1 Month Down...

many more to go!!!

Today is our one month LID anniversary.

I thought over the next couple of days I would post some things that God has spoken to us about our adoption as well as things that we have learned through our research and preparations.

There is no better place to start than the beginning...

How and why we made the decision to adopt...

You might remember our short explanation in our very first post on this blog. While short, it holds so much meaning and so much of how God has been working in our family over the years. I wanted to add a little bit more on the first steps of our process.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

This verse is one of the commands God has given us. While there are so many ways to look after orphans (praying, sponsoring, supporting, adopting etc...) our family has felt the clear calling from God that we are to look after orphans by adopting. We have prayed for and sponsored orphans both internationally and domestically... but God was still tugging at our hearts to do more. He didn't want us to stop there. We prayed intently for a year before we made the step to fill out the application. We prayed for clarity on what God was calling us to do, we prayed for the financial aspect of adoption, we prayed for Him to put situations in our lives that would help us to see and know His chosen path. So, with much prayer we went forward. We filled out the application, prayed over it, and then dropped it in the mail. This was a huge step in faith for us. This is very much out of our comfort zone. There are a lot of fears, doubts, and unknowns. As I wrote in our first post, we find reassurance in the words of Steven Curtis Chapman, "It may take getting a little uncomfortable, and it may take risking a little of what the world tells us to hold on to. But He is good, and what He has for us is worth far more than all that the world has to offer."

Lord Christ,

You have no body on earth but ours,

No hands but ours,

No feet but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which your compassion must look out on the world.

Ours are the feet by which you may still go about doing good.

Ours are the hands with which You bless people now.

Bless our minds and bodies,

That we may be a blessing to others.

St. Theresa of Avila

We are the hands and feet of Christ through which He blesses the world. It is our prayer that He would allow us to be His instrument to bless His children, the orphans of this world.

Be on the look out for our next posting... Why China?