Adoption Dreams

I guess the time has come for us to actually put this out there ... Josh and I are officially pursuing adoption. Domestic, infant adoption.
There will be a day where I fully explain our journey to this point, our decision-making process and our reasoning for the specific route we've chosen. The short version -- God's leading.

We submitted our preliminary application to Bethany Christian Services a couple weeks ago, and we really start the process on June 11th (Phoenix has to be a year old before they will officially accept our application).

Here is what I know: I am still wildly ignorant about so many facets of this process, I am incredibly nervous about what will surely be a roller-coaster journey, and I can hardly contain my excitement. 

I can't explain how deeply connected I already feel to a baby that may or may not have been conceived. I was looking at THIS book at work tonight, and ended up in tears because so much of it rings true for me even though we have literally just begun our journey. The mama is explaining the adoption journey to her child, and she says:

I wished for you with my morning coffee, and when I made my bed.

I couldn't get my wish for you out from in my head.

  

Our future child may not be physically conceived, but he/she is dreamt about, prayed for and cherished already. 

As we embark on this journey, I want to articulate my/our dreams for the process and for our child. I want to be able to look back and see the faithfulness of God in responding to our hearts and exceeding our expectations.

So, here you go:

• First and foremost, we want to see God glorified.
• We want to fully acknowledge our status as adopted children of God, and experience His adoptive heart.
• We want to see the child that God designed for us come into our home, no matter how long or hard the process. 
• We want to grow as people, parents and followers of Christ. I am already being changed, and I am thankful for all the impending opportunities to trust God.
• We want to be faithful and diligent in learning everything we can about how to do this well.
• We want to be a blessing to the birthmom, and incorporate her (and potentially the birthfather) into our lives in the most healthy way possible. 
• We want to see the provision of God make this financially possible for us.
• We want to be vocal about the process, so that people get a window into the miracle of adoption. It was truly a gift for me to share my heart during our NICU experience, and I plan to be equally honest and forthcoming about this next journey in our family.
• We want to witness the breakdown of stereotypes and play a part in racial reconciliation.
• We want to be advocates for adoptees. 

Big dreams, I know. But that's just kind of how I roll.
Keep us in your prayers, and dream big with us.

Side note: I know this is not in keeping with the tone of this post, but a bug just crawled out of my computer. That is the second time I have been laying in bed, and see a bug come up from between the screen and keyboard. What the heck!? Now I feel like they are crawling all over me ...