Our Journey Officially Begins

April 22, 2011

Well today we finally received the email we have been longing for.  The email from YWAM letting us know that we are no longer on the waiting list to adopt but that we are now officially beginning our process of adopting.  I can't begin to tell you of the excitement around our house right now, well kind of at least because we haven't told our children yet.  That will be in the next day or so.  While we know that the process will take more than a year to complete this is our first step and it always feels good to make that first step even if it is a small one.  Continue to pray for our family as we will be growing from four to who knows how many...

Letting the kids in on our secret

April 23, 2011

Today we felt it was time for the kids to know of our plans to adopt a child/children from Ethiopia.  While we had a whole morning full of activities (birthday parties, shopping for Easter, errands to run, etc.) we knew the the afternoon before I had to leave for work would be set aside for just us four.  Millie had the idea that we would set up a scavenger hunt for the kids and see if they could figure out about the adoption from the clues we left.  After a peaceful lunch together at one of our favorite places (Rice Box) we headed home to begin the scavenger hunt.  As me and the kids headed inside Millie began to hide Easter eggs and clues all over the front yard.  I'm not sure who had the harder job here, her with trying to hide everything or me keeping the kids from looking out the windows while they waited impatiently.  After only a few minutes, or and eternity to them, it was time to begin.  Millie gave the kids their first initial clue and off they went running frantically from one place to another around the yard gathering more and more clues with each egg they found.  Finally they were at the last egg so me and Millie slipped around the side of the house because the clue was for them to locate "the two who loved them the most".  Well they came running and when they found us we were holding the final clue, a basket with a pack of pacifiers and a map with Ethiopia cirlcled on it.  Now the kids had all the clues and began to discuss what all they had in common and it only took a few seconds for them to realize what it all added up to.  To say that they were ecstatic would be an understatement in the worst kind of way, they were screaming and jumping around all over the place.  So after a few minutes of wildness they settled down so we could begin to explain about how the adoption will take place.  It was a wonderful afternoon together, one that won't be forgotten anytime soon.  It marked the moment that we as a family realized God was calling us to part of something bigger than us and that we were no longer a family of four!

God's timing

Well today we officially began the process of our adoption....sort of.  Sometimes we have preconceived ideas in our head as to how things will go and then God shows us that He has different plans for us. 

Today we decided it was time for us to call YWAM, the agency for our adoption that God has led us to.  Well we called and went through our initial over the phone interview to make sure that we would be good canidates for adoption.  As we were about to end our interview we were told that there is a waiting list and we wouldn't be able to fill out our official application just yet.  Well that wasn't exactly what we had planned in our heads but apparently it's what He had planned for us and our children to be. 

We are so excited to be able to say that we have started the process, and while we know that it's a long process we are waiting to see what God has in store for our family. 

God works in crazy ways

Where to begin...I never dreamed that I would ever be writing a journal about how God has changed my views of our family adopting but here I sit. 

One night while sitting alone and spending time with Him I had this random thought of our family adopting.  While this has been something that Millie has wanted for years I just never really felt the same way, so to say when I had this thought I was like where did that come from.   It's not that I thought bad about adoption, I just thought our family was complete at the four of us.  So what would any other person be saying to themselves, "that was random wonder why I thought that" and go on with what they were doing.  Well the next day came and here again as I'm spending time alone with God there is this overwhelming sense in my spirit that we should look into adopting not one but multiple kids from Ethiopia.  I was so shocked, and at this point I realize that God is speaking to me, and I can't deny it any longer. I've never felt this way before, and Millie hasn't brought it up in years so it wasn't like we had been talking about it and we didn't know anybody else that was adopting. So now after several days of prayer about this I am sure beyond a doubt that this is what God is telling me has for our family.

 Now to tell Millie how I'm feeling and what I believe God is leading our family to do, but wait.... I wonder if Millie still feels the same way as she used to?  There was only one way to find out. I was working midnights, and when it was time for my break I picked up the phone to call her.  To say she was shocked, and taken aback would be an understatement. She had no idea how I had been feeling the last several days, and would have never imagined that I was feeling this way. I had been so sure of myself when I would tell her( any time she brought up adoption) that we were good, and I had no desire to expand our family. After the initial shock and explanation as to how I had gotten here she was so excited. As I told her what I knew the Lord was showing me, that all I knew was we were supposed to adopt, it was supposed to be more than one child, and they were supposed to come from Ethiopia, she said as I told her she knew that was exactly what we were supposed to do. So here we are, totally excited about what God is given us the opportunity to do.  Now to decide on which agency to use and get our initial application filled out. -Nick Wiginton