet the requirements to adopt from Ethiopia. We do! Woo hoo!

Overall, we are in the very beginning stages of our journey but have been formally approved. We will complete a home study and then other paperwork specific to Ethiopia. We will then have a wait for a referral. After that acceptance is made, we will have a court date followed by an embassy date. It's obviously more detailed than that, but that's generally what we are expecting over this next year to a year and a half.

While we are still a long way from bringing a new baby home, we chose to make our "announcement" this early in the process because we know firsthand what can happen when a body of people pray for us! We continue to be amazed at how many people, many we have never even met, church groups, friends of friends, etc. prayed for us and our girls during our triplet pregnancy. That entire process was full of miracles, and we entered it all with the strength of knowing we had a large prayer team in place. We know that God is orchestrating every step of our way on this new adventure, and we know that He will use those of you praying for us and supporting us in a BIG way!

So, thanks in advance!

Here we go!

We are officially at the beginning of a new journey! So many thoughts and stories and prayers have led us to this starting point, and we would love to share them here. There will certainly be more to talk about as our adventure gets underway, and we are excited about inviting all of you on this ride with us.

So where are we going?

Ethiopia!

After several months of wrestling with a calling and seeking God's clarity on exactly what it is He is asking us to do, we are beginning the process to adopt from Ethiopia! Our prayer at this time is to adopt an infant boy, possibly two. There are many unknowns ahead of us, but we know for certain that God will place people along our path to lead us to our little one in Africa. If you are reading this blog, you are one of them! We thank you for your prayers and ask you to check with us along the way as we face specific prayer requests.

This is going to be a fun ride, so here we go!