Patience...

Wikipedia defines Patience as the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

 This adoption process takes a lot of patience! I feel like we are always waiting... I know God has great plans for us and our family and we have to be patient but sometimes it is hard. We have been looking into moving into a bigger house since we found out we were expecting a baby in addition to our child in Ethiopia. It took months to get land and now it is taking months to find out if we are approved for a home loan. I know if it is God's will then it will all work out.

We decided to try and get ahead on all the paperwork that has to be updated starting in January. I printed out pages and pages of documents and filled out what I could. I left the address blank in hopes that we will be moved into a bigger home for our growing family by then! Hard to believe it's almost time to renew our home study again. This year has flown by! Everyday brings us closer to bringing home our little one from Ethiopia!
If we are not moved into a bigger house by the time our home study in April, she will have to come back again when we do move and it will cost us a lot of unnecessary expenses that could be used for other documents and has the potential of delaying our referral process.

I just continue to pray and trust that God knows exactly what He is doing. I pray for our child waiting for us in Ethiopia and all the children waiting on their forever families...

Baby Shower

God has blessed us with so many great friends! Two of our good friends threw us a baby shower yesterday and it was great! We have two babies on the way and it meant so much for them to include our adoption into the baby shower. I'll post pictures below, but they set up a table and asked people to bring a book for our baby in Ethiopia and had a money tree where they could put donations. That was so special to us and we appreciate everyone who continues to support us on this long journey!  All I can say is God continues to bless us with the amazing people He puts in our lives and we are thankful for how He uses them to teach us things.

Adopting

Ok, so I understand Adoption isn't for everyone. God gives each of us a heart for different things and some have the heart to adopt while others have a heart to help those who are adopting by prayer, financial support, foster care, orphan ministry, etc.
     I saw a picture the other day and it really made me start thinking.. Of course, now I can't find the picture to share with ya'll and I can't really remember exactly what it said. It basically said How many people have been called to adopt and are ignoring that call because of the price tag?! Honestly, the price of adoption is very scary and overwhelming but the outcome will be so worth it.
     I just wanted to share a little of our testimony and what God has done thus far in our journey. Allan and I are not wealthy by any means, we had no idea how we were going to pay for adoption when we first started. But, we took that leap of faith knowing that God would help us.  We started the application process in November 2011 and in December 2011, Allan lost his good paying job. That would've been the perfect time to give up because there was no way we were going to be able to pay our bills and try to pay for the expenses of the adoption paperwork. We chose to hang in there though, knowing that God had a reason for it. Turns out, Allan losing that job was the best thing that ever happened to us. It taught us so much about the important things in life and made us rely solely on God. God  has blessed us with so many fundraising opportunities as we are on a long road to adoption. Sometimes he has blessed our financial efforts greatly and other times the financial part wasn't so great but the people we met and the testimonies we shared were the highlight. Although, it took time to realize those things instead of being focused on how much money we did or didn't make. God will definitely provide the way if you are willing to stick with it and not give up just because it didn't go so great. Our friends and family have supported us through this journey and we couldn't do it without their love and support. Thankfully, there are also grants and loans available to those trying to adopt. It isn't easy, it takes time and there is a lot of paperwork but it is available if you are willing to invest the time.
   Anyways, I tell you this so that if you are on the fence of deciding to adopt or not to adopt-Just go for it! Trust that God will provide all that you need! It will not be a smooth journey, it will be full of bumps and hurdles but that just strengthens your relationship with God if you let it. Don't miss out on an amazing opportunity just because you are scared of the unknown. There are children all around the world waiting for a forever family, what if you are the family that child is waiting on?