A Leap of Faith...

Last November we saw a notice in a church bulletin about an informational meeting by Adoption for Families, an agency located in Springfield. It was being held at another church on a weeknight for anyone interested in getting more information on domestic and international adoption. I'm not really sure what struck both of us about that notice, but we both read it and brought up the topic of adoption one evening. We had always talked about adopting a child one of these years, but only after we had a biological child or two of our own.

We went to this meeting and met some very nice people from the adoption agency and a few couples that were interested in adoption. We also met a family who had just brought a little girl home from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her name was Jayden. And she was beautiful. Laura and I looked into domestic adoption as well as international adoption. Over the next week we discussed all the pros and cons about adopting from the US, Russia, China, and Ethiopia. Something about that little girl and the Hope's Place orphanage she came from stole our heart.

We proceeded through the adoption process starting in December, 2007. Over the next few months we filled out a lot of paperwork and had several meetings with Crystal from the agency. In April, 2008 our paperwork arrived in Ethiopia and we were officially waiting for a referral. From the beginning we requested an infant girl, although we were open to a boy and were even open to adopting a boy AND a girl. We never really figured we'd be given two children, and were planning to bring home our first child and then eventually go back and adopt a second.

That thought process changed on June 30 of this year. Jason was in Atlanta for a national FBLA conference, while Laura was at home. On a Sunday morning, Crystal called and said she had a referral for us. A little girl who had just turned 3 had arrived at Hope's Place and they wanted to find a home for her as soon as possible. The courts in Addis Ababa would be closing in early August and to get a court date, we would have to say OK to her within 48 hours. But that wasn't all. A baby boy had been born June 10, and shortly thereafter was at the orphanage. Crystal wanted to know if we'd be interested in adopting both. After many phone conversations we both realized that we were destined to welcome both these children into our homes and lives and said yes. A family of 2 was about to become a family of 4!