Thanks and The Rest of the Story

Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers. I must say, HE is amazing! We certainly don’t deserve the blessings He has showered upon us. Our desire is to glorify Him through this process and the union with our precious child. We are taking the ‘new’ journey to a waiting child, and I want to journal our process, step by step. For those who have adopted, it may seem very elementary and for those who are considering, it may seem overwhelming. My goal is to simply walk you through the steps of the process with the reminder that it changes frequently.

How did we get here? It’s no secret that since Clayton and I accepted Christ (11 years ago for him and 7 years ago for me) we have had a growing desire to serve God full-time in another culture. We have sought direction, even looked for an avenue to take us to another country. Two years after I surrendered my life, He bent my heart toward adoption, and the plight of the fatherless has become my heartbeat.
We are constantly reminded that God does not need to use us, but He chooses to do so. He has opened many doors of opportunity for us and given us the courage to cross the threshold, knowing full well we will depend on Him for everything. He has not called us to that which we are able, but invited us to do what will require complete trust in Him. Each seed of adoption in our lives has been planted by God Himself, and He has proven faithful and trustworthy, as evidenced by each of our beautiful children.
Once Kaeleb was home, we had a peace that God was likely finished growing our family but certainly not finished with us. We began to seek Him fervently on missions: How? Where? When? It was during this time that I was completely brokenhearted for the children left behind, and He gently whispered to me, “I will send you to China … but only for a short time to receive your child.”
Clayton and I were both stunned, at least! We pondered this and continued to pray. I vowed to keep silent as Clayton sought clarity from the Lord. A short time later, God said to him, “I am holy.” It was a reminder that what is a surprise to us is no surprise to Him; He is sovereign; His plans are far greater than ours, and He has given us life for His glory.
We have been ‘approved’ by our agency, Lifeline Children’s Services, and have begun the home study process with the agency that facilitated our first two adoptions, Dillon International. We are proceeding with the knowledge we cannot do this alone. We are so grateful to our church family who has loved us, supported and encouraged us and prayed us through every journey we’ve taken. I have many friends who, even though are very much a part of a church family, the church family has not been very much a part of their adoption process. As the body of Christ, we do need to rally around our family, and we have certainly been rallied!
There are many truths God has spoken to us, but four that I really like to share are:
1) His grace really is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)
2) Having faith means not seeing the whole plan. (Heb 11:1)
3) Trusting that His plans are best. (Jer 29:11)
4) When seeking the Lord, we won’t always please people. (Gal 1:10)

May He be glorified, and may the joy that can only come with abundant life in Chrst be seen!