We're adopting! It seems many were very surprised when we announced our intentions, and we realized that even though this has been on our hearts for a long time, we never shared it outside our conversations with each other.
Before we even got married, when we had discussions about how many kids we'd like to have, I of course would dream BIG (and maybe even a little crazy) and say that I wanted at least 5 kids. Ben was more realistic and said 2 - maybe one more through adoption. He didn't want to add to overpopulation. Both of us figured we'd know what was right when the time came.
Well, we continued with life, had a beautiful, smart and sensitive son, named Will in 2006. In 2008, little Gracie joined our family and is a crazy, imaginative and stunning little girl. Things were going well for us with these two. We were getting comfortable with our little family of four and feeling good.
Late this past summer, I realized I had been holding on to all their clothing since birth. WOW! 5 years of boy clothes and 3 years of girl clothes = A LOT of storage space in our house. So, we started chatting about whether I would consign them, try and e-bay them, or what. As I was embarking on the consignment project, I said, "we have to be sure this is it." Ben answered, "Well, I don't know, maybe we'll adopt one day, but I think we're done 'having' kids." My only response was, "OK, but we need to set a date as to when we want to start this phase if we're really serious about it. We have to stop talking about it. Maybe right after Christmas we should sit down and seriously make decisions."
Turns out, we didn't need to wait for Christmas. When I woke the next morning, Ben said he had spent the night thinking about it, and although he thought of a few reasons not to move forward (new cars, vacations), they were not nearly as important as growing our family and bringing an orphan home to a forever family. How's that for my man who once upon a time didn't want to contribute to overpopulation? (Seems God can melt even stubborn and skeptical hearts. ;) )
Once I picked my chin off the floor, I agreed wholly - our family is ready. I was ready. I had, that very week, lamented that our house was just too big, so our home was ready too! When we asked Will what he would think about it, he said,"Sure, I think it'll be good too cuz I'm also old enough to help out." What a sweetie, right?
Well, that's when the research began and the decisions were made. I will post more about that in the future and do my best to include you all in this process!
I'm so happily overwhelmed that the Lord placed adoption on our hearts so many years ago, and through His perfect plan, revealed to us when the time was right. The perfect time. His time. This is something I will continue to remember as we deal with paperwork and the waiting until we can hold our little one who I am already so deeply in love with.
Matthew 18:5a
And whoever receives one such child in My name, also receives Me!
