How it all started

This story is a hard one to write.  Not because of the content.  It is one of the happiest, most amazing things that has ever happened in my life and I love telling it over and over to anyone who will listen.  But telling it and actually writing it down are two totally different things.  I want to write it in a way that will honor and respect everyone involved. I want to record not only the events that transpired but my feelings, my thoughts, my inner dialogue as God turned my world, our world, on its head in matter of months.

I guess our side of this story really starts in the spring of 2009.  Joe and I had settled quite comfortably into married life.  We had bought our dream home in downtown Tacoma a year before and were enjoying the benefits of  "DINK-hood" (double income, no kids). We were looking forward to celebrating our second anniversary that summer, I was seriously considering tackling the rigorous National Teaching Certification process during the next school year, and we were taking full advantage of our weekends and vacation time to make frequent visits to see family and various parts of the United States. Although we had discussed plans for expanding our family before we ever tied the knot, we were still basking in the glow of married bliss and had plans of waiting at least another two years before adding a "mini-Cooper" to our two-some.

That spring I read the book There Is No Me Without You, a powerful story about the life of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian woman who gave her life to caring for some of the countless orphans of the African AIDS crisis in her hometown of Addis Ababa. Her story stirred something in me that I never knew existed.  Even before Joe and I said our vows, we had talked about the possibility of adopting or at least checking out the process of becoming foster parents. I think we both assumed that we would have a few biological children because that's just "what you do" and then explore the possibility of expanding our family via adoption or foster care. My experience with teaching had revealed that God had given both of us a heart for kids... especially kids that needed a little extra TLC.  After reading Haregewoin's story, the desire to adopt became more than just a desire.  It became a passion, a need, an urgency!!!  We decided that I would use my time off that summer to start researching various adoption agencies, the cost (we knew it would be expensive), and the timeline.  We knew an adoption could take years, and with my new knowledge of the plight of the Ethiopian orphans, we originally planned to adopt internationally which could possibly take even longer.  If we were going to stick to our carefully laid family planning timeline, we'd have to really get on it if we wanted a baby by the time we were celebrating our fourth anniversary.

It was also right around this time that I became very aware of how comfortable our lives had become.  And not comfortable in a necessarily good way.  I don't believe that to be a "good Christian" one must be living in a constant state of duress or persecution. Not every Christian life must be a direct reflection of the Old Testament Job who literally had everything, house, family, health, and friends, stripped from him in a matter of months.  Living the Christian life does not mean being a walking billboard for pain, misery, and distress.  In fact, it should be the exact opposite regardless of life's circumstances, but I digress.  

My point is, I looked around at our wonderful little life, new house fully furnished, two incomes, great jobs, wonderful friends, healthy bodies, amazing church family and while I thanked God for His many blessings, I also asked Him to challenge us.  I was afraid that we were getting too comfortable in our happy little picket fence existence and were in danger of slipping into a life of mediocrity & self-reliance. The Bible says in James 1:2-4 "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."  Joe and I had never really faced any tests or challenges to our faith in our marriage or even while we were dating.  We both had experienced some in our single-hood, but never as a couple.  And while one might never wish hardship on themselves, I did want God to challenge us in our faith, push us outside our comfort-zone, put us in a place of full reliance on Him instead of on ourselves.

Well, they say to be careful what you wish (or pray) for because you just might get it!!! Our family is a walking testament to that! No sooner had I prayed that prayer that God started moving behind the scenes to orchestrate a series of events that would push us so far outside our comfort zone our lives would never ever look the same!  At the time, I thought the challenge would lie in the long adoption journey we had decided to embark on. Trusting God to match us up with the perfect child, giving us grace & patience as we waded through a forest worth of paperwork, relying on Him as we flew to a foreign country to meet a child who we might not even be able to communicate with... that's where I thought He was going to take us.  And in a way, I was right, but the journey wasn't going to be as long or as far as I had anticipated.