The last month and a half of our lives has been quite a whirlwind around here. Aaron and I have never felt the Holy Spirit move so swiftly and so strongly. It has been so, so exciting and we are just in awe of God's blessings and mercies. I will do my best to explain.
This Christmas my Dad gave me a book by Mary Beth Chapman (Steven Curtis Chapman's wife) and in it she explains the journey of adopting their 3 precious girls from China. She also explained some of the experiences she has had ministering to children throughout the world, including Africa. Her book really touched my heart and opened my eyes to the orphan crisis. Did you know according to the most recent numbers there are 163 million orphans in the world? That is just astounding.
Aaron and I always talked about having more babies after our sweet Eli was born and really like the distance between Easy E and Tiger so now would be about the time we would start to try for baby #3. As we talked about it and considered it something just wasn't right. I did not feel a peace from God about having another biological child right now. I can't explain it other than that. I have been praying for years that if God ever wanted us to consider adoption that He would change my heart and make it clear that that is what He wanted. And I have no doubt He has done exactly that!
Without mentioning it to Aaron I began looking into adoption online. One night about a month and a half ago I told him I had something to tell him and shared that I felt like God may be calling us to adopt. I didn't really know what that meant as far as details go, but I just knew that was it. Aaron was excited and committed to pray about it along with me. We started looking into different options and felt like God was really tugging on our hearts to adopt from Africa. After looking deeper we felt strongly that our next baby may come from Ethiopia. We were so excited at the idea but I was also really careful to make sure that Aaron and I both felt the same calling and that we should be 100% sure that Ethiopia was where God wanted us to pursue.
For the next week or so I was waking up throughout the night (which is rare for this hard sleeper) and each time I would wake up at 55 on the hour several times a night. Every time I woke up and looked at the clock it would be 11:55 or 2:55 or 5:55 which seemed so bizarre to me. After about 3 or 4 nights of this happening I realized this may not be a coincidence. I remember a sermon where our old pastor Chuck Swindoll talked about unidentified inner promptings and how God can use just about anything to speak to us. I didn't realize at the time this was happening Aaron was praying for God to speak to me miraculously and give me a peace that we should pursue a child in Ethiopia. Every day I would ask Aaron "Are you positive it's Ethiopia?" and he would confidently tell me yes. Well, after waking up at the 55th minute several times a night for so many nights in a row I decided to look to scripture to see if God was trying to tell me something. I sat down with my most wonderful mother in law's iphone one night and looked throughout the entire Bible to see what books have 55 chapters and started looking into the few that had that many. I actually felt like Isaiah was where I should start so I started reading Isaiah 55 and when I got to verse 5 I felt like my world had just been rocked. Here's what it said:
"Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you." Isaiah 55:5
How awesome is that? I get chills even typing this. God was clearly speaking directly to me through His word and it was one of the most amazing moments of my life. It was as if he was saying "Here you go, Jenny. Here's your answer." And Aaron's prayer was answered just like that. Since that night we have been positive that we should begin the journey of adopting a child from Ethiopia and trust in Him to guide us.
A few nights later in one of my nightly internet searches of all things adoption I stumbled across a blog that also knocked my socks off. It is written by a precious lady named Andrea Young and she and her family have recently brought home a little sweetie from Ethiopia. I read every single post she had about adoption in one night. It was actually the night of the LSU bowl game and I may have glanced at the TV once the whole night so that should tell you how moved I was by what I was reading. As I read I realized she lived somewhere in the metro Atlanta area which was pretty stinking cool. She had a post about an adoption retreat she had set up for the very first time this year about 30 minutes from my house. She also said that all of the spots were full but that if you wanted to be put on a waiting list to e-mail her. I knew it was a shot in the dark but I e-mailed her anyway and within 5 minutes I had a reply from her that someone had just cancelled and did I want the spot. So of course I was ecstatic and said yes immediately.
The retreat was 2 and a half weeks ago and I cannot describe what a blessing it was to be there. Being so new to the whole concept of adoption I felt slightly overwhelmed to be in a room full of women who have walked the road before me but once we settled down to worship and hear the speaker the first night my world was rocked yet again. There was too much that happened to even post here but the entire weekend was just more confirmation that God has a child for us on the other side of the world and that He is orchestrating all of this for us. How humbling!
So I know that was a long post but I just felt led to share this news and just a tiny bit of our newly begun journey. We have started the paperwork process and have barely scratched the adoption surface but covet your prayers. I know I have not done what God is doing in our lives justice by trying to describe it here, but I just don't have words to explain the excitement we have to see what is in store for us. I will post more news and thoughts as they happen and of course more pictures and stories of the loves of our lives Tiger and Eli.
