Our First Date and A Big Family Announcement

(Circa 2004. Oh my goodness...we look like babies!)

We officially became “more than friends” after our first date at Corner Bakery back in 2004. It was a high-stakes high-stress date (at least for me!) where we were getting together to talk about whether or not we'd start a relationship. I brought a slew of questions and went through them one by one with Josh. (He passed with flying colors, by the way!) As he drove me back home, I remember feeling excited and scared and really nervous. I liked him so much more than I imagined I could ever like anyone and I was pretty shocked that he actually liked me back (that’s a whole other story).

But instead of wanting to shout the news to the whole world, you know what I wanted? I wanted to hide it. Yep. It’s embarrassing but it’s true! I honestly did not want people to know. I seriously asked Josh if we could just keep it to ourselves and not tell people for a while. (He wasn’t about to roll with that. I’m pretty sure he thought I was nuts for even asking!) It wasn’t that I was ashamed of “us” or that I was worried it wouldn’t work out. It was that I was afraid of what other people would think. I was the “new girl” and he was the “church intern” and what if people didn’t think we were right together? Plus, it felt scary to share such an “unknown” with people...I didn't know how it was all going to turn out. And even more than that, getting to know Josh in a better way was a really big deal to my heart; I wasn’t sure where to start with talking about something that meant so much to me.

Announcing our second adoption feels a lot like that to me. I know God’s led us to this and I’m confident He’s got good in store. But I’m afraid, too. Just like our first adoption, we need financial help. What are people going to think about that? Plus, we have no clue what things are going to look like along the way…we don’t know how our story will unfold. And even beyond that, this is such a big deal to my heart, so much so that I’m not even sure where to start with talking about it. It's hard! But I want to try.

So friends, with a pounding heart I’m sharing our news. We're adopting again! (Whew! I said it!)

A couple of details: like last time, we're adopting domestically (an infant) and we aren’t matched with an expectant mom yet. Basically, that means that we have no clue when a baby will enter our family. It could be soon or it could be over a year from now or anywhere in between. At this point, we are working hard to be prepared financially; we’ve been saving for years, we’re home study ready, we’re working on applying for grants, and we're also humbly asking for help. We're also using this time to pray for the expectant mama who will be bringing this baby into the world, asking God to give her courage and strength. We don’t know exactly what Adoption #2 will look like, but we are excited to watch God bring it about.

Back to that night at Corner Bakery...later that week I went to a girls night with some friends from church. My heart was pounding and I thought I might puke, but I told my friends our news. There were squeals and hugs and long conversations but the thing I remember most is their love and how they gathered around me and took the time to pray for us. Because I told people about this huge scary exciting thing, people shared in our joy and that made our excitement even bigger. And because we shared about it, it was no longer just us praying about our future. We had an army form behind us, praying for us, supporting us, and walking alongside us...sort of like a team cheering us on. From the start, we were carried and helped so much by so many people (and we still are).

Would you join us with your prayers and support again? It would mean so much to us to have you walking alongside us, praying, encouraging, challenging, being a part of our team for adoption #2. I'm glad you're with us. Everything's better in community.

And for those who are interested in giving, we are thankful for the opportunity to use AdoptTogether once again as we humbly depend on the Lord for financial help. If you'd like to contribute to our adoption fund, you can go here to give a tax deductible gift. When we are matched, AdoptTogether will disperse funds directly to our adoption agency. Thank you for your love and support!