The road to adoption

I was an only child until I was 8 years old and then my brother came along. I didn't really grow up in a Christian home although there were some teachings here and there. I can remember when I was about 7 years old God planting a desire in my heart to adopt when I got older. This is kinda strange for a little girl since I was not adopted and we didnt know ayone who was at that time, so it was never talked about in our home. I think that is one reason I was called so early because I know it was God and no other influences. As I grew up I never had a natural desire to have my own kids. Ok, yes I think it would be cool to have my own kids and see what they look like and how they would act, but the desire has never been strong enough to really do it. I thought maybe that would change as I got closer to marriage, or know who I was going to marry or seeing my friends have kids. but it never did. I am completly fine with this.

I became a Christian apart from my family at the age of 13 and as I grew in that relationship I learned about adoption more and how we are adopted as children of God. I started to feel more connected to it. Senior year of High School I started working at a day care center and stayed for about 7 years. A few years into it I was a full time teacher in a toddler room where there was a little girl who was 1 of 3 siblings at the time and they were foster kids. I had an instant bond with her that lasted a couple years until they left. We were inseprable and I loved her deeply. Throughout my time with her, adoption was confirmed as a part of my future and I knew that I could love a child that wasn't my own, as my own.

The next 7 years as I dated and looked for a husband I felt discouraged. Are you seeing a theme here with the number 7?! That is no accident but purely God's plan for my life. I went through seven years of relationships that failed for differnt reasons and it was heartbreaking to say the least. In these relationships I would always ask the guy how they felt about adoption in the future and I never got a confident yes.

Now I am going to leave a bunch of details out (maybe for another blog post) and skip to the part where I met my husband in November of 2011. After a week of spending time together we decided to make it official and date. In this conversation he started talking about kids and how he didn't care if he had his own or ADOPTED. I will never forget that moment where I was thinking, "is this really happening? Is this guy really talking about adoption and I didn't promt it?" I knew in that moment I had met my husband, for more than just that reason, but it was true. He proposed a month and a half later and we got marriend 4 months after that! It has been the best and easiest relationship ever and I have loved being married to him for 3 1/2 years now. Turns out he had a good friend in college that was adopted and it's what opened his heart to it. This whole time of waiting for a husband his heart wouldnt be ready for adoption until he was in college although we met 7 years after that! God's timing is best.

The number 7 biblically represents when something is complete. It was in the 7th year that my dating days were over and it was complete. In the 8th year we were married and the next promise of my life which is "Making all things NEW" would begin. That's a whole other blog post in itself! Now we are 90% saved for our Adoption Journey to begin and excited to move forward. We should be able to start Home Study paperwork in November and the actual process in January! I will keep you all posted and do a blog post with pictures of our gender nuetral woodland baby room!