147 Million, Minus 1

There has been a ton that has gone on in the past month and I am sorry that I have not posted it. I am going to have to put up pictures of Christmas, Disney World, and our super warm Jackson January. Hopefully once life slows down a bit I will be able to do that! Haha

I am very excited about 2012! This is year is going to bring a lot of change with it, but I am so very excited about what the Lord is doing in our lives. I am going to try to do better about sharing the ways that the Lord is working in both of our lives. 

But for now...

  

We have begun the process of adopting a baby from Russ*a! 

While we both want to have biological children someday, we are excited that this child will be our firstborn. There are over 147 million orphans in the world and as believers in Christ we know that we are called to care for these children. Throughout scripture that Lord has commanded us to love and care for these children who do not have parents who can provide for them. For some people, it may mean praying for or financially supporting couples pursuing international adoption. But for us, it means bringing a child into our home and raising them as our own. For us, it is 147 million orphans, minus 1. 

We know this is not normal for a couple to start their family through adoption and so we will explain in the future how we got to this point. We have finally settled on a agency outside of Chicago. We are in the process of being approved to adopt a baby as young as possible, although they will probably between 6 months and 18 months when we get them home. We are not specifying a boy or a girl because we we would not have that choice if this were our biological child. :) 

We would love for you to join with us as we travel along this journey. First, adoption is expensive and in the future we will be sharing ways that you can partner with us. Most importantly, Josh and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for us as we begin this process and for our baby. Even though we don’t know where this baby is yet, we know that God already knows who this baby is and has picked him or her to be a part of our family. 

We know that the journey ahead of us is long and may be hard, but we are so excited to bring our baby home. We cannot wait to be parents and we hope that you will be praying for us in the weeks and months ahead as we prepare for this baby, and then as we are parents to this little boy or girl. 

  

Josh and Courtney