The beginning...

Cody and I feel that God is calling us to adopt a baby girl from Uganda. The journey to this decision has been a long time in the making and we feel that God is now moving to make this a reality.

Adoption is something Cody and I have always talked about and considered as an option for us. I’ve always thought it was a beautiful picture of how we are adopted into God’s kingdom as Christians and a great way to provide a loving home for the countless orphans in the world. As many of you know, doctors did not think I had a very good chance of getting pregnant, especially after Emma was born, and then I had an even harder time carrying a baby. After a couple of very devastating miscarriages, Cody and I seriously started investigating adoption. I researched different options, but I still did not have a peace that this was the answer for us at that time. Shortly after that I got pregnant with Avery, so adoption got put aside or at least put on hold for us. After Avery’s birth, we knew that we would not have any more biological children. In many ways we considered our family complete, but there has always been an idea of adoption lingering with us.

The past three summers, I’ve traveled to Uganda, Africa on mission trips with an organization called, “Libraries of Love”. On these trips, I developed a true love the people of Uganda and I have had a burden for children there. It breaks my heart to see people living in horrible conditions, desperate poverty, and so many without someone to love them. While in Uganda, I’ve met many orphans and toured a couple of orphanages, and had many children really touch my heart. Each summer as I prepared to go, I’d ask Cody what he wanted as a souvenir. More than once he said, “A baby or some coffee.” Needless to say, he got coffee.  Please

This past summer, after I met a 3-week old orphan at a medical clinic I e-mailed Cody and said, “I found our baby.” Her name is Mercy and she was abandoned at the medical clinic run by Dr. Patrick after her mother died in childbirth. As soon as I heard about her, I felt a tug in my heart. Then I got to hold her and I felt my heart melting. Cody quickly replied to my e-mail and said “Let’s do it.” I couldn’t believe he so quickly agreed, but I knew he was serious. Dr. Patrick had told me that he had contacted another family in the U.S. to see if they wanted her. So I assumed that is what would happen, but I kept thinking about her the rest of my trip. When I got home, I e-mailed Dr. Patrick and asked if he had found a home for her and that if he had not, that we would be interested. I didn’t hear back from him, so I assumed that the other family decided to take her. I thought about her and about adoption several times in the next few months, but I figured God had closed that door.

In early October I got an e-mail from Dr. Patrick saying that he needed a home for Mercy and that if we were interested just to let him know. I remember my heart skipping a beat as I read that e-mail. Cody and I began to research all that is involved in an adoption from Uganda. I tried to get information from anyone I could. Everything seemed to say the same thing. Adoption in Uganda is not common, not easy, not cheap, but is possible.

Cody and I have continued to see God point us in this direction. We are in the middle of trying to complete our home study. Then we’ll have to wait on immigration approval from Homeland Security. After that, we’ll send everything to the attorney we’re hiring in Uganda who will get us a court date. We will most likely spend about a month in Uganda finalizing our guardianship and getting a passport and visa for Mercy to travel. Then once we return to the US, we’ll adopt her here. We hope to travel this Spring, but as with any adoption there are no timeline guarantees.

We are very excited and anxious to see this all work out. We are trusting God to work out all of the details and to grant us much needed patience. I’m glad to report, Emma and Avery are very excited about their new baby sister.

There is so much more I could write about all of this, but I’ll spare you for now.

Thanks in advance for your love, support, and prayers.