"Emiley...I think we should adopt."

If you've taken the time to read our "Loving Africa" page, you've maybe already gotten a sneak peak into our hearts. Through missionary presentations or our own missions trips, God has done much to cultivate within our hearts a love for the African people and culture.

Adoption has honestly always been something that I've wanted to do. As a child, I dreamed of becoming a missionary to Africa, where I would be the "mommy" of hundreds of African children at my orphanage. I wanted to start practicing right away, so I asked for a "black baby" doll for my birthday. My parents encouraged my love, and I cared for my white babies and my black babies side by side. Someday.

Fast forward twenty years. My husband, Dave, and I had talked about adoption a few times when we were first married; but, honestly, we were not in a position to start a family at that time. We were finishing up our degrees, beginning life as a married couple and figuring out how to balance our budget. We had lots of growing to do before we were ready for children of our own.

Soon after we were married, God called us to plant a church near my hometown. This process is a whole other story! Needless to say, it was a few years of barely making ends meet. Don't get me wrong--God provided for each and every need along the way, but things were tight. We never missed a meal or a rent payment. But we often joke, that a baby would have probably starved in these early days.  God has built His church, just as He promised (Matthew 16:18), and He has shown Himself strong in many ways. The work that God has done in establishing the church here has been exceedingly and abundantly above ALL that we could even ask or think!

Having been married for five years now, we began to discuss beginning a family. We are excited for this new chapter, should God desire to bless us with children.

A few months back, Dave was preparing his midweek Bible study. As he was studying, I was rushing around the house, preparing to leave for work. I was running a bit late that morning, and I came into the kitchen to kiss Dave goodbye. I found him at his "desk" (aka. our kitchen table), and he had tears in his eyes. Our conversation went something like this:

Worried, "Dave, what's wrong? Are you ok?"
(secretly thinking...I'm going to be late for work. Let's make this fast.)

"Well, I am doing this study on our adoption as sons--how God has taken us into His own family. I can't get over how beautiful this aspect of the Gospel is."

I paused, not quite sure why this was making him cry.

He continued, "Emiley, I think we should adopt."

My jaw dropped. I started crying too. So many thoughts were going through my head. I had always felt that God wanted me to do this, but when Dave hadn't seemed very interested in adoption in our early marriage-I thought that settled it. But no--maybe this is what God wants us to do!

Our conversation was brief and to the point. God was working in our hearts. I could barely contain my excitement as I rushed out the door and on to work. I couldn't wait to continue our conversation that night. Until then, we were both left to our own thoughts and prayers--desperately seeking God's direction.