The Beginning

Blogging ... this is something new to me. Where do I start? The beginning. Ryan and I have been married for 16 years. We have 5 awesome kids. Zachary - 15; Amanda - 12; Hannah - 11; Grace - 8 and Greta 7. I love each of them so much and I'll introduce you to them more later.

Our family is on a journey. It is a super exciting journey. It is a journey to find the child that God has handpicked for us - The child that is in my heart today and one day will be in my arms. We are just at the beginning of this journey. We have watched some friends of ours walk through the process of bringing their child home through adoption. They are an inspiration and blessing beyond measure to us. I have gathered with dear friends and we've gone through books and talked about hunger and poverty. We have done a few studies with some amazing couples that have taught us much about taking care of the widows and orphans. My heart has been whispering the word "adoption" for years. Together now, Ryan and I are going to take the next step of this journey.

I attended the Christian Alliance for Orphans a few weeks ago with two of my dear friends. It was an awesome few days and I'm still processing all that I learned there. While I was at the conference, Ryan was in Haiti playing with little children, helping put tarps on the homes of the Haitians and cleaning away rubble from the earthquake. Now Ryan and I are in the process of researching adoption agencies. I'm so excited. I'm a bit scared. I feel like there is so much to do it is overwhelming. I want things to happen quickly, but yet I know we need time to get done what needs to be done. I'm learning that strength is rising as I am waiting upon the Lord more today than I ever have in my life. In his timing everything will be done. I am learning to trust that as I adopt God's dreams He will give me the strength to do whatever He has for me - and bless me more than I could have ever dreamed up on my own.