4+5=9 = God's Overflowing Grace

God's grace; that's the point of it all.

I'm here to tell you about the way our family has changed over the last few months.

On one of the very first days in October, Rod & I found out about 5 little children who needed a dad and mom. We stayed up for a couple days and nights praying about it, asking God what to do. It became very obvious that God was calling us to adoption, and we needed to obey. For a while we would walk in the flesh, and call it crazy, and say "how in the world will we do this?". But then, we would walk in the Spirit... and see it from an eternal perspective, and we called it obedience, and we knew that if He calls, He WILL equip. He is FAITHFUL.

He has already shown His faithfulness over and over again. We have seen victory after spiritual battles. We see joy coming through pain. We see hope replacing despair. It seems like every area in our little family is being tested. We found out we were pregnant at the same time we learned our baby had died. As much as it hurt- we praised Him, because we felt confirmation of our adoption. Parenting our 2 little boys has become harder than it's ever been, and yet we have found more joy than ever before in parenting. We see His grace covering us. Truly, when we are weak... HE IS STRONG.

So, if this is your first time hearing this story, I know you have a lot of questions. Let me try to answer them. Our 5 little children live in Indiana right now with their foster family. They are all siblings, and are coming up for adoption. What that means is the state is taking their case to court to try to get permanent custody. That court date is in 2 weeks. We also have an adoption interview next week, where the case team will decide if we are right family for these children. We ask you to please pray for both of these dates. The decisions made will be monumental in the children's lives and our lives as well. And our 2 little boys? Their lives will be changed in a big way! Don't assume it will all be bad though, they will be getting 5 new siblings to play with, grow with, and love. Rod and I took 36 hours of foster training (that's where we've been, if you noticed we've been gone a lot) that helped prepare us for the transition of bringing two families together. Also, the children have already started to form relationships- (Yes, we have spent several days with them!) and Dominic has the 3 big girls smothering/mothering him every second that he will let them. They want to feed him, rock him, play with him, and he is fascinated by all of the attention. Reed quite enjoys having 2 boys so close to his age that like sports, and outdoorsy man-stuff like he does. Rod doesn't even contain HIS excitement about all of the new elements that these 5 children will bring... he can often be heard saying, "Let's get these kids HOME!" Me, I've dreamed of adoption since I was a little girl, so this is no new thing... and yet, now that I'm walking the journey, why does it seem like everything is new? There's a lot that you don't know about until you walk in the shoes, but I guess that's the way everything in life is. It always looks different from the outside. 

Adoption is GOOD, it began when God had compassion on us, and called us His children. Is it without pain? No. Can you even imagine the pain in watching your only son, your perfect son die... to save the very ones who were killing Him? But He chose the believer to come live with Him forever. And so we copy... in the best way we know, this side of eternity, by opening our heart and our home to 5 little souls.

We welcome your prayers and questions.

I'm including a fuzzy picture to give you an idea of what we look like together, 

but to still "keep it legal" until they are ours.