Hello friends & family!
Dusty & I wanted a way to share updates, prayer requests, stories, etc. about our adoption journey and thought starting a blog would be the best way to keep everyone posted on what's going on! :)
I am going to do my best to update the blog with any and all updates...so with that said...let the journey begin!
Our Story…
When I was 19 years old I was told by the doctors I suffered from premature ovarian failure and therefore would never be able to conceive children biologically. My heart was broken…I had always dreamed of having a family of my own and now I was being told that my dream would not be able to become a reality…to hear this at such a young age was very difficult for me. I struggled and wrestled with the Lord as to why or how this was happening. No one in my family had ever struggled with infertility and now that it was happening to me I was asking, “Why Lord?” Although I struggled with this path of infertility the Lord had planned for me I trusted in His faithfulness and rested in His sovereignty. I was heartbroken but not without hope. I knew that God had a plan in it all and that if I would trust Him I would be able to look back and see His providence in & through it all.
With the Lord the worst of times are experienced for a reason and are not wasted. They are not wasted globally, historically, or personally. God is definitely at work in the worst of times. He is at work doing a thousand things no one can see but him. When you think he is farthest from you, or has even turned against you, the truth is that as you cling to him, he is laying foundation stones of greater happiness in your life.
Is God’s bitter providence the last word? Are bitter ingredients (like vanilla extract) put in the mixer to make the cake taste bad? Of course not! I like to look at the trials of this life as being the vanilla extract, at first glance you would think the bitter ingredient would make the cake taste awful…but once all of the ingredients are mixed together you have a delicious and beautiful cake! Life is the same way…we experience many different things during our lifetime…He uses the worst of times and the best of times in order to create a beautiful masterpiece that can only come from His hand. We are in no way promised good times, only that if we are His children He is using the good and the bad to make us more like His Son. So there is comfort in all the worst of times. Knowing that He is ultimately making me more like His Son, the trials of this life grow strangely dim and fall into perspective and can be endured with great hope.
As I was driving home the other day I found myself wondering if we have it all backwards…we so often ask the Lord for blessings in our lives that will only bring positive outcomes…when we get the bad we wonder why the Lord didn’t bless us?! What if the trials that we endure are the blessings that we so fervently ask for? If all we receive is good then how will we ever learn to cling onto Christ and loosen our grip on this world? When the worst of times come is when we quickly realize our desperate need for Him. What if the trials in this life are His mercies in disguise?
I believe that the trials we go through are definitely blessings in disguise; now when we are in or just coming out of the trial are we jumping for joy…not necessarily because it does hurt and does often bring sadness, but we know that ultimately it allows us to know that He is near and reminds us that this world is not our home.
Dusty and I met at the U of A in 2002 and were married May 03, 2008! I married the love of my life and my best friend! I couldn't have asked the Lord for a better man to call my husband! In telling Dusty about my issues with infertility he was, is, and continues to be so loving and supportive through it all. Knowing that we definitely wanted a family of our own we began praying about it. After many prayers & discussions we felt the Lord was leading us to grow our family through adoption.
Dusty and I are so excited to begin the adoption process! We are currently in the process of completing our home study...we have everything done but the background check, which we should have completed within the next week or so. Once we receive clearance on our background check we will officially be on the waiting list! Yea! Dusty and I are so blessed & honored to be on this journey and look forward to growing our family through adoption!
Throughout the time we have been completing our home study I have been reading Adopted For Life by Russel D. Moore...it has been so good and has really given me a whole new perspective and appreciation for adoption.
About Adopted for Life
A stirring call to Christian families and churches to be a people who care for orphans, not just in word, but in deed.
The gospel of Jesus Christ-the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God's family-means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world.
Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children-or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within evangelicalism, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.
Moore, who adopted two boys from Russia and has spoken widely on the subject, writes for couples considering adoption, families who have adopted children, and pastors who wish to encourage adoption.
Endorsements
"We often forget that the Christian walk is not merely about getting us into heaven, but it is also about getting heaven into us. This is why our Lord gave us the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, and the parable of the Good Samaritan. Thus, it is no surprise that the apostle James offers this injunction to the Early Church: 'Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world' (James 1:27, kjv). In this wonderful monograph, Adopted for Life, Russell Moore offers to the Christian world a compelling account of these and other lessons of Scripture so that our communities of faith may put them into practice and become more like that 'shining city on a hill' of which our Lord spoke."
-Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University; author of Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice
"Russell Moore reminds us in his powerful book Adopted for Life that the true Christian family reaches far beyond the biological. The poignant tale of the adoption of two Russian orphans by him and his wife Maria grows into a metaphor of Christian salvation. This book offers both practical advice and courage to every couple considering adoption. For all readers, it shows how the act of adoption actually reveals core truths about the gospel of Christ."
-Allan C. Carlson, President, the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society
Once we have the background check completed and we are officially on the list I will send out an update letting everyone know! We have also been working on our information for the adoption website and actually just finished it today so it should be up & running soon! I will let you know as soon as it is done!
We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we begin this journey...prayers for patience and wisdom please. We want to thank you for all of your love and support!
In looking at our issues with infertility I now see it as the vanilla extract…a bitter ingredient that is going to ultimately bring about something far greater than we could have ever imagined…a forever family!
When I contemplate what lies ahead for our family, I realize that this is not something we can do by ourselves. It is truly impossible to do alone, but it totally is something we can do with the Father by our sides. What a burden lifted to know that we do not walk alone!
Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, extend to the skies, and Your faithfulness to the clouds. Psalm 36:5
