Welcome!

Well, this is the first post of our new adoption journal! As many of you know, we started the adoption process back in April of 2006, as we had originally planned to adopt from China and then began the "waiting game" in December 2006. Shortly thereafter, for many reasons I will write about later, we began looking at Ethiopia and are now thrilled to receive our precious little blessings waiting for us in Ethiopia when the time comes! This has truly been a journey of faith for us as "our" plans have been redirected many times as we have chosen to be obedient to His calling on our life. We hope to use this journal to chronicle the events in our family so to share them with others but especially our children who are yet to be known by us!

As many of you know, I have been writing down all of the important events of our adoption and our life throughout this process. We documented our journey to China on another online site and when we changed countries, we began writing about it privately. We wanted to make sure that we were solely listening to the Lord when we switched countries and that we were not being swayed but outside opinions from others that may not be rooted in God's word. So now, we have decided to put our entries online (and will post them with the date as they actually happened) with the hopes of catching others up with what has transpired throughout this unique process and how the Lord has truly moved in our lives! We have watched in awe how the Lord has continued to provide for us and guide us through some difficult and uncharted territory for us!

The decision to change countries was very difficult for us and took many of our loved ones by surprise; however, our prayer is that everyone will ultimately see the hand of our Lord in our children and understand our desire to adopt is purely a calling from the Lord. We must follow Him where He leads us and be obedient to Him, giving Him all the glory!

Like many others who are also adopting, we have been asked many times:
Why we are adopting? Why internationally? and Why Ethiopia?

So we, (really Brad), decided to write out a few of our reasons in hopes to answer these important questions and help others understand our desire to adopt. We have posted these answers in several parts so as not to overwhelm (or maybe even bore you!) in a very long explanation!

We have experienced such grace and provision from the Lord throughout this entire process. Our hope is that you will follow along with us through our journey to bring home our children from Ethiopia!

Soli Deo Gloria!
Brad, Kimberly, Isabella & Elijah