Gift of Adoption Grant

We were greeted with amazing news that we received a very generous grant from "Gift of Adoption". Once received into our account, our agency will be paid and we will only have travel and post adoption costs to account for. What once seemed impossible, is now being accomplished.

For more information visit giftofadoption.org.

We do not know what is happening

When we started our adoption, it started with the Lord asking if we would trust Him no matter what, no matter what it takes, all in, 100% total surrender. It was a culmination of a 2 week deep spiritual wrestling with the decision after 8 years of researching and contemplaing adoption. Being that when we started our adoption, money was our primary concern, we thought that would mean choosing to sell our house to afford adoption expenses. We stood in awe that Andy was provided a new job and we were surprised with quite a story in buying a new to us van that would fit our family of 8. We have watched hurdles be knocked down and prayers answered as we've come this far in adopting our boys. We had a heart for countries that were difficult to adopt from and underserved. Choosing Sierra Leone itself was a result of doors being opened and timing outside our own. We know we are following our calling and doing what we are supposed to do. We are part of a story that is still being written by the One who knows the ending. We are not given a spirit of fear or timidity. All this to say, with the rule change that was handed down today, making it a requirement to live in Sierra Leone and foster our kids for 6 months, we aren't backing down. We are in contact with our congressmen. If the new rule is not overturned, no, we don't have the answers or know how it will all work out. But, we are reminded that we didn't know how it would work when this started to begin with. We aren't at a different place really. We are never in control and never know what is going to happen next, and we don't have to. We know the One who created us and wrote our story before we we breathed our first. So while the future of where we will be living for 6 months is unknown, without a clue as to how it will all come together and how to make it work, we have confidence that it will be worked together for good and that there is a plan. We are being brought back to a place of having to choose whether we truly trust and are 100% surrendered to what we say we believe. A testing of what is really important. Do we trust in our logic, job, comfort, safety, belongings, ourselves? Or are we really surrendered and willing to sacrifice our wants and dreams to the One who gave us our desires and gives us far more than we would know to ask for? Do I believe in a God who punishes and is distant and is full or rules? Or do I believe in a good, loving, Father who knows my need and is sufficient to meet it? Sort of a "do you practice what you preach" moment that is tearing down lies and showing me the truth of what is really in my heart. There is a time we all have to choose what we believe and why we believe it. This is our moment of choosing what we will cling to. We are choosing Hope and choosing to be reminded of what has already been overcome. 

For more information on the U.S. State Department regulatory changes visit https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/Intercountry-Adoption-News/sierra-leone-adoption-notice---implementation-of-the-required-si.html.

Fun and amazing connection that brings peace

If you read my last post, you saw we recieved some information today on our boys' medical clinic that brought peace. The medical clinic our boys have been seen at since being brought to the orphanage was founded and still operated by none other than Mercy ships. Mercy ships is a mission organization that utilizes doctors and other medical professionals that donate their time and skills to provide medical care to the needy primarily off the coast of Africa. The ships travel to bring high level care to as many locations as possible. They perform surgeries that would otherwise be unattainable and save lives. I have been familiar with the organization since middle school. We knew our boys were priveledged to be seen by a reputable medical clinic, but to learn of the connection gives us a name with a high reputation and peace of mind.

Finally received some info on our boys!

As what was supposed to be 2 days quickly turned into 3 weeks of waiting, we finally got the answers to our questions on the twin boys. We are still waiting on the full current medical exam info before we have a review by an international adoption specialist, but we are so pleased with the amount of information we have so far and things are looking really good. We have learned their options to stay in country have truly been exhausted, there is no one else to care for them, no objections forseeable, paperwork and documentation looks great compared to standards typical in their country, we have a description of their personality and they have been steadily increasing in weight and health as they are recovering from severe malnourishment. The medical clinic they have been seen at since being in care is top notch and incredibly rare and prized care for Sierra Leone. Stay tuned for our next post about the impressive and fun connection we found out about their medical clinic which answers a lot of questions and put our minds at ease. Our boys are in good hands and we already have much information beyond what is common for adoptions in this country. God has really had His hand on these boys and our adoption and the details He has orchestrated never cease to amaze me. We are well aware that adoptions are a hurry up and wait process and that things fall through and hearts are broken, but as of this moment as much as we can predict the future (and we can't, but know and trust the One who holds it), it looks like these boys will be ours and will be coming home and we are comfortable enough to call them ours and expect the adoption to proceed. Then, lots of hard work will begin for them and us...with learning a new family, a new country, a new home, a new beginning, learning to trust, learning to heal and love again, beauty from ashes.

2 boys-A Different Plan?

Please pray with us for clarity in decision making as we consider a match. We were asked by our agency if we will consider adopting 3 year old twin boys instead of 1 boy and 1 girl. My heart has been wondering about twins and have always wanted twins. Please pray that it would be clear if these are the children that we are to adopt. It is hard to think about changing plans at our first referral, but it feels like this could be a good match and situation for our family. Pray also no matter our decision that these boys will find the parents and family the need and the right situation for them.

I just got off the phone with the director of our agency. Long story short there needs to be some clarification between her and the director of the orphanage on who is eligible for adoption. The cultural differences are impacting timeliness and organization. Please pray for clarity between the agency and the orphanage. As of right now it looks like there isn't an exact match in this orphanage. Please pray for us to decide whether to wait for the right match (boy/girl siblings under age 5) or help who she knows is available at Variety Orphanage. She mentioned that there are other orphanages she has worked with on cases where the child was pre-identified and that she may be able to match us with children from one of those homes. Please know our director is not going to push us to accept a referral, she is listening to our every word, is so supportive and willing to let us wait. We need prayers to be led to the right children who need us and that will be a good fit for us and we will be a good fit for them.

A little info on the upcoming elections

The link below leads to a great article explaining a little bit about the upcoming elections. We are watching from afar and are interested to see how the new election will affect the people there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/07/sierra-leone-goes-to-the-polls-on-march-8-here-are-the-5-things-you-need-to-know/?utm_term=.83a62d9ee3f7

Sierra Leone's Elections

This last weekend there were political demonstrations in the capital city of Freetown (where our kids currently live). The demonstrations took place as candidates were introduced for the upcoming elections. We are very new outsiders to Sierra Leone's news and current events but it seems at least one candidate may be controversial. Please pray for peace as the demonstrations and elections take place and that the decisions made will serve the people and country well. Also, we would appreciate prayers that laws relating to travel to Sierra Leone and adoption would remain favorable during the upcoming political changes. Thanks!

Valentine's Day Fund Raiser

We are excited to announce the variety of items we will be selling for our Valentine's Day fund raiser.  If you are interested in placing order you can contact Jennifer at (513) 815-0183 to arrange pre-payment. 

We need your help!  Please share our downloadable PDF flier where you work, worship, go to school, or hang out.  Help us bring our kids home from Sierra Leone!

Little Did We Know Our Move to Cincinnati Was a Key Part of Our Adoption

"I believe God had you move to Cincinnati for this adoption." Those were the words from our home study caseworker last Friday as we completed our interview. Our move here was crazy, obvious, obedience, random and somewhat miraculous. For those of you that don't know, I thought I should tell you our story of moving to Cincinnati since it's becoming clear that it is a part of our adoption story. Andy and I had talked and prayed about looking for a job with more work-life balance. He started to look casually near our Chicagoland/Northwestern Indiana home and every door was shut. He was turned down from jobs he should have easily walked into. We went to Cincinnati for the first time for a home school conference that March since we were going to start homeschooling Emma the following year for Kindergarten. We enjoyed our time there and Andy joked we should move there it was so much fun. I gave him "the look" and told him that we just moved, there is no way we are moving again! We returned home and jumped back into normal life. Three days later Andy got a call for a job at the University of Cincinnati. They had found his information online and thought he would be a perfect fit. He hadn't applied and had never even heard of the school. Such a funny thought since it enrolls 40,000+! He wasn't interested and was about to tell them no, but we had this nagging feeling that it was too much of a coincidence. We went through a series of discussions and there were serious concerns. First, it was a six month contract to hire offer, meaning we would not have insurance for those six months. We had three kids, one of which was high medical needs at the time and on expensive prescription medicine she couldn't be without. There was no way we could leave a full time job with great insurance for such risk. We couldn't afford two homes while we waited for ours to sell. It was going to be difficult to pack with three again, especially without Andy's help in the evenings. I didn't have it in me to pack and care for the kids on my own again while Andy was away during the week. And the time frames they were talking about were head spinning. They wanted him in two weeks. There was no way we could find an apartment that quickly. And there was more... The phone call that we got three days after returning from Cincinnati? It was answered in the parking lot of the hospital as I was going in to have a biopsy on a tumor that was found in need of being removed. As all these discussions were happening in the span of two weeks, I was still waiting on news as to whether my tumor was cancerous or not and wouldn't be fully determined until surgery. My surgery was scheduled a few weeks after we had to give our answer, so we had to decide to accept the offer and move not knowing whether or not I was cancer free. And odds were against me as I come from a family that has been battered with cancer. So that 6 months of no insurance...that was a big deal. We had EVERY reason to say no and we did. There were several email and phone calls that ended with Andy saying we couldn't accept the offer for a specific reason. Then we would receive clarification or another offer and the door would open. We had a constant, obvious feeling that we needed to do this, it even felt like disobedience not to go. What should have been fear turned to peace and promises. An offer was made that gave a temporary housing allowance so we could afford an apartment for Andy while the house sold, but only for 3 months. Would the house sell fast enough? We accepted the offer after the Lord continued to make it very clear we should. Andy found an apartment in a few days even though there weren't many available. Our house sold in two weeks. My tumor showed no cancer. No one got sick or injured in the 6 months of no insurance. Emma's medicine? The automatic mail order company accidentally shipped a 3 month supply to our old address and it got lost in the mail. A new one was sent and a month later the old one showed up at our door so we had a six month supply for her. It felt like such an answer. Andy's job was great. We were excited to find so much homeschooling and larger family support here. We met many international adoptive families. But it always felt like they was more purpose than what we knew.

In August 2016, we were given the opportunity to interview for worship pastor at a church plant in Florida. It would have been working alongside our friends who we consider to be mentors and really look up to. We have dreamed about not only ministry work, but specifically helping these friends as we wanted an opportunity to work alongside them and learn from them. We had many reasons to say yes but it was so very clear that it was not what the Lord had planned and we had peace about staying in Cincinnati.

As we began learning more about adoption, we found that Cincinnati was the mecca of adoption resources. Andy and I began to realize that our adoption was part of why we were brought here. It was the missing nagging feeling that there was more to the story of why God went to so much work and detail to bring us here and to keep us here. It was so confirming to hear from a professional that she knew we were brought here for our adoption. Now we are trusting for the same detail and confirmation again as He makes a way for these children to come home.

Christmas in Sierra Leone

Below are links to Christmas traditions in Sierra Leone. We were surprised to learn they do celebrate Christmas. It is a very unique, well loved celebration. Most notably, it is celebrated with masking parties (traditional decorative masks are worn) and dancing.

https://www.africa.com/african-christmas-traditions/

https://youramba.com/blogs/news/christmas-traditions-in-africa

Water in Sierra Leone Villages

The link below shows in incredible pictures the affect poor water has in many Sierra Leone villages.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/nov/30/tombohuaun-untapped-my-hope-for-this-village-is-clean-water-in-pictures?CMP=share_btn_me

Puzzle Fund Raiser

You are all a piece of the puzzle on this adoption journey. We truly know that adoption takes a community surrounding us. This puzzle is a great visual reminder of all the people helping make this adoption a reality. We have two 252 piece puzzles for a total of 504 pieces that we would like sponsored for $12/piece. You can either sign your piece in person or send us your name and we can place it on the puzzle for you. Don't forget to include a special message for that child. Please include if your sponsorship is for Aria or Aidan. The puzzles will be kept as a keepsake for the children and our family to see who helped love them home. Our goal is to have all 504 pieces sponsored by the end of December. That will take us to the amount needed to cover our home study and the 1st payment to Frank Adoption Center. We appreciate all your continued support.

If you'd like to be involved in this fund raiser, please contact us via our Facebook page.

Freedom tree

The "Freedom Tree" or "Cotton Tree" is a real, physical tree that has been around since at least the 1700's. It is a historic symbol of freedom and hope. Legend says that newly freed African American slaves who had landed on shore, were soon greeted by the site of the tree and they held a thanksgiving vigil there, thanking God for their newly found freedom. We see this tree as a reminder of hope and God's love, provision and protection for the many orphans and injustices currently affecting Sierra Leone.

Check out this interesting article all about the Freedom Tree, a popular site to visit in Sierra Leone.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Tree_(Sierra_Leone)

December Update

Time is flying. It has been 3 months since we actively started our adoption journey, although we started researching adoption and potential countries since the Haiti earthquake in 2010. We have been in contact with our primary agency and she is in contact with the orphanage director working out the details of matching families with waiting children. On our end, we are doing odd jobs, filling out paperwork and grants (unfortunately only one grant is available pre-homestudy), doing lots of research and enjoying learning about Sierra Leone. We also needed to reach out to supportive friends and family for adoption recommendation letters. We were overwhelmed by the gracious and supportive words they gave in support of us adopting. We are blessed to have some amazing people in our lives. We would like to thank those of you who wrote on our behalf.

We found a Sierra Leone adoption support group that has been crucial in helping us navigate all the steps in adopting from Sierra Leone. Several members have even lived in and do ministry in Sierra Leone and are able to help with things such as drivers and guides. They recommended using our agency, Frank Adoption Center, for their integrity and ethics and there are many families in the group who have successfully used them. There aren't many agencies available for Sierra Leone, so finding an agency was no small feat. There were only 18 adoptions from Sierra Leone in 2015 and I imagine similar statistics in years surrounding, so finding such a community of 88 members has been an answer to prayer and we are learning so much.

We have already had to decide on paper our ideal match, researching and thinking about who we can best care for. We are expecting our youngest child to be somewhere in the range of 2-5 and our oldest to be 4-7, though we have expressed as young as possible to accommodate birth order to the best of our ability. In some schools of thought it can be considered high risk to adopt outside of birth order, though there is support and resources for successful adoptions where the new family members are older than the current children. It is a much higher success rate while adopting outside of birth order to stay under the age of the oldest. We have local families who have adopted outside of birth order who can be a source of wisdom for us. In considering our kids personalities, we feel the best fit would be having the new kids ages fall in around Elyssa and Gabriel. Due to lack of medical care and malnutrition the children are often smaller and delayed in development, so it is highly common for the ages to be one to two ages older than we are told. With this in mind, we are prepared for our children to be older than we thought once they are home with us and evaluated by a doctor.  We have asked to be matched with one boy and one girl, though we are open to two girls. We have chosen two very special names filled with meaning and hopes for their future. Aria Brielle means "The song and breath of God is my strength" and Aidan Nehemiah means "A passion for no more tears". We hope to incorporate both their given names and their Carlson names as they both will be part of who they are. We are excited to see what God has planned in their lives.

We will need to travel to Sierra Leone 2-3 times depending on how paperwork lines up. Going often is actually a blessing. Adoption can often mimic kidnapping because a strange family swoops in and takes them to a new place away from people and places they know. The more often we visit, the more we get to know each other and the more the kids will be prepared to come home with us. Additionally, extended family members are required to consent to the adoption even if both parents of the children are deceased and no family is willing or able to be a guardian. We also have a required 6 month guardianship period where we will have required weekly Skype visits. We are so excited to begin a relationship before bringing them to our home. It should facilitate a gentler transition. We recognize that Sierra Leone is their home and what they know and love. We hope to continue that and honor their family, culture and their African identity.

Sierra Leone is currently listed as #14 poorest country in the world. We have been told by members of our support group that Haiti and Mexico look like a first world countries after staying in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone means "Lion Mountain" and is a beautiful land full of so many things that seem unfair. Here are several observations we have been made aware of. The power goes out often. Hotels often run out of shower water. There is an overwhelming smell. Due to the poverty, there is not the best disposal system even in their capital city. Freetown, a city of 2 million people is often loud and chaotic. Ferrel pigs fight children for food at the wharf. A previous, long lasting civil war has caused economic and infrastructure setbacks. Both sexual and labor child trafficking issues are problems. The civil war, Ebola and HIV have left many children without both parents. 39% of girls are child brides and polygamy exists at 37%.  94% of the female population has been affected by female genital mutilation by their teen years and those who haven't are at risk of being forced, even being captured in their sleep, to see that their cultural tradition is adhered to. As you can see, there are many humanitarian concerns that we are hoping to raise awareness of. Despite their trials, the people are often described as warm, accepting, generous, hospitable and loving. We hope to build long lasting friendships and partner long-term with Sierra Leone. The beauty and truth of the Gospel is spreading. We hope that the many injustices will be redeemed.

Prayers-
-Health and safety of our Sierra Leonean kids
-That the children chosen for us would be a good fit
-Continued preparedness for us and our kids
-Children's extended family consents to adoption
-Humanitarian concerns
-That we would be awarded the grant toward our home study that we applied for
-That we are able to quickly pay our $2700 home study fee and can start our home study in the next week
-We still need to pay $3000 to our primary agency
-Puzzle fundraiser- We have two Sierra Leonean flag puzzles that have a total of 504 pieces. Our vision is for friends, family and adoption supporters to sponsor a "piece" of each child's journey to our home, writing a special message to the child or simply signing their name. The puzzle will be kept as a keepsake for the child to see who helped love them home. Our goal is to have all pieces sponsored for $12/each by the end of December. That will exactly cover our outstanding balance with both the primary and home study agencies.

Please share the updates of our journey to anyone who may be interested. We hope to create a community around us as we go through this process.

Why are we adopting?

The Carlson's adopting? Why? Aren't four kids enough? That's crazy! It's a good kind of crazy. We wanted to take some time to share how we came to the decision to adopt and where we are at in the process. Yes, four kids is enough. We are incredibly happy with our family of 6, which makes us great candidates to have more. We aren't doing it to grow our family, we are doing it because we recognize a need and realize we can meet it. We never reach our full calling and potential if we aren't willing to take risks and children are always a blessing and worth it.

Why adoption?

Adopting has been something we talked about since we were dating and even more so when we were told we would never have kids. We certainly proved those doctors wrong! But in all sincerity, we didn't want to forget the burden that adoption was on our hearts just because we were able to birth babies. It has been on my heart since I was a small kid and Andy became passionate about fatherhood, saw it's importance and began wanting to mentor men to be better husbands and fathers and be a father to the fatherless, after having kids. We want to be more than anti-death, by offering life to kids who may be at risk of being, are labeled as, or were unwanted. We want to be part of the solution. We believe Jesus came so that we can have abundant life, believing He is good, that He has our best interests at heart, that He is trustworthy, that He is enough. Not that difficulty won't come, but that He will be with us, care for us and lead us tenderly through the struggle. As a family we have been stepping into what that means as far as how we live our daily lives. We have been praying for a mission we could live out together as a whole family and impact our world for the better. I am already home, devoted to homeschooling and caring for our children and Andy works from home two days a week (along with three days on site) in a job with fantastic co-workers and work life balance, so adding more children who needed that love and care made perfect sense. Since adoption has been discussed since before their birth, our kids have been raised with the awareness that this is something we were going to do and are well prepared. Yes, our kids are young and while we could wait until they are older, that is not what is best for our family. We believe the fact that our kids are young will make bonding with new siblings and adjusting to our new normal easier as young children are so accepting and adaptable. As parents, managing a wide range of ages and needs is more daunting than doing a similar routine with more children of the same age range. The longer we wait, we believe the harder it will be for our family to live out this calling. We want to share the abundant life that has been given freely to us, to nurture children to their full potential, to welcome them into family. We want to act and not just be filled with good words and good ideas. To lead by example. To follow through in doing what is right and caring for and loving the people and world around us. We want our kids to see parents who are doing and not just giving lip service in hopes that they are challenged to be people who are leaders and impacters, who rise to the task of doing what is right no matter the weight and cost. We all know kids follow our example and not our words. I don't want our kids to grow up seeing us acknowledge a problem that has been brought to our attention and do NOTHING about it. Most of all, we felt such a strong urging that we wanted to be fully obedient because anything less would feel and be rebellious.

There are 17.8 million children worldwide that have lost both parents as reported by Christian Alliance for Orphans. Children are trafficked, forced into labor and live on the streets for a variety of reasons more than just the death of their parents, meaning that the numbers of children in need of a home are more than just the numbers above. With over 400,000 churches in the U.S., if one person in every 3 churches would say “I'll take 1”, all the U.S. waiting children would have a home according to www.thechildrenarewaiting.org. Adoption is also about supporting the parents who made the decision to give up their children whether in hopes of a better life or out of sheer desperation. In the case of death of both parents, it is also our hope to step up in honor of those parents as we can't imagine the heartache of not having our children's future secure upon our untimely death.

Why international adoption?

We had long felt drawn to the idea of international adoption but due to the high cost decided to pursue becoming Ohio foster parents instead. We became pregnant with Gabriel and after adjusting to life with four, we strongly felt a pull back to international adoption. There is a lot of need in our own city and country of course, but we felt drawn to help kids in a country with high risk. While our system isn't perfect, there is a path for kids to get help and the kids in our system receive food, clothing and medical care. That cannot be said for every country and in many countries living to age two is an accomplishment. We want to pursue adopting from a country without a well-known system that does not place many children a year.

Why Sierra Leone?

Sierra Leone is a country with a long, rich, deep history. It is on the west coast of central and northern Africa on the piece of land reaching out furthest to the west. It was first home to indigenous African people. It was later colonized by the British. Many Africans were taken to be slaves through Sierra Leone. The capital, Freetown, played a significant role in the slave trade as it was a place of refuge for freed slaves. The Krio or what we know as Creole people are descendants of freed slaves who settled in western Sierra Leone.

We felt called to helping kids in a country affected by child marriages, polygamy, child soldiers, child trafficking, child labor and female genital mutilation, as well as in general socioeconomic difficulties. We were contacted about Sierra Leone and upon research it fit our criteria and from there the doors continued to open. We found the only agency with a program with successful adoptions from Sierra Leone through a Sierra Leone adoption group and they do a fantastic job of trying to keep the kids with extended family and close to home first, ensuring the kids eligible for adoption truly need a home. You may recognize Sierra Leone from watching the news in the last several decades as they have been affected by civil war, the AIDS/HIV crisis, the Ebola crisis and the recent mudslide that took many lives.

Sierra Leone has 25 different languages. Although English is the official language, Krio is the most widely spoken and the English spoken may prove to be difficult for us to understand. Other major languages include Mende, Temne, Kono, Kissi, Kuranko, Limba, Fula (Pular) and Susu.

It is our desire to raise our kids with a firm understanding of Sierra Leone and their culture. We intend to have regular culture nights and incorporate Sierra Leone's food, music, stories, and pictures into our daily lives. We don't want our kids to forget their identity and culture and want them to appreciate and participate in their heritage. We will respect their country and customs. We also want to raise them to be comfortable with moving back to Sierra Leone as an adult if they so desire. We hope to continue to give back to Sierra Leone and hope to see it thrive once again.  In a time so racially divided, we recognize this will come with it's challenges and we are learning how to best support our kids as they navigate racial tensions in our country. Thankfully there are a lot of resources available.

Why two?

We always said we will adopt one. After we had Gabriel we said we would not have any more kids so we could adopt one child. Only one. Over the last year or two I keep thinking about two kids and two adoptions. My thought was to pursue two adoptions-one local foster care adoption and one international. At this point I was still only committed to adopting one child. When I would pray I kept hearing the word “two”. I didn't say anything to Andy and tried to process what was going on. Andy came to me one day and said, “What do you think about adopting siblings?” I didn't say a word for a minute and thought silently. I knew we had both been being prepared for adopting two children unbeknownst to each other. A financial benefit of adopting siblings is it is processed as one adoption. Only a few costs are increased, so adopting two children at once isn't a great deal different in cost than adopting one child. After weighing our decision a big factor of wanting to adopt siblings is watching the relationships between our kids we already have. Their bond has been fierce and strong since they were born. Sure, there is the occasional sibling spat, but they all are so uniquely close and in tune with one another-truly each other's best friends. If something were to happen to us, we would be heartbroken to think of our kids being split between homes. I cannot think of the trauma and heartbreak of siblings who have already suffered loss and trauma, to lose the bond of living with siblings as well. As parents living in a first world country, we have taken steps to ensure a loving home and our children being kept together should the unthinkable happen. We want to keep that connection for another set of parents who didn't get that same luxury. We want to give children who don't have control over their circumstances the blessing of keeping their biological sibling relationship intact. We want to bring two other kids into the unconditional love and bond our other four kids have formed. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the power, strength, love, and beauty of six kids bonding and living life as a forever family. As parents, we want to shower all six of our kids with attention, love, compassion, understanding and prepare them for a successful future.

We expect one child to be between 2-4 and the other 5-7, although age is approximate and can be hard to determine until they get more comprehensive medical care. We desire to stay under Emma, our oldest child's age and to try keep our birth order as much as possible, but this will be difficult to do. If we get matched with the younger range of these numbers, statistically it could mean a better adjustment for everyone. Please be praying with us that God directs us to the right fit for our family and for us to trust Him with birth order issues.

We know that this is hard. We know that bringing kids into our home who have likely suffered malnutrition, loss and trauma will require special care. We struggled through this decision until we settled on trust, surrender and sacrifice and feel incredible peace. We know that on our own we are not enough, but He is enough. We know the love, support and help of people in our lives will be instrumental in this going smoothly. Please let us know if you are willing to be prayer partners, to pray daily for all of the specifics of our adoption and the adjustments and healing in the years to come.