What about adoption?

Back in the summer before my thyroid went completely crazy, I posted about our plan to someday adopt. (See here, and here.)  Then, I found myself merely begging God for grace to get up out of bed and my plans got thrown out the window.  Pursuing adoption got put even further into the "someday" category.  Thankfully, God's plans are better than mine and His don't change.  In the meantime, Rwanda has closed its doors to International adoptions as they put into place better laws to protect children there. It's unlikely that they'll re-open anytime soon (potentially not even for 5-10 years or so from what I've read).

We've continued to pray and think about what the Lord has for our family regarding adoption.  While we were initially very drawn to Rwanda (and still are), it seems to us that He's leading to Ethiopia instead. We are so excited about that!  So where are we in this process?  Still very much in the "waiting on God" stage.  We're waiting on Him to speak to us about when He wants us to officially begin by starting the paperwork.  We're praying for our future child's birth parents.  We're asking God to prepare our family for the process and the transitions to come.  We're also waiting on Him to provide some "start-up" finances.  If you've ever considered adopting, chances are you've probably thought, "That's wonderful but there's no way we could afford it."  You're not alone. We don't have the money either, but God does.

We really believe that if God calls us to this, then He will provide everything we need to bring our baby home.  Still, we're not planning on sitting around and waiting for money to fall from the sky.  We want to be faithful to do our part so we've been praying and thinking creatively about how we can save and bring in a little extra as well.  We would like to have the first 3 months fees ($3,000-5,000) saved before we officially start the $30,000+ process. (I know; it's so expensive.  But so worth every cent!)

One small way we're seeking to do this is through opening an online store on Etsy.  My mom and I have teamed up to sell sweet gifts for mom's and loved little ones (like nursing covers, bibs, aprons, burp cloths, etc.).  I'm so excited about how it all is looking!  All proceeds go directly toward our adoption fund.  Stay tuned to see how you can check out our store!