And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.
Matthew 18:5
Heres a little about our adoption story so far:
2003- God placed adoption on our hearts while Josh and I were still dating. It was something we both wanted "someday" but not sure how it would happen. We were married in November 2003 and our little family began.
July 2008 God started expanding our family with the birth of our first daughter Evelyn Mae.
July 2009- When our daughter was about a year old we started to pursue a local infant adoption. We completed our required infant class and was ready to start our home study process.
February 2010- We were surprised to find out we were pregnant with our second child! We were excited but also a little disappointed in the fact that we would have to step out of the adoption process until our youngest child turned a year old. (per our agencies policies) We put that on the back burner and waited .... September our little Zoë Hosanna was born.
We continued to have a tugging on our hearts for adoption but continued to wait...
December 2010 -Desiring to have purpose in our Christmas gift giving I started seeking out ways to purchase gifts that would some how benefit others. God started putting adopting families who were raising funds in front of my eyes. As I read the stories of peoples journeys to their children in other countries I started feeling like maybe, someday God may want us to do that too....
February 2011- Our youngest daughter turned 5 months and we wanted to start getting ready for the 1 year mark by completing our paper work and beginning our home study. Contacted our agency and started gathering the paper work again.
*Feb 25th 2011- Stumbled upon the SixtyFeet site and God totally turned our world upside down (or maybe right side up!)
March 2011-Started praying that God would show us where He wanted us to adopt from...
Where are we now????
Well... we are stepping out in faith and pursuing an Independent adoption from Uganda!!!
God willing we will start our home study the beginning of April. Still trying to find our footing in all this. We are learning more and more everyday. We will keep you posted!
I'm so glad you're adopting from Uganda. When you were planning to do a domestic infant adoption, I never felt like that's what you were supposed to do. That kind of adoption is fine, especially for someone who just really wants kids, but you two wanted to do adoption as a a ministry. You adopt an infant from the US because YOU need/want something (children). You adopt a special needs child, or older child, or orphan living in poverty because THEY need something. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong to adopt a healthy infant, but I just never felt like that's where God had you going. I really think that's why you got pregnant when you did. God was stopping your plans and leading you to His plans. I felt like you were doing domestic infant adoption because your agency kabashed all your dreams (helping teenagers, at risk kids, etc.). Anyway, all this is to say, I'm really really happy to see the track that you're on now. Leah Thompson
ReplyDeleteHey Christen! I just saw you signed up for a Cupcake Kid sale and wanted to toddle on over to check out your blog. Oh my, little did I know I'd find out about your adoption story!!!! SSSSOOOOO excited for you guys!!! It's funny - I actually had dinner with some friends last night who told almost the EXACT story as yours! They were all set for a domestic adoption, but felt God tell them to wait. Then they became involved with SixtyFeet and are now pursuing an adoption from Uganda. Oh, I just love how God works!!! (And I love that you just happened to "stumble" upon SixtyFeet's website!) My husband just left for Uganda yesterday - both for a SixtyFeet trip and to count as our first "in-country" visit and to meet with our family attorney over there. So excited we can take this journey together!
ReplyDeleteMany blessings and prayers -
Joy
How exciting! Can't wait to follow along your journey until you are together as a family. Praying for you and your little one(s) waiting in Uganda for you. Thanks for supporting us during our adoption, hoping to return the favor:)
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and I'm excited to follow your story. We are waiting to be matched with two from Uganda but we are using an agency and curious how it goes for you working independently.
ReplyDeleteAnd we have a Zoe Hosanna too! Cool!
Blessings to you!