crazy.

"As to the question of if you are crazy... yes, you are. But so was God to send His Son. So was God to forgive us, to adopt us. So was Jesus to be murdered and homeless and penniless. By living out a reckless faith, you are more Christ-like than ever before. And, of course, you will be giving a mom and a dad to... children who otherwise might not ever get one." - from Orphanology by Tony Merida + Rick Morton

This quote has been resonating in my heart for several weeks now. I find myself inspired, convicted, humbled, and encouraged by these words, which were offered as an encouragement to Tony Merida upon telling his family that he and his wife were bringing home 4 older kids from Ukraine. It seems that our gracious God has been preparing my heart for our own version of crazy. We have decided, after a great deal of prayer and lots and lots of discussion, to pursue the adoption of 2 unrelated children who are currently living in an orphanage in Africa - an 18-ish month old girl and an 18-ish month old boy. For those keeping track, our sweet E is 17 months old (today, in fact!), so, yes, we are essentially going to have 2-year-old triplets! Prayers, prayers, prayers, and chocolate would be greatly appreciated! Out of respect for the children, their country, and the legal system, I won't be sharing many details about our journey here, but I will try to keep you updated with the basics.

The task that is being placed before us is a daunting one, but we are full of faith that this is what God is calling us to. Our pursuit of these children is also giving me wonderful opportunities to be freshly reminded of the incredible magnitude of the Gospel - the lengths to which God went in order to bring us into His family, His pursuit of us when we were unaware of His love for us and, in fact, even actively opposed to Him. And what better time of year to be in this place than here at Easter - the very time that we remember and celebrate the incredible work that He has done in order to name us among His own children. We are so grateful.

on choosing

It seems impossible, overwhelming, unjust that we have to choose. Look at a few photos, read a sentence or two of an unimaginably sad story, and choose which children are ours. They're all in need of a family, but only one or two or three will be able to become part of ours. This is harder than I expected. So grateful, yet again, that we are not doing this on our own; thankful for the Still Small Voice I'm straining to hear in the midst of the chaos. Please pray for us, that the Lord would very clearly direct us to our children - the children who He has ordained for our family from before the foundation of the world! As hard as this step is, it is unbelievable to me that we're already here, and I am so grateful. Our God is clearly at work on behalf of these children, and my heart rejoices.

making our way to africa

Adoption has been on our minds for many years - and it has now very firmly wedged itself into our hearts, taking the very tangible form of a silly, chubby, curly-haired muffin of a girl. However, even before we adopted her domestically, we knew that we would end up in Africa one day. Over the years, we've read about different East African countries, their cultures, their political histories, their stances on adoption, the devastation of wars and famines and diseases,  and through our reading, our hearts have become very intertwined with the Great Lakes Region in eastern central Africa. As our domestic adoption placement was taking (what seemed to us) a very long time in coming, we considered pursuing an Ethiopian adoption. But before we could take the first steps, we received the phone call we'd been waiting over a year for - we had a daughter! So we put our plans on hold while we enjoyed our sweet girl, but we continued reading and praying about our future.

Right around our girl's first birthday, we began pursuing an African adoption again in earnest. We had learned about new requirements in Ethiopia, so we began looking at other possibilities. The Lord led us to a tiny little country we'd never heard of - Burundi. We considered the Ethiopian door closed, and we applied to an agency's pilot program in Burundi. While we waited for paperwork, we learned everything we could about that country, and we began sponsoring a little girl there. As we waited for months with no progress, there were many late night conversations about what we should do, where we should go. We weren't particular about where our children came from; we just wanted children. In the meantime, God was at work in the hearts of some friends of ours, who were working to form a non-profit to help the church care for orphans and who were, simultaneously, pursuing a Ug*ndan adoption. After hearing their heart and vision, we confirmed with our agency that the door to Burundi was closed for us.

Our children are in Ug*nda.