our adoption story

there are 2 stories we get asked to tell a lot...one of them is our adoption story.

before i tell you about our kiddos, i have to take you back to where it all began.

in the summer of 2002, i was a part of a missions team that went to kenya, africa.

there was just a handful of us that went...our mission's pastor, 2 nurses, 2 guys who would be doing construction, and little ol' me. at the time, i kind of wondered why i was going? the purpose of the trip was to do some construction work at the center where we would be staying and doing some health education in the local villages. i wasn't skilled in either of those areas. i was an elementary school teacher. however, when our mission's pastor asked me to go, i figured why not?...i was off for vacation from teaching, my man would be working and i love mission's trips.

i spent 3 weeks in africa and had the opportunity to teach sunday school and do some local outreach for the kids of the local villages. many of the kids touched my heart, but there was one special one...a little boy, around 3 years old.


we instantly were pals from the beginning.

his smile melted my heart.

his story broke my heart.

and forever my heart was changed.

God laid something on my heart over those 3 weeks that would burden my heart and would never go away.

you see, this little african boy was an orphan. his parents were no longer around to care for him. i'm not sure the cause, they could have died or had succumbed to the drinking that was very prevalent in that area. whatever it was, they weren't around. however, a local village family had taken him in.

as we played together each day, my love for this little guy grew and grew. i wanted to take him home with me. i wondered what my husband would have thought if he'd picked me up from the airport and i was holding a child? obviously, he would have been a bit confused, overwhelmed, or in a complete daze as to what i did. well, i left africa just myself...no kid in tow...but a new desire in my heart.

over those 3 weeks, god had placed on my heart a desire to adopt. to give a child a good, loving home. to give them a life they may never have had otherwise if it wasn't for us adopting him or her. it was a lot to ponder on my own, but it needed to be shared with my husband. would he think i was crazy? would he be open to the idea of adopting? were we ready to be parents? so many questions, swarmed my mind.

to be continue...