It started with a seed....

So how did we come to the decision to adopt?  It goes back to the beginning of our marriage almost 15 years ago.  My DH majored in Chinese in college, had a love for the Chinese culture, and was beginning to have a love for missions as a new believer.  In our "family planning" discussions, he would ask me what I felt about adopting from China since (back then) the girls were being discarded right and left.  I wasn't sure at the time, but THE SEED WAS PLANTED. However, I feared I might not be able to love an adopted child as much as if we had our own biological child, and wanted to try having kids the "traditional" way first.  So we did.  We had a girl, a boy, and then another girl.  Adoption was put on the back-burner for many years.  Since we already had 2 girls, adopting a girl from China was also less of an option.  And life went on.  Then, last Nov. 2007, THE SEED WAS WATERED when we found out our dear friends in Kansas were going to adopt a teenage girl from Ethiopia.  We had been receiving email updates on their process and had been praying for them and cheering them on along their journey. It wasn't until April 2008 that THE SEED SPROUTED for us.  Our dear friends from Kansas forwarded an email from their dear friend who was in Ethiopia at that time to bring home their teenage daughter.  Her name is Krista.  She wrote of a specific little boy in one of the orphanages who became attached to her during her entire visit to this orphanage.  They shared many tears together during their time together, and she continued to promise she would try to find a forever family for him.  After reading her email and crying most of the day myself, the kids and I talked about what life must be like over there and how hard it must be to grow up without a family.  Suddenly my then 8 yr. old daughter asked, "Why can't we be a family for him?"  And I said, "I don't know why not!"  So I called my DH at work and told him about the email, told him my heart's desire... to be a family to this little boy (around 7 years old), and asked what he thought.  He didn't even hesitate!  He said, "Let's do it!!"  So, as you can see from our "Adoption Timeline"  the bumpy road began.  Just 3 months after starting paperwork to bring this little boy ("K") home, he ran away from the orphanage he was in through a hole in the back wall.  So, we hired a PI to try and find him (like trying to find a needle in a haystack), but there was no luck.  We had one lead about 6 weeks into the search, but we think K got scared and never came back to the spot he was sighted at.  He had no idea that a family from America wanted to adopt him, however.  So he ran again out of fear and hasn't been back to that orphanage since.  We still pray for K, but after 3 months of searching, we decided to pursue a younger child.  It was a very difficult decision.  We had become very "attached" to K, and we even had pictures of him to "pour" over.  Not long after he disappeared, we had also received his "medical write-up" along with pictures and personal info on him.  It was very heartbreaking to let him go.  But we know God works all things together for good to those who trust and believe in Him.  So we obey and continue in the pursuit of His will---even through all the doubts and fears and questioning.  And now we wait.........