The Journey Begins

Well, we have known for a while now, approximately a year and a half, that "someday" we will adopt. We just weren't sure when that "someday" would be. However, last night, after looking at some very real pictures of some very real children in a very real orphanage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and after watching the You Tube video by Third Day called Children of God, we realized that "someday" is NOW! If you haven't seen that video, I encourage you to watch it (see below) but be forewarned, it is powerful and will probably change your life! In that video we are once again reminded that we are adopted in the Lord! Therefore, we believe that God is calling us to adopt one of His precious children and to raise him/her to love and serve Him. I was struck by how "good" I have it...so often I complain about trivial things. For example, when first getting out summer clothes, I remarked that Abbey needed some more short-sleeve shirts because I thought she only had 5, turned out that she had 11...Really??!! I thought that it was important that she needed more clothes?? These orphans are lucky to have one outfit and that outfit is probably full of holes and not the right size...I also often think that our child needs several different pair of shoes to go with different outfits...what these orphans wouldn't do for ONE pair of shoes...Also, it is RIDICULOUS that our children have so many toys that we have a fairly large box in storage, yes, in storage! These orphans don't have a single toy to play with...Finally, and the most troubling for me, I complain if I burnt the peas or overcooked the noodles and often, I throw it out because I can just go get more...in the DRC the children in orphanages are the "lucky" ones because they get to eat ONE meal a day while the other orphans in this country are "lucky" to eat three times a WEEK and this meal is not a balanced meal with meat, fruit, veggies, and so on, it is most often a bowl of what I would consider to be "mush"... So, where am I going with this? I believe that the Lord finally brought Josh and I to a realization that the "things" we have are not important (yes, we have known that and said that for years now but do we really act on it?). Rather it is important to seek after Him and follow Him. He will provide everything that we could ever need and he has shown us this continually over the years. Therefore, although we do not have the money to adopt a child from the DRC as it costs approximately $20,000 for one child, we are trusting that the Lord will provide this for us. We know that He wants us to call one of these children son or daughter as He has called us His sons and daugthers. Therefore, He will make that possible. So, our journey begins...I spent some time this morning talking to an agency to see where we should begin so we are starting the application process and praying that God will provide the means to continue this process however He sees fit. We simply know that He is telling us to start the process NOW and to bring home a precious child from the DRC.