A new door has opened!

ok ALOT has changed in our journey to parenthood. all good changes and we feel like we are on the right path. this week i was reading the blog of an awesome adoption momma Kristi (LLs mom for those that know her) well her post brought to my attention the HUGE need for adoptive families for african american newborns in the United States...as i was reading my heart began to ache in a way that i was NOT expecting. after reading this i immediately got on the website of one of the agencies that was mentioned in her post...and within minutes of that i was on the phone with the agency asking tons of questions.

is it really true that there is such a great need for these type of adoptions? are there really more birthmothers than adoptive families? could we really be matched in less than a years time? YES YES YES...the need is so great right now.

so my heart was getting totally caught up in the idea but then my head came around and started trying to mess with me...i started questioning it because we already felt like we were falling Gods will to Ethiopia, to do our small part of helping with the orphan crisis in Africa while starting our family...as im battling this out I hear God telling me...your heart is for the orphan, the orphan has no home, no family, no hope of a bright beautiful future...these babies fit that exactly. without a family to love them, care for, nurture, guide spiritually, feed, love, encourage, protect and did I mention LOVE them...then wouldnt they be headed for quite the crisis themselves?

so karl and i spent hours talking and praying...and praying & talking. we discussed it with family and then more with each other. we have reached the most exciting decision of our lives and we are very excited to announce that WE WILL BE ADOPTING AN INFANT THROUGH DOMESTIC ADOPTION!

the agency that we have chosen is Adoption Associates Inc in Michigan, and they just seem so incredible and i have already gotten the chance to talk on the phone with 2 different adoptive mommas who have recently used them. (thank you both so much) we are excited and we will be starting our homestudy either this coming week or early in the next. we anticipate the homestudy to take no more than 2 months (but hopefully a little less) and then we will officially be in the waiting to be chosen pool!

although our journey has taken a significant turn we still have huge hearts for the orphans in Africa and we will not stop praying for them until every child has a home and the orphan crisis is no more.  we will also still be praying for all the AGCI families that we have met and i will be keeping up with their journeys!

please pray for us and please pray for our birthmom. pray that she makes wise choices for not only her health but for the health of our unborn baby, pray for her heart...to prepare her to have strength as she makes this incredibly courageous decision for her child, and mostly pray that she knows Christ or comes to know Christ because I know she will need Him in her life!

P.S. we could totally have our baby in our arms before Christmas!!! Exciting right!?!?