The Beauty in the Wait

By: Khylee Forgety
 

 The question I get asked the most often right now is "So, where are you now?"  And my answer is almost always "Still waiting." 

We are waiting on our approved home study to be mailed to us, waiting for certified copies of birth certificates to come in the mail, waiting to make appointments for psychological evaluations and blood work until other paperwork comes in so we don't have too much of a time lapse and thus make other documents void. 

In the middle of November our social worker from our agency sent us the long list of items we needed to start compiling for our dossier.  Some were simple things I had expected like letters of employment, copies of important life documents like birth certificates and marriage license, copies of our passports.  Others were not so expected like having to get a psychological evaluation and get all of the documents apostiled (I will save the definition of that for another post).  At first, I will be honest the list was overwhelming.  Overwhelming to the point that for about a week my type-A self was completely paralyzed.  I didn't know which document to start collecting first and so I couldn't seem to motivate myself to do anything. 

After a week of immobilization, some encouragement from fellow adoptive mothers and word from our agency that we could officially begin the dossier process we dove in headfirst.  Needless to say for the last month and half Adam and I been consumed in completing mounds of paperwork so that we can finally be on our agency's waitlist. Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance!!!

Last week while reading for advent I came across this sentence and scripture:

"Sometimes God has his people wait long so our gratitude becomes deeper and wider." Anne Voskamp

"But these things I plan won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled.  If it seems slow wait patiently.  For it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." Habakkuk 2:3

For a waiting momma's heart these words are giving me encouragement that I didn't even know I needed. I am clinging right now to each word, to each promise that this verse holds during this long season Adam and I are in of waiting for our children to come home! 

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What We Want You to Know: Christmas

By: Courtney and Khylee

As Christmas time approaches our minds are full of grocery lists, last minute gifts, and travel plans. Ten trips to Wal-Mart THIS week (We wish we were kidding!). We both feel like we have been going non-stop trying to wrap up all the odds and ends and prepare for family Christmases. While editing photos today I (Courtney) listened to some sermons online and WOW did the Lord speak to me. WHAT are we bustling around with all this busy body work for? We fill our lives full of meaningless activities, stuff and outside pressures to the point of busting at the seams. Yet, somehow instead of expectantly waiting and anticipating the birth of our Savior, we end up missing Him altogether.

“Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it’s a sign that I’ve taken on something of the
world and not of Christ.”- Anne Voskamp

Like most families that are thinking about how they want to raise their children, the subject of Christmas is something that we have REALLY begun to talk about this holiday season.  Both of our families want to start meaningful traditions that point only to Christ, not our own selfish desires. We want to teach our children the story of Christ during this season, the story of how God began the process of adopting us as HIS children, the story of the fall of humanity, our need for a Savior, and his merciful redemption.

“Maybe that’s always the only choice we have to make every Christmas: feed our own fickle wishes or feed the real hunger of Christ?”- Anne Voskamp

We want to teach our children during this season how to be the hands and feet of Christ, how to love “the least of these” as we are commanded in Matthew 25.  For us, it only makes sense to celebrate this time asking Jesus what we can give him for his birthday.  So, we are starting new traditions this year with both of our families that don’t involve a man in a red suit but rather point us into marveling and worshipping our Savior.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

I (Courtney) heard a sermon that said - "You may know the Christmas story and not know the Savior.”  In this busy season what is on your heart? Buying another gift? Stress? Disappointment? Unfulfillment with all the stuff, but not knowing why? Or truly celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world.  If you do not know Jesus Christ and do not have a personal relationship with Him, you can. Embrace the unexplainable hope that only comes from Him.  That is the reason he came from heaven, was for you and me.

So we encourage you to see Christmas with new eyes. Go to your local youth shelter and donate your time or money. Give to a family that might not be getting any presents this year. Pay someone's gas bill. Pay for the person behind you in line for the drive-thru. Take a cause on as a family. There are a MILLION ways you can make a difference in someone’s life and in return you will find more fulfillment than any present can give you because “When we give to Christ in the hungry, He satisfies our own hunger pangs” Anne Voskamp!

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Psalm 91

By Courtney:


Last Friday was our baby’s birthday.

HARDEST. DAY. I. HAVE. HAD. IN. A. LONG. TIME.

Up until now the entire adoption process hasn’t been as emotionally exhausting as I had mentally prepared myself for. Until now it has honestly been much smoother than my wildest dreams. (Ephesians 3:20)  UNTIL NOW that is. Whoa…  Up until this point I was on a mission and had steps to complete. I filled out forms, made copies, printed photos, got pages notarized, read books… Then my son’s third birthday arrives and BAM – it hit me like a ton of bricks (or more like 1,000 linebackers each carrying a ton of bricks) There is nothing I can do in this situation. AND I DON’T LIKE IT! Not one bit!!!! I can handle checking items off our list. I can handle the busy work. The helpless feeling of being across the globe from my child that has already made his home in my heart– I am not handling as well.How do you celebrate your son’s third birthday when he is on another continent? How can he know you love him when you aren’t allowed to send him a gift, a card, or merely wish him a happy birthday? HEART WRENCHING….

Yet, in my suffocating self-pity, the Lord revealed to me multiple blessings in my life. So many friends have reached out to us and shown such support and encouragement that I am beyond thankful and blown away.  I have never experienced anything like the love that has been poured out over us.

God showed me HE has me in his hands. HE has my son in His hands.  He has placed me in the best community of supportive believers that support us and TOTALLY get adoption. He has given me strong Christian friends across the globe that have reached out to me with uplifting words (not even knowing I need it!) He is continuously showing me that HE is in control and that my worrying is senseless, useless, and does not honor Him.

A friend prayed over us and for our son.  She spoke scripture over him and us. It gave me goosebumps the second she began speaking. I could not hold back the tears.

Psalm 91

 ¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
   will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
   my God, in whom I trust.”

 ³ Surely he will save you
   from the fowler’s snare
   and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
   and under his wings you will find refuge;
   his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
   nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.

 ⁹ If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
   and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
   no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 ¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
   I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
   I will be with him in trouble,
   I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
   and show him my salvation.”

If you are wondering what could possibly give you peace when your child has no one to tuck him in at night, I can tell you. The knowledge that the 91st Psalm is for me, for you, for the orphan. My God is watching over my son as he sleeps. He is protecting and holding him until we can.

I challenge you to memorize this. (I am also challenging myself) Speak this over your family. Pray and speak this over MY family. Pray and speak this over adoption.
Your prayers make a difference. They already have.

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Don't miss it

By: Khylee 

 

January of this year was a big month in my life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back I see it was a time of learning, growth, and challenge.

To say that I am obsessed with reading other people’s blogs would be an understatement- fashion , home improvement and, food blogs…I had to get google reader just to keep up with them all.  In January, I stumbled upon ADOPTION blogs and I was like kid in a candy store.  I saw families that looked like the family I had always envisioned (one with multiple different skin tones, hair textures, and eye shapes) with parents that looked completely different. Rusty, the pastor at my church, brought up James 1:27 one Sunday that month and for the FIRST time I saw in the bible “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans.”  I had grown up in church my entire life and missed this verse!  How could have I missed this verse?  There it was, not only was my heart crying, ADOPT, but now I was reading God’s word and it was saying just that.

Later that same day I found a new adoption blog (Waiting on a Word) and the scripture at the top was Isaiah 1:17 “…take up the cause of the fatherless”.   There it was again, in the scripture, the call to take care of the orphan.  I excitedly showed Adam these verses…and he looked at me like I was crazy woman.  “Did you know these were in there”… I said. ” “Well, yeah, didn’t you?”  “No, I had no idea the word specifically said that we are to take care of the orphan.”  HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED IT?

That is one my fears that the adoption process has made me stop and begin to recognize in my life…that I will somehow miss it.  That I will get so wrapped up in myself, my desires, my middle-class privileged life style, my possessions, my religion, my traditions, on being comfortable---that I will miss out on hurting people, that I will miss out on something better than “stuff”, that I will miss out on watching God perform miracles, that I will miss out on getting to be a part of something bigger, that I will miss the life-changing power of the gospel.

But isn’t that what the enemy wants? In John 10:10 it says he has come “only to steal, kill and destroy.”  And so he goes about making sure that children in our state, our country, around the world don’t have a family that can bring about love, healing, safety and protection, that children are trafficked and forced to become labor or sex slaves, that some children in foster care are prescribed 10+ medications because “they are acting out” [goodness, if anyone of us had been ripped out of our home and everything we knew we might just have a few behavior problems ourselves. 20/20 aired a special on this very issue: click here for the video], and the list goes on, and on.   He goes about causing Christian people who have the ability to care for the orphan to stay so wrapped up in their life, to become apathetic to the meaning of the word orphan, to become comfortable with the status quo, to make excuse after excuse and believe lie after lie that.we.miss.it. 

So this Christmas season, lets remember the birth of Jesus- our savior who makes us right again before God, who made it so that WE can be adopted into the family of God, who came so that we can have life---LET US NOT MISS IT.   

(For a challenging and inspiring read on how to make Christmas more meaningful and Christ-Focused read this blog post from Jen Hatmaker entitled “The Christmas Conundrum”)

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Last Call for T-Shirts

By: Courtney and Khylee

We are taking last minute orders for our adoption t-shirts! 

Our goal is to sale 50 shirts per family and we are only half way there! 

We need your help to sale 25 per family by THIS Friday! Facebook us, or send us an e-mail at ourwelcomehomejourney@gmail.com to place your order!

 

T-SHIRTS SOLD: 57/STILL NEEDED: 25

T-SHIRTS SOLD: 54/STILL NEEDED: 25

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"Our Journey" Part 3 (The Folsoms): Where are we now?

By: Courtney

Where are we now? I’ll tell you where we are….

We are up to our eyeballs in paperwork. We spend our evenings talking about certified copies, notaries, dossiers, and parenting techniques. We are checking our emails every hour (no, seriously, I do) in hopes of any tiny tidbit of information about our son. We are meeting, planning, crafting, worrying, and praying. Oh yeah, and praying, and praying, and praying some more! We are working our tails off trying to bring our baby home.

Where are we now? We are parents.

When Khylee and I were making a tentative timeline for our future blog posts a few months ago (Khylee is uber organized, so yes, months ago!) never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that by our third post we would be this far in the process. Never. You know what though?
 
God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imagine, guess or request in your wildest dreams! (Ephesians 3:20)

Just to catch you up to speed…

February 13, 2011 – The day the Lord said “Do it! Adopt the child.”
May 4, 2011 – Completed application #1 with Dillon International
June 29, 2011 – Submitted application #2
September 17^th, 2011 – Adoption Workshop in Tulsa at Dillon International
September 30^th, 2011 – Completed part #1 of our home study
October 26^th, 2011 – We got to see the first photo of our son!

We took one look at his perfect little face and cried tears of joy! I cannot explain the million different emotions that I experienced. It was as though a hand of steel grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let it go. I felt so hopeful, yet hopeless all at once. The urgency I felt at that moment is inexplicable. In that moment I knew, we will do whatever it takes to bring our son home!

Please note: This is not the norm for international adoption. This timeline is honestly much more accelerated than the “average” adoption. God has allowed our process to be shorter than most, and I praise Him daily for this!

At this point, we still have paperwork to do, a room to decorate, furniture, clothes and toys to buy, parenting books to read, patience to learn… We are adding to our list daily.

We cannot explain how thankful we are. We cannot begin to tell you how you have blessed us with your prayers, your words of encouragement, your ideas, you showing up at our fundraisers, volunteering your Saturdays, crafting with us, praying over us, not to mention the financial support! It all means so much. More than you will ever know.

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Parents' Day Out

By: Khylee Forgety

 We will be hosting our first fundraising event this Saturday, November 19th.  There are several ways we could use your help: 

1. Volunteer a few hours of your time to help take care of the children.
2. If you need to go shopping or need a couple of hours to clean your house, your children are welcome to come hang out with us! 
3. Pass along the word to people you know who would be interested. 

Thanks again to everyone for all your support!  It means so much to all four of us to know that we have a family of people standing with us to help us bring our precious children home!

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"Our Journey"- Part 3: Where are we now?

By: Khylee Forgety

The adoption process has a lot of different steps that Adam and I had no idea existed before we started.  There is a ton of paperwork to complete, copies to make, doctors visits to go to, parenting education to attend, and a lot of new vocabulary to learn. Some of you may be familiar with the process, but for those of who you aren't this post is for you.  Here is a time line of how it all works: 

1. Application: involves a lot of the paperwork.  You fill out an application all about you and your spouse, you get copies of birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, you ask people to complete a reference for you, etc. This also ensures that you meet the criteria for the country program you are applying to (i.e. you have been married the required number of years, so many divorces, if you are single)
2. Home-study: If your application is approved by the agency then the agency completes the home study which consists of two visits with a social worker.  The two visits are to assess the home and to get to know the couple or family. In the "home assessment" the social worker looks for things like smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher, not if you have any dust on your dining room table.  He or she also talks to you about things you put in your autobiography (something that is a part of the application).  The social worker who completes the home study has a vital role in the process as they approve the home for a certain number of children, age range, etc. (usually the decision is based upon what the couple has  expressed to the worker). 
3. Dossier: is a collection of certified or notarized copies of documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc., the home study, pictures of your house- that are submitted to the country where you are desiring to adopt. Every country has a different process of what documentation they require.
4. Wait list: once the dossier is submitted to the country, the family gets put onto their agencies wait list. The agency gives you a time-line for how long they anticipate you to wait for a referral: 8 months, 24 months, 4 years... This is probably one of the hardest parts of the journey because there is a lot of unknown: when will you get the phone call, how long will you have to wait? what if it is longer than what they said?, what if is shorter?, will I be able to take off work at a moments notice?, how much will flights cost? and the list could go on...
5. Referral: This is the blissful moment when someone from the agency calls you to tell you there is a child or children that matches what you specified you were willing to accept.  Often times families get to see a picture of the child, medical information, the child's history (if known).  The family can choose to accept or decline the referral based upon this information.  
6. Trip 1: If the family accepts the referral than plans are made to the take the first trip to the country (not all countries require two trips, but both Ghana and Honduras do).  On this trip the family gets to meet the child, visit where the child lives, and begin the legal process of adopting him or her. Often this trip takes between 7-10 days.
7. Trip 2:  Then the family comes home.  Again, this is probably one of the hardest things to do is to leave your child for 3-5 months while the paperwork gets done.  The family then returns for the second trip.  For the Folsoms' their second trip will be another 7-10 days, for the Forgetys' the trip will last anywhere from 3-6 weeks.  On the first trip the parents only make trips to the orphanage to visit the kiddo, on this trip that precious little girl or boy gets to stay with you at your hotel and the actual parenting process begins.  During this time the child legally becomes a part of your family so that when they step onto U.S. soil they are U.S. citizens.
8. U.S. Court: Even though the adoption is legal, our agency recommends that you finalize the adoption here in the United States.  

I caution you though to remember that while I laid the process out pretty black and white, how it can play out in reality can look different for every family.  Bureaucracy can slow paperwork down, a judge can discover one error in the paperwork and require it to be resubmitted, or the court can close for a season or decide to stop all adoptions from a particular region in a country.   

So there you have it friends!  I hope that you all found this educational. Adam and I are currently are waiting for our adoption agency to approve our home study and we hope to have our dossier completed by January. 

For the rest of the Forgetys' story, click on the links below:
Part one: Why are we adopting?
Part two: Getting started 

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John Piper: Bloodlines Documentary

by: Courtney


When you start this journey you don't expect some of the things you encounter. (We sure didn't, anyway!) We have already encountered racism, close-mindedness, the uninformed, and ignorance.

Recently I was struggling with the thought "Are we doing the right thing?" Is this really what the Lord is calling us to? In "small town America" will we be subjecting our child to unnecessary racism, ridicule, and close-mindedness?

One evening this was heavy on my heart. My friend sent me this link. (I am amazed how God continuously uses her to speak to me, comfort me, encourage me... little ole me!)

As soon as I saw this video I immediately forwarded the link to my husband and three friends. I wish EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THIS PLANET would watch this video.

Racism is NOT biblical. It is SIN.

If you look at a child and see anything other than a beautiful being created by God, THAT, too is sin.

I hope that when you look at a child (especially my child) you see a million different things. I hope the color of his skin will not be one of them.

John Piper: Bloodlines Documentary

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"Defend the cause of the fatherless..." Isaiah 1:17

By Khylee

November 6th is Orphan Sunday.  A day set aside for believers to remember and pray for the millions of children in our world that are without a family.  I pray that you will not let this Sunday come and go, but that you will earnestly pray about how YOU can be involved in taking care of the orphan. 

Maybe it means sponsoring a child through World Vision, financially supporting a family that is choosing to build their family through adoption, becoming a foster parent, praying for children in need of forever homes, throwing a baby shower for a family that has decided to foster children, spending a week of vacation loving on children in an orphanage, signing up as a volunteer at DHS to spend time with children in a local shelter, or choosing to adopt.  There are so many ways to fulfill the command we have been given "to defend the cause of the fatherless." We can all do something, what will you do?  
 

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"Our Journey" Part 2: Getting Started

By Khylee

International or a domestic adoption?

How old of a child?

Boy or girl?

One child, or a sibling group?

If international, what country?

What agency is reputable?

How do we know when to start?

These are just a few of the questions that we have wrestled with.   And…I know these are just a few of the ones that many of you want us to answer. 

Honduras, 2004

In January of this year, I began to feel a pull towards the Central America country Honduras. It was one of the countries listed on several of the agencies I had been researching and the Lord would bring Honduras up when I was watching the news, reading an article, talking with friends, watching gangland-that’s right Adam is a big fan of the show, I watch from behind the covers. It was also a country that holds precious memories for me. In 2004, during my freshmen year in college I had the opportunity to travel there for a mission trip to work with boys at an orphanage/school.  It was only 6 days but it was a life-changing six days as those boys showed me love and held me when I cried and I didn't want to come home.

…but then my heart would say things like “the wait is too long, 2-4 years is ridiculous to wait for a child”, “you aren’t guaranteed a baby and a toddler will come with too many issues.”  So, I began to research a little more on Ethiopia and domestic private adoptions because the wait isn’t as long, and you can get a referral for a child that is under a year old, problem solved, right? 

Wrong.

What a selfish, selfish human being I am.  I am embarrassed to even admit I thought that, but that was the state of my heart.   I was only attracted to Ethiopia and private adoption, so MY needs would be met, so that I could become a mother on my terms.   

In May of 2011, Adam and I took a vacation to Mexico.  Every night we would go down to a street called 5^th avenue that was filled with all sorts of touristy things to buy, places to eat, and live music. Among all the “stuff” though, we saw young children without shoes picking up cans, digging through the trash to find things they could make money off of, and selling bracelets.  One night, Adam looked at me and said “Khylee-I think we need to adopt from Honduras, I don’t care how long the wait is.” 

And I knew in that moment- I knew that Adam was right, I knew that the Lord had our children in that country, I knew I needed to wait, to wait as long as it took, and to open my heart to a wider age range.    The Lord had already intimately connected my heart to this country and he spoke through Adam to help wake me up to the boundaries and rules I was setting up for how this adoption-thing was supposed to go. 


It wasn’t a coincidence that I had learned to speak Spanish in college or that I already traveled to Honduras once in college on a mission trip and fell in love with a group of orphaned boys.  The Lord had purposefully placed in my heart a love for this community of people.

Mi mono "my monkey" was my nick name for this little guy.  

So we both came home from our vacation, with a firm grasp that it was time- Time to begin this new, exciting, scary, unpredictable journey… 


(For Part One of our story: "Why we are adopting" click here)

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Our Inspiration

By Courtney

When we announced we were adopting, our friends, the Forgety family, told us they were also starting the adoption process. (Just one more way the Lord was confirming our decision) We immediately wanted to team up and help support each other along the way. We couldn't believe another family was just as "crazy" as us, struggling with the same issues as us, and believes the same as us.

What a blessing to be able to walk through this journey together!

During a drive to and from an adoption workshop we were all discussing ideas for a blog name we could use together. We tossed ideas around but nothing was really jumping out at us. When they mentioned this song had really spoken to them we immediately pulled it up and listened to it. WOW. 

This is the inspiration not only for our blog name but also to title this journey we are on.  It also represents our relationship with Christ.

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"Our Journey" continued... Why Adopt?

The Folsoms' Story

By Courtney

I think many times as Christians, somewhere in the back of our minds, we think adoption is a great idea.  We rarely know someone who has adopted and we rarely actually consider it. Yet we think “Oh, that’s great! For them.”  I believe that if you actually stopped and considered it, you might be surprised.

Over the last year the Lord has opened my eyes to such injustice across the globe. In the past year our church studied The Hole in Our Gospel (eye opening for all Christians!), I read Jen Hatmaker’s book Interrupted (changed my life), Matt and I went on a mission trip to Belize…. In each of these events the Lord opened my eyes a little more and tugged at my heart even more.  I was convicted by how wasteful Americans are and how little the rest of the world lives on. I was convinced that I could not go on living my life the same...working, buying stuff, and fulfilling selfish desires. I was also convinced that Christians needed to be doing something about these injustices – that I needed to be doing something .

 Several months ago Matt and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We started talking about starting a family. Each time we discussed it, I never felt at peace about it. During the year I felt like the word orphan was in my face every time I turned around- time and time again. In the spring I read the book of James. Wow. It was like the words jumped off of the page – ORPHAN. I started thinking about adoption but I never mentioned it to Matt, I didn’t want to him to think I was crazy.  

One Sunday after church Matt asked what I thought about adoption.  I almost jumped out of my skin. WHAT?! So from that point on we discussed adoption and I said things like “We’ll have some of our own then consider adoption.”  Each time I said this I felt convicted. It sounded so fake and (I’m sorry to say this) just gross. I felt like the Lord was leading us towards adoption and I was tainting it with MY timing and MY selfish desires and MY idea that I thought sounded good.  Matt and I discussed it and prayed about it for months. I jokingly say I felt like Gideon… “Lord, if the fleece is wet and the grass is dry, I will know it’s Your will. Lord, if the fleece is dry and grass is wet….”  I prayed time and time again and the Lord kept confirming it. Adoption and the orphan were put in front of our faces over and over. I wanted to be sure. I wanted to be sure that this wasn’t just something I thought we needed to do just because it sounded good. I needed to know it was from the Lord (although he was trying to show me – I’m slow – I need a neon sign). Well, he gave me one!  One evening Matt and I had prayed about it yet AGAIN. I prayed, “Lord, I am a little slow. I need you to make it obvious. Put it in writing. Let me know this is from You.”  That evening while reading my devotional these words practically jumped off the page -

“Adopt the child.” 

The devotion was about how God has great adventures planned for us. I could have fainted! As tears ran down my face, I promised the Lord I would follow Him, and I would do it NOW, in His timing.

Why adopt? First of all, I believe it is a command. We are called to take care of the widows and orphans (Yes, all of us). If you physically cannot adopt, foster, or help support a cause in some way, you CAN help other families do so. 

Second of all, I’m pretty sure the Lord made it crystal clear for us, and I’m not going to tell the big guy no!

For us this is as much about awareness and making a life change. I want every single person to know that EACH one of us CAN make a difference. We are put on this earth to know Him, love Him, and make His name known. “By this the world will know we are HIS disciples – LOVE.” John 13:35

For me personally, I just know I can no longer say I didn’t know…. Proverbs 24:12 

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"Our Journey" Part 1: Why do you want to adopt?

By Khylee

High school, for me, is a time in life I am glad is over. I had absolutely NO sense of personal style (I shopped at GAP kids) and my hair was a short frizz ball. Don’t judge, my friends-the CHI had not yet been purchased. 

I do know one thing though that was very certain during this time: I wanted to adopt.

 Call me crazy, but I used to tell my friends I wanted a child from somewhere in Asia, India, Africa and Latin America.   And this desire to have a family full of diversity has not changed.

Fast forward to January of 2011, 2 ½ years after Adam and I had been married.  I had been looking at tons of different adoption agencies. We had already had several LONG discussions on adopting our children versus having them biologically. On January 12^th, with adoption heavy on my heart, I prayed that God would make it as crystal clear to Adam as it was to me and that it would he would become 100% on board. 

Over the course of the next 4 months the Lord was faithful to answer that prayer.  It wasn’t that Adam was opposed, he did WANT to adopt.  It was just that He needed the Lord to give him some confirmation to move in this direction.  And the Lord did just that: through the stories of two men, lots of prayer, and a gut wrenching reality check Adam was ready. 

So, for those of you who are wondering, adoption is not our back-up plan, not our plan B. As far as we know we have no issues of infertility that would prevent us from having biological children. 

What we do know is this: 

• The Lord has made it clear that we are to adopt our children
• We are to fight for, protect, love, and be parents for at least a few of the MILLIONS of children out there that are without a mother and father
• That the road ahead is full of uncertainty, long waits, first-hand experiences with injustice, heart-ache and yet will bring unspeakable joy  

"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless..." Isaiah 1:17

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Two Families, One Call

Welcome to all our family and friends!  We couldn’t be more excited to be sharing our journey of adoption with each and every one of you.  This blog will feature not one but two couples- Matt & Courtney and Adam & Khylee- two separate families who have felt one call to ADOPT. We want to share with you our stories of how we each got here, the journeys we take to bringing our children home (each and every one of them), and the challenges we will encounter as adoptive parents.  

Why the name? After much discussion among us all, we decided the name Our Welcome Home Journey best encompassed our vision, our calling.  In Matthew 18:5 it says “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”  Adoption is just that-saying welcome to our family-we don’t care where you came from, the color of your skin, or that you come with a whole lot of baggage (which don’t we all?).  We love you, we’ve been praying for you, and we WANT you forever in our family!   We cannot wait to hold our arms open to our babies and say welcome home.

More importantly, however, adoption is a picture of redemption. God has adopted EVERY one of us who accepted Him into HIS family (Ephesians 1:5). “Welcome home my child,” he says to us when we take those initial first steps to believe Him, when we return after being away for months, when we think we done something so awful that He won’t forgive us, or when we replace his love in our life with other things.      

Over the course of the next several weeks we will share our stories. In our personal journeys we have been faced with issues that are HARD and that have caused us to look at our lives, our faith, and to examine if what we say we believe is what we really live.  Expect to be challenged, expect to feel uncomfortable as we honestly share our hearts of how God brought us to this place.  Welcome to "Our Welcome Home Journey."

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