The James Family

As Designed by God

We have been on a journey of adding to our little family.  In October God began to stir in our hearts that we weren't done with two kids.  This at first concerned my poor husband. It always takes him a while to warm up to a new idea. Adoption was on our minds and in our prayers.  I have always wanted to adopt so when Mike looked at me one day and said "I think we should adopt," I was off and running. Researching and looking into what that would mean for our family.  

November was a month of going back and forth on the idea.  November was questions month.  How? How long? When? Where? A girl? A boy? Which agency? How many agencies are there!? How do you choose an agency?  How would that affect our family? Can we afford it? You get the idea.  It is a huge decision and we didn't take it lightly.  

Our friend and Children and Families Pastor at our church was kind enough to meet with us and talk over the whole topic of adoption. Brad and Jamie (his wonderful wife) adopted a sweet girl named Lily who I had the privilege of having in a Sunday school class. Lily I would say has the ability to capture any ones heart.  At this point we were strongly considering a specific agency. Brad asked if we would want to join him and Jamie to meet with the International Director of Lifeline the agency they were going through. Thirsty for information we said "Of Course!"  

Early December we had applied to Lifeline to adopt through their Uganda program.  What a scary feeling that was!  Honestly it felt a lot like when we decided to try to get pregnant for Owen.  I felt very unsure. Unsure of my capability to love 3 kids and take care of 3 kids. Unsure of timing and unsure of the process.  However we jumped in with both feet and left the rest to God.  I was giddy when we got an email back from Lifeline with our next steps and the 100+ page manual. Then I printed the manual and thought "what have we gotten ourselves into now?" Which again was how I felt both times we found out we were pregnant. 

January started meetings with our precious and very encouraging social worker Melissa.  These meetings made us anxious and they made us think.  I appreciated Melissa's ability to encourage and enlighten all while making us feel comfortable with the process.  Did I mention the paperwork?  No...hmmm well there is a lot of paperwork.  Which I guess you figured by the 100+ page manual?  I am grateful for all my time spent working in administration because paperwork doesn't scare me. Unless of course it is pages and pages of a trans racial questionnaire. 

We are now finishing up the Home Study phase of our adoption. We still have paperwork to finish up. Surprise! We still have another meeting with Melissa and probably some things I am overlooking or just plain don't know about but I am excited and anxious for the next phase. 

This process is very similar and very different to being pregnant. Some days it shocks me how similar the feelings are. I often find comfort in realizing that I felt the same ways while pregnant for either one or both of my boys.  We are already in love with this child. We don't know if he even exists yet. What is different from a pregnancy is how you love your child.  

Right now how I love each of my children looks different. How I love Gavin is through hugs, kisses, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, special juice, reading books, finger paints, trips to the library and to the potty. Just to name a few. How I love Owen is through stolen kisses, games of peak-a-boo, nursing him when he cries, cleaning up countless spills of sweet potato or banana, dirty diaper changes and lullabies.  How I love who we call Baby Uganda is through hours of online training sessions, reading books and articles, filling our endless mountains of paperwork and of course what we do for all our kids pray.  

Please join us as we pray for Baby Uganda.  He is out there somewhere and he joins the over 147 million other orphans in this world who have no family to call their own. They all need our prayers. 

Please feel free to stop by this blog as we journey along to grow our family as God designed through adoption.