Journeying On

I was a senior in high school when I dreamt about moving to a third-world country for a year or two and pouring out love on the orphans of this world.  It was just a dream, but I believe it was a seed planted by God that would be nurtured for years to come. 

Throughout the time of our dating and engagement, Jared and I talked a lot about what we desired our family to look like, where we would live and how many kids we would have.  We talked about adoption and how one day, perhaps after our own kids were grown, we may adopt or foster children. 

Later when we went to Poland for a college mission’s trip, I was ready to bring a little boy home with me from the orphanage there.  But it was not yet God’s time.  Thankfully, he was adopted shortly after our trip, but his picture still hangs on our fridge as a reminder to pray for little Oscar.  

And then when I became pregnant, I put the idea of adoption on the back burner and thought, ‘Maybe later down the road’.  Well, it’s now ‘later down the road’ and God is still stirring our hearts and bringing confirmation into our lives that He is still leading us to pursue adoption. 

Much of this confirmation came this past summer when I had some testing done to see if future pregnancies would likely hold similar complications as my last.  We were told that I have anywhere from a 40-50% chance of experiencing those complications once again.  We knew right away that it would not be wise to pursue pregnancy again.  Surprisingly, we had a strange peace about the news.  No regrets.  No mourning.  We simply had peace; a beautiful gift from my heavenly Father; a confidence that he would lead us on a new journey to expand our family.

So in case you still haven’t figured it out by now: we’re taking steps to bring another Raby baby into the family.  We’ve only been working on it since late December 2010, but we are already neck-deep in paperwork.  We don’t have many answers yet, mostly questions.  What we do know is that we feel drawn to international adoption, so we’ve started paperwork that leads us in that direction.  However, we are certainly open to a domestic adoption if the Lord opens that door instead.  Interestingly, because of the stipulations each country creates for families trying to adopt, the only country that we currently qualify for is Ethiopia… which is very exciting to us! 

Side note: interesting that God would allow this to be the country open to us as the little boy we’ve sponsored for years is there, which means we’ve already been thinking of and praying for that country for quite some time. 

So far, we've been accepted by Bethany Christian Services adoption agency and are filling out the 100 page+ home study packet.  We're collecting paperwork, getting physicals and writing down our life-story for all to read.  It is time consuming, but we're slowly pressing forward.

We pray that our life journey would continue to be a sacred one, that God would be glorified with each step of paperwork, every question we have to answer and all the places we must go.  How grateful we are to be surrounded by friends and family that support us and are excited for us (rejoicing with those who rejoice - Romans 12:15).  What a blessing and confirmation in our life!

Would you consider praying for our sweet child? We don't know if it's a boy or girl, if they've been born yet, or when we will meet them.  But we love them so much already.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families; he leads forth the prisoners with singing.  Psalm 68:5-6

I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. John 14:18

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Journeying On,