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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