Adoption Journey (Part 1)

Well, here goes my attempt to recall most of the events leading us to adoption. Since our time of dating, Griffin and I always talked about the fact that we both wanted to adopt internationally one day. If I'm being honest, I don't think either of us really said or wanted to do it for all the reasons we do now. I think in our young, naiveness, we thought it would be "fun," "cute," and that we could rescue an orphan. Thankfully, Christ has done a mighty work in our lives since those naive days of dating. We have been blessed beyond measure to be a part of a church who constantly emphasizes caring for orphans both here and around the world. If you look around our church, no family looks the same. We are a multi-cultural church, and for that, I am grateful! After hearing our pastor preach about caring for the orphan through foster care and adoption many times, Griffin and I started talking about the fact that we felt called to one day take that route to grow our family. Caring for the orphan looks different for everyone, but there is no doubt that we are all called to do it. James 1:27 says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." This is one of many verses that calls you and me to care for the orphan. For some, that might mean adopting, for some it might mean foster care or respite care, for others it might mean giving of your time or finanaces, and for others (and I hope all), it might mean to pray without ceasing. With over 130 million orphans in the world, Griffin and I felt that we could not simply sit and watch others care for the orphan. We knew that we were called to ACT. While we talked about adoption for a while, we knew the timing wasn't right and that the Lord would reveal the right timing. Towards the end of June, we were laying in bed, and Griffin said something like, "So are you ready to adopt?" I'm pretty sure I laughed and then cried. I laughed at the blountness with which he said it, and I cried with joy at the fact that we were going to grow our family through adoption. In the days and weeks following, we prayed and prayed that the Lord would reveal to us the route (foster care, domestic adoption, or international adoption) we would go this time around :-). Through prayer, it became clear that we would domestically adopt. Thus, we began the LONG (to a waiting Mommy, Daddy, and sister) journey to adopt.

Disney on Ice

We took Mary Lee to Disney on Ice last night. We went back and forth over whether or not it would be worth taking her. We didn't know how long she would last having just turned 2. Last minute, we decided to buy cheap tickets. We bought the cheap ones so we wouldn't feel like we wasted a lot of money if she only lasted a few minutes. Being that it was during the "game of the century," there were not a lot of people there, so we went and sat really close. To say Mary Lee loved it is an understatement! She lasted the whole 2 hours without a fuss or whine. To see her little face light up throughout the whole show was worth every dime. We will definitely go again next year!

Before the show

Fake smiling with Daddy before the show

So excited to see Mickey and Minnie the first time they came out!

Soooooooo excited!

Amazed at the lights, characters, etc...

She loved wearing the fish hat that came with her cotton candy

She intensely clapped at every part she was supposed to :-)

Some of Mary Lee's favorite characters...