The Big Announcement

It’s been over three years now since I have written on my blog, but I feel like this was a special occasion worthy of documentation! It is with great excitement and a lot of fear that we are telling you- we are starting the process to adopt. 

The decision to adopt has been something we have struggled with for a couple of years now. A while back we felt the call to adopt, we looked into it and then we chickened out. Over the past couple of months God has been pounding on my hard head telling me that we need to do this. I have tried to ignore all of his messages and have resisted and come up with reasons why it wouldn’t work or why it’s not the right time until one day God wore me down. (I mean that in the best way possible, but you know how persistent he can be.) The day I finally gave in and decided to stop ignoring the call was at a conference called Reckless at Preston Trails church that I went to in October. My best friend, Jen Hatmaker, was speaking at the conference. (By the way, she doesn’t know she is my best friend, if you know her don't mention it because she may get a restraining order) Jen adopted to gorgeous kids from Ethiopia a few years ago and she began telling her story. When she said the words, “let me show you a video from the day we met our two babies” I knew it was all over for me. Here is the video that she showed:

 


I CRIED, and I don’t mean a little cry but a full on ugly cry. I knew then that this message was for me and I had to act. I dropped of the girl that rode with me to the conference and immediately called Dave bawling telling him to get on the computer and book some flights to Ethiopa because it is happening! From that day Dave and I have been researching, praying and seeking as much information as we can about the process. 

We are still in the very early stages of adoption but it’s one step at a time. I called agencies all day today and found one that I am pretty sure we are going to go with. After I do a little more research I will gladly share those details. We are now preparing our hearts, our children and ourselves for what lies head. One of the scariest aspects of this whole adoption, and the main reason I continued to ignore the calls is the financial aspect of adoption. After much research it appear that the adoption process is going to cost anywhere from $28,000- $30,000. That is such a scary number especially when we just started building a house, which also requires a lot of money. Normally I tend to freak out over financial worries but I am a peace with it right now. I feel like if God is calling us  to do it, He will see us through it. We are putting our trust in God and giving all of our worries to him. 

Our first step is saving the $700 for the application fee, followed by the first investment of $3000 due a week or so after the application has been approved. We are currently looking into a couple of different fundraising options, if you have any suggestions or experience we would love all of the help we can get. 

During this journey we appreciate prayers. We asked that you pray for the child that God chooses for us, that you prayer for the child’s first parents and that you pray for guidance in all of the things that we have in store for us. We are so excited!

Love, 

Dave, Erica, an excited Isabelle and a clueless Davie