The Beginning of Our Journey

September 19, 2012 was the day I met an adorable little boy on the playground at Maria's Big House of Hope. We instantly had a connection. I could not stop kissing his sweet little face. We played until he fell asleep. I found him later that day in his Madagascar room. He was full of laughter. The next day we played again on the playground. Megan snapped this picture of the two of us. What a great memory to have captured.

I visited his room one last time before we had to leave the next day. He didn't want me to leave when I gave him back to the nanny. I didn't want to leave either. I thought this would be the last time I would see him. God knew otherwise.

On the way home I overheard one of our team members talking about the agency she is using for her adoption. So I wrote down the name of the agency and didn't think much of it. The Monday night after we got home I decided to look at the website. I clicked on the waiting child page and there was my precious boy's picture! I couldn't believe it. That night I sent an email to the agency asking for more information on him. Here are the photos I received from the agency.

On October 1, I emailed the agency that I would like to pursue the adoption and add Luca to my family. God has blessed this entire journey. Everyone has been very supportive. There is not a week that goes by that I don't receive financial support from someone. Fundraising is going really well. I'm so thankful for everyone's generosity. Luca is loved by so many already!!

Lisa and Megan are doing a "Change for Luca" fundraiser that should be able to pay for our plane tickets! Over 70 people requested jars! Wow!!! Mary even found money in the church parking lot that she knows was put there from God for her Luca jar. : )

I recently read this blog post that I really liked and thought it was a great way to end my first blog post.

I often wonder how often we ignore what God is asking of us. We pretend that thought in our mind isn't from God, but must just be some crazy idea of our own. Then we feel justified in ignoring it. Or how often do we just choose to say no. That is too hard. That isn't part of my plan. We give in to the what ifs. We are so afraid of giving up our illusion of control. We think we know exactly what we want out of life. We act like this life is the main show, but in reality it is just a little bit of time for us to serve God, before an eternity in glory. When we say life is short, it is, but it isn't our only chance for pleasure, or fun. It's the opposite, it's our chance to serve God, to be his hands and feet, before we get to heaven, and that's where our reward is. God uses moments, sometimes hard things, to change us, to make us what He wants us to be. And how often we want to skip those moments. How very much we all miss when we do that. I mean, when you really think about it, don't you want to be where God wants you? That nothing we could ever plan, dream, hope for, will ever be as good as God's plan for our lives. Even if it doesn't look like what we think it should. Oh to have His eyes for a second. That we could truly see. I pray that I will have the wisdom to hear Him, and the courage to obey.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20