Adoption

In love [God] predestined us for adoption to be sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

We are so excited to be expecting again, as we prayed diligently and yearned early in Miriam's life to grow our family even more.  We've been blessed beyond measure, through a few worrisome days and circumstances, but we continue to put our faith and hope that our growing baby girl will be healthy.

But lately, I've grown even more excited about what happens after we birth our second daughter and the life that follows.  You see, even before J and I got married, during our pre-marital counseling sessions, we discussed what our idea of "family" looked like and we pretty much agreed that, Lord willing, we'd have 2 natural blood children, then we would adopt a 3rd (either nationally or internationally). We were struck that the Lord would have put such a desire in our hearts, but we knew it was for a reason.

A little background...
When we began our pregnancy journey and trying to conceive in early 2009, we were saddened and disappointed by the many, many, many let downs and no encouragement. Finally, I had a diagnosis and we were on the starting path of "fixing things."  We had already decided that we didn't want to endure the infertility treatment route (for financial, physical, and emotional reasons), so we took the first course of action and I began taking Clomid and progesterone as a way to kick-start my cycle (I was going 3-5 months without a period).  After the first round, it "didn't work" and I was told we'd have to increase medications and move forward.  Unfortunately, the medications were too much for me to handle and we put a stop to them.  We weren't going to move forward with other options or treatment plans, in fact, I refused to do anything that didn't seem natural.... and we were planning to pray and save up for the start of the adoption process in early 2010.  That's when we realized the desire to adopt a child was meant to be, as we figured that was the Lord's way of "warming us up" to the idea, since we wouldn't be able to have a natural blood child.

Much to our surprise, the day before I would have started the next round of medication, I received a BFP and lo and behold, sweet Miriam blessed our lives 7.5 months later.  Even after her birth, about 5 months later, we longed for another child - almost more deeply than we did before we even had Miriam, and we struggled (although I was nursing) and it took some time.  We praise God for the blessing of this expectation and continue to seek His will through this daughter of His.

Meanwhile - we're now going "okay, so we said 2 natural children, then adopt a 3rd....does that mean we really are going to do that?" I am praying that the Lord continues to mold our hearts to do just that. We have several friends who have adopted 1, 2 or all of their children (both local, nationally, and internationally), and have only been blessed by their stories.  Let me share two with you:

But the real reason I share all that, is to share with you these stories of two fun families that we know and are super excited for...
Some high school friends of mine, The Fergusons have a super family of 4, but are praying and seeking to add a sweet baby girl to their family.  They have just recently started the process with Family Christian Services (familychristianservices.org) and are beginning to find ways to raise money for their adoption. She is a fellow ministry-mother and learning photographer and offering photo shoots at a great price to earn some extra money to pay for the adoption (they can be pricey...$12k-25k depending).  If you're looking for some cute, great, and simple photos to add to your Christmas cards with a little extra fun in your shoot, contact Maria at fergusonadoption@gmail.com to set up your appointment. (you all know I'd take your pictures too - for free - but maybe you should help this family out just this once ;))

Another family, Matt and Amy:  When we were in the mountains a few weeks back, we met a great family - the husband was the one that I had the privilege of playing some music with. They have a daughter (6 years) and they are living the lifestyle of Nashville musicians.  Actually, the wife is a stay at home mom, and the husband Matt plays and does all sorts of recordings in studios.  They have just started their process of adopting from Rwanda.  Although there is a halt right now as the Rwandan government figures out their guidelines for adoption, they have started all of the paperwork and hope to have answers and/or a child within the next year.  Their vision is great, exciting, and encouraging.  Matt is even planning to record a lullaby album in the next few months to sell as a fundraiser for their adoption - I'll certainly pass along the information when I have..youll definitely want to buy it!!

These are just two of the numerous stories we've been able to hear.  Just hearing these two life stories of families with such a desire to display the gospel through the act of earthly adoption is thrilling for me.  We can't wait to be a family of 5 (instead of 3.5)...can we start the process now???