And so, it's begun!

If you've been around for any length of time, you may have an inclination towards our heart for adoption and in for caring for children.

Several years ago, through various events and happenings, Matt and I felt the Lord urging our hearts to care for orphans, and more specifically to adopt. At the time, we felt very strongly being led to adopt internationally. However, for one reason or another we were unable to begin the process of international adoption. (You can read about that here .)

Being open minded and having hearts softened by prayer, we even tried beginning the process of adopting a child from within our home state. (I've mentioned that here.) But for multiple reasons, we just did not feel at peace about adopting locally. (We talked about that here and here.. again.)

During our time in prayer, our hearts were continually being led back to the plight of international orphans. (Please don't misunderstand me, there are children EVERYWHERE that are in need of a loving home, and a family to sacrificially love them.)

And after years of prayer and preparation, we are so happy to announce that WE ARE ADOPTING! For reals.

Through the Lord's provision, we were able to acquire the amount needed to begin our application and home study process to bring our boy home from Ethiopia. We are nearing the end of the home study process and I can tell you that all of that waiting just to start the process was not wasted. Every day.. every month.. every year waiting to begin this process has worked in our hearts (and in our minds) in tremendous ways. We look forward to sharing with you all the joys (and the heartaches) this process will bring. And we would be so grateful for you to come along side us in this journey. First, please cover us, all the people we come in contact with through this process, and our sweet boy that's needing his family in prayer.

In the words of some of our great friends, our main goal in adopting our precious boy is to " 'commend the gospel through adoption.' Our adoption story is just one of many amidst the greatest adoption story. " (Josh and Angela Walker, Hymns for Selena)