Hello Everyone,
Thanks so much for stopping over to our blog and saying hello. We are glad you are here.
So the journey of adoption begins... the long, scary, emotional, exciting, terrifying, joyous journey begins.
How did Dale and I come to this decision to adopt and why Africa you might be asking. I am glad you asked! Ever since I, Kristie, have been a child I have always wanted to bring children into my home who needed a family to love them and care for them. When Dale and I met and our relationship grew we realized we shared a similar vision.
In January of 2012 Dale and I started attending Crossway Community Church after moving to Kenosha. There we began to get involved with the Adoption/Foster Care Ministry and started talking about when this journey should begin for us. We explored foster care, adoption through foster care, domestic adoption, and international adoption. Through this journey we felt God leading us to international adoption.
As we were searching our hearts and reaching out to God for guidance of when we were to start that process, we were also trying to have a second child. Some of you may or may not know that in the summer of 2011 we lost a baby when I was 10 weeks along in my pregnancy. Since that time we have struggled to conceive another child. Some of you can probably understand or imagine how challenging this had been for us as getting pregnant the first time was NOT a challenge, understatement of the year. Through this challenge we began to really search our hearts and reach out to God to understand what He was trying to do through this process and why we were going though this emotional roller coaster. Then, three weeks ago we got the monthly bad news that, no this is not the month for us ... again. This proved to be the hardest month for me yet. I was so upset and emotional and just couldn't grasp why this was happening to us. I wanted so badly to have another child and hold a baby in my arms again. A few weeks before this event Dale had been feeling that we should start the process of adoption, but stubborn me said "No, no, lets wait and see if we can get pregnant this summer." Well, I can tell you that Dale was right! As I was in the middle of my emotional turmoil I began to pray and really just feel the Lords leading that Dale was right we needed to move forward with adoption. As I released my fears, hurt, pain, and sorrow to God and asked him to take control of the situation I felt a weight lift off my shoulders and a peace come over me that I cannot even describe. The next day I started researching adoption agencies and looking for one that we could begin working with.
At this point we are trying to raise money towards the adoption. We would appreciate anything you are willing to give, whether it is monetary or through prayer. We have set up a donate button on this blog if you would like to donate money. Again, thanks for stopping by and please watch for future updates.
