Cannonball

Friends and family, we are pleased to announce that this crazy family...

is about to get a little bit crazier. That's right, our family has decided to respond to that tugging in our hearts by adding to our family through adoption. You can read the back-story on all of this HERE. We both feel strongly that God has called us to adopt from the Democratic Republic of Congo. And while we have no idea of what we're doing (What's a Dossier? Why have I had to replace my printer ink twice in the last week? What the heck is an i600a?), we are cannonballing head-first into the pool of international adoption. We are not necessarily people who like unpredictable, grey-areas, or the moving-of-our-cheeses; but we truly could not be more excited. So we've created this blog for a few reasons. One: So that our families and friends will know where we're at in the process. International adoption is a much longer "gestation period" than a pregnancy. The average adoption from the D.R.Congo takes close to 2 years. We know that throughout this process there will be moments of extreme excitement, but also likely many moments of frustration, hardship, and sadness. Hopefully this blog will help our loved ones understand our process a bit. My second reason for starting the blog is this: As someone who is beginning the somewhat daunting journey into an international adoption through a country like Congo, I am like a dry sponge...desperately seeking any droplets of information or encouragement that I can get. Hopefully by watching our journey (and most likely the few mistakes we make along the road), others can have a smoother ride themselves when they answer the call. My final reason: So that our child can read it one day, and see just how wanted and loved they were during every step of this process. We are choosing to turn our lives upside-down, spend tens of thousands of dollars, and travel halfway around the world because he or she is Just. That. Special. So while we are fully prepared to undertake this endeavor by ourselves, as a team of three; a few of our friends and family members that we have already told have asked "How can we help?" Here is our answer... 1. We would love your emotional support. This journey is going to be hard. It will be so much easier knowing that we have the love and support of our friends and family. We need prayers. Not just one, but lots of them. Please pray for us to have wisdom in making decisions throughout this process. Pray for our lawyer to be trustworthy and ethical. Pray for our paperwork to go through the necessary channels relatively quickly. Pray for God to provide just the right amount of money needed to make this happen. And most of all; please, please, please pray for our little boy or girl. Pray for their health, and pray that our heavenly Father wraps his big loving arms around that wee one and lets them know how loved they are, and that they have a mommy and daddy coming for them. That very soon, they will have a family and never, ever again have to worry about whether they will starve to death, die of an easily treatable disease, or have to spend one single night without someone to hug them and tell them how beloved they are. Please pray for our little one, friends. That is the biggest help you can give us. 2. If you feel like you'd like to help further (although we absolutely don't expect or feel entitled to it at all), we do have a few fundraisers that we will be working on in the near future. This adoption will likely cost between $25-30,000. (I know...BIG, scary numbers...) And while we cannot even fathom how we will save up that much money in only one year, we believe that God is bigger than that. We believe that if we are meant to do this, that the money will come. We are making serious cuts in our budget to make this happen, but if our loved ones are interested in helping bring this child home, we will be extremely grateful. We are so, so grateful to have so many amazing people in our lives to be holding our hands throughout this uncharted path. We love you guys. Chris and Jewels