What a story!

I love to tell stories!  I love to tell stories about all the crazy things that have happened to us and all the things that the Lord has done in my life.  I love to make people laugh with my rendition of the situation, including voices for all characters.

One of my favorite stories happened after we had struggled with infertility for over 4 years.  We had been told by all the doctors we had seen that we were "fine" and they were not sure what was "wrong." Finally, we made an appointment to see a reproductive endocrinologist to look further into our situation.  Two weeks before my appointment was scheduled, we found out we were pregnant.  We were elated!  I was so excited to make the phone call to cancel my appointment with the infertility doctor.  With a very bubbly, cheerful voice, I said, "Hello, I need to cancel my appointment."  The receptionist answered, "Did you want to reschedule?"  I answered, "No!  I would not!!  I do not need to see the doctor any more.  Do you want to know why?"  Silence.  "I will not need to see the doctor because...I am...(dramatic pause)...PREGNANT!!!!"  She mustered, "Hmmm...that's great."  I jumped in, "I know! Can you believe it?"  Awkward silence.  "OK, well, thank you."

We got some news last Thursday.  (NO...I am not pregnant!)  We found out that we no longer meet the requirements to adopt from the Congo.  On September 25th, the DRC suspended issuing all exit visas.  What this means is that a family that has gone through the whole entire adoption process and has legally become the parents of their newly adopted child, cannot take that child out of the DRC because the Congolese government will not issue an exit visa.  There are many reasons that this suspension happened and one of the reasons was for the government to look at and revise their current requirements for adoptive parents.  One of the requirements that was previously in place, but in all cases waived was the requirement that the adoptive family could only have 2 children living in the home at the time of adoption.  SO...that excludes us!  We could go through the whole process and take a major chance that the final judge in the DRC would grant a waiver, but that would be a huge gamble that we are just not willing to take.

We are now seeking the Lord as to our next steps.  Please, please join us in prayer for this little one, wherever they may be!  Pray for clear direction and open doors.  Pray for provision and clarity.  Pray for us to have open hearts and wisdom to know where He is calling us.

In this last month, we have been working towards completing our home study.  We have applied for our passports, had our fingerprints taken, been to the doctor and filled out lots of paperwork!  We have almost completed it, except for the small details like...you know, where in the world we will adopt from and what agency we will use.  Minor details, right?

In the meantime, God has been knocking our socks off and reassuring us again and again that HE has got this under control!  On Christmas day, we got a call from some friends and God had put it on their hearts to give towards the adoption.  Let me just mention that the money given to us was supposed to go towards a diamond bracelet.  The sweet wife said she really wanted the money to be spent on something that mattered (not that diamond bracelets don't matter, but come on, how awesome is that??).  (Cried for a long time) WOW!

Then, two weeks later we got an email from another set of friends that are going through the terrible tragedy of losing their 2 year old son.  After his passing, in lieu of flowers, they had people give to a fund.  After much prayer, the Lord led them to us.  How amazing that their son's story and life will live on through our child and they will forever be interwoven (yah, cried for a really long time about this one!!).

We are really walking by faith here and trusting in His perfect timing!

When we FINALLY found out we were pregnant with #1, we were in awe of God's goodness to us.  Even though we had walked through some really hard times to get there, it was all worth it and the timing was perfect.  Literally, he was born the day after J's last Law School final!!!

As much as I love stories and telling stories, I can already see that the story of our next child and how they will come to our family is going to be the best!  I cannot wait to tell them all of these things one day and tell them of God's faithfulness and perfect timing.  They have been sent to this Earth with a purpose and a plan and it was no mistake!  They are perfectly and wonderfully made and I know this full well.

Let the story begin!!!