Adoption

This one word brings so many emotions! Excitement, fear, sadness, joy, more fear, love, frustration, and so many more! We have always had a heart and calling for adoption. We have especially had a heart for special needs adoption. We have had to sit on the side lines and cheer many friends as they traveled their own journeys. We would offer prayer, encouragement, and even some finances. Our hearts would overflow as we watched them bring home their special children. We felt so much joy for them, and at the same time our hearts longed for a journey of our own. We have had to put it off for so long because of Marvin's crazy deployment schedule and our many moves. As hard as it is to wait, we knew that God has perfect timing. He would make it clear when it was our turn. In the meantime, I would browse the waiting children lists on many different sites. I would cry and pray for these little ones that did not know the love of a family of their own. I would follow blogs of families going through their own adoptions. We would pray and give as much as we could manage. All the while, waiting for our turn. When we moved to our new station, we knew that we had 3 years of no deployments. We bought a house with extra space and a car with many empty seats. We had hoped to open our home to foster care, however that door seemed closed to our family at this time. That left us with extra space, empty seats, and open arms. As I was looking through the precious little ones at Reece's Rainbow, my heart fell in love. With one special picture, we both knew that we have a green light! God might as well have screamed it at us. We know that this is a long scary race. We know that there will be weariness and possibly heartbreak. We do not know exactly what our race will look like, but we know the one who holds the map. We trust Him enough to just keep stepping. He will give us the strength and the grace that we need as we need. He will teach us to glean from Him. That is both scary and exciting. I cannot wait to introduce you to the one who caught our heart. Please pray with us as we run this race. We are sure to get frustrated, I already have and we've only just begun. We need constant reminders that God is in control. We need to trust so that we can run!