Here goes nothing!

Hi, friends.  I have decided to start a blog chronicling our journey through the adoption process.  Our goal through this blog is to first of all, bring God glory, and next use this exciting adventure of adoption to explore God's love more and involve others in the process. 

I guess I should start at the beginning since this is my first post.  Josh and I have been blessed to be joined at the hip since we were 16.  After dating for 6 years, we were married.  Since that time, we have both as a couple and individually felt the call to adopt.  We did not always know the time, the method, or the place that this would occur, but we always felt open to the possibilities. We are so blessed to have two sons--Luke who is 4 and Colby who just turned 2.  Each of our boys has his own special story of how the Lord has guided him to this point in his life and a unique way of showing God's providence.  Luke was born with a congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  In essence, he was born with half of a heart.  He has undergone 4 open heart surgeries in his 4 short years, and multiple hospitalizations for complications.  He is a daily testimony of God's sustaining strength and our dependance on Him for our very breath.  Colby was born 2 months early after a complicated pregnancy for me.  He weighed only 3 pounds 11 ounces and spent 2 weeks in the NICU until he was strong enough to breath on his own, keep up his temperature, and start gaining weight.  He is a daily reflection of God's favor and constant source of joy and laughter to us and everyone who meets him.  These boys are such a blessing for us and we are thankful for each moment with them and what they teach us. 

Over the past few months, Josh and I have felt more urgency in God's call on our life to adopt.  We have prayed about this and spent many hours talking about the impacts of this call. Some of the thoughts that run through our minds are: are we crazy for doing this? will this be too hard on our boys? will we feel overwhelmed with having 3 kids? where will we get the money? how will this affect our family and our church? Even though we don't actually have answers to all of these questions, we always come back to the assurance that God is sovereign.  He will provide, and this is what he wants us to do.  Afterall, if we are Christians, we are all adoptees.  We have all been adopted into the family of God through the sacrifice of His Son.  We have been brought from death to life and are made new creations.  This is the ultimate picture of adoption.  This is what drives us to do something that may not sound logical, and may be very difficult.  We are praying for God's love to be shown through us in this process and opportunities to share the Gospel.  We are asking you as friends, family, maybe even strangers, to please partner with us as we journey through this process and try to be hands and feet for the One who loves us more than we can comprehend. 

Stay tuned!  More to Come!!!