It was in July of 2011 our youth minster and good
friend Patrick encouraged us to travel to Santo Domingo, Ecuador with our
church youth group to serve as chaperones. Little did we know how much
the Lord would use this trip to begin to change our hearts and grow closer to
Him. This trip radically changed our lives in many ways. Our hearts
were transformed with this growing desire to love and care for others and to
tell those who may not know or have not heard about Jesus Christ.
Over the next few months we continued to grow in
our faith and were presented with an opportunity to travel with the same
organization, NEXT Worldwide to Mombasa, Kenya. Of course we were excited
and were definitely on board and began to prepare for the trip! We prayed
often that God would somehow again use this trip to help guide us as we began
to make decisions in our lives. We felt God was continuing to place
different situations and events on our hearts and we weren't exactly sure what
we were to do, how were we to act? Were we being called to be
missionaries? To sell our house and move? Should we have children? We
just continued to pray for clarity. During this preparation time for the
trip we began to feel more of a desire to have children.
In June 2012 we traveled to Mombasa, Kenya. This
again was such a wonderful experience. It is really hard for me to write
and put into words to explain the clarity that God ended up giving us through
these two mission trips. All that God has allowed us to see in two very
different parts of the world including poverty, illness, misfortune, sadness,
lostness has lead us to this strong desire to adopt.
The growing desire for us to have children and to
start a family in my mind felt atypical. I seemed to always be surrounded
with the idea of adoption. Throughout the day at work I would just
randomly think about adoption, I would hear others adoption stories as I have
four friends from high school that have adopted children. It just became
this constant thought. Brent and I had discussed adoption earlier in our
marriage and we were both open and willing, but felt we would like to try to
have children biologically.
A few months went by, it was sometime after
Christmas of this past year. I remember we were driving in the car and I
told Brent I really felt the Lord was placing adoption on my heart. It
was more of a feeling he was leading us to adopt NOW not later, and as PLAN A,
not plan B. Brent tentatively listened, supported, and helped me talk
through what I was feeling. We both felt like this was something we
needed to pray together and separately about.
Less than 2 or 3 days went by and we were getting
ready for church. I came into to the kitchen and Brent was standing there
waiting for me and he said "Ok I feel the same. I am ready. Lets
do this. Where do we start? We need to find an adoption agency soon. How
do we do that?" What a wonderful affirmation!
Through several circumstances and events we have
found an adoption agency and have applied to adopt a child from Ethiopia!!
As of February 4, 2013 we have been accepted officially into their program. We
are up into our eyeballs in paperwork. Every spare minute of our days are
spent chasing down documents and gathering information. The entire process will
be from beginning to end approximately 2 years. We would appreciate your
prayers!!
We have come to realize over time the Lord has
graciously allowed us to be a part of His plan
and that this is only the beginning. "And I am sure of this, that he who
began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus
Christ." Philippians 1:6
Beth
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| Ryan, Katie, Kenny, and I with very sweet kids in Mombasa, Kenya |
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| Brent and I with Pastor Anthony and his wife Dorcas |
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| Kenny, Brent, and I playing with kids in Ecuador. |
