Final November Guest Post

For my final guest post of National Adoption Month, I have the super sweet and super talented Lauren here to tell you their story, it's a good one!! I promise you will want to jump through the screen and hug Lauren ... you might want to kiss her sons cheeks too, they are yummy!

Enjoy and I hope you were as inspired as I was by these women and their stories this month, thank you for sharing ladies and thank you for your hearts and inspiration you provide me everyday!!

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Hi, I’m Lauren from Love Makes a Family. It’s such an honor to be asked to share the story God is writing for us - thank you Allison!

 

Rewind to the summer of 2009. John (my wonderful husband) and I had just taken the biggest leap of faith God had asked of us to date. We had left a cozy mountain home, a stable government position, a thriving ministry, and all of our friends to follow his call to seminary. We were living with parents while we waited to see if John’s interviews with a local church were going to turn into a full time youth pastor position and I had just started working full time at the seminary after being a stay at home wife for 4 years. John did get the job as a youth pastor and after several weeks we weren’t homeless anymore but were unpacking boxes in our new home - the parsonage. By September John had started class and we were knee deep in figuring out a brand new ministry. It was easily the most high stress, messy, and disorganized time in our lives. Just when we thought life couldn’t get any crazier God threw a curve ball into our lives...

That September I started feeling a nudge toward adoption. This wasn’t the first time in our marriage I felt that way, but every time in the past we would talk it over, do some research ,and then not feel right about it... so it would go on the back burner. I expected this time to be the same so I ignored the nudge for a few days until that little nudge turned into a full on aching in my soul. I was having trouble concentrating at work and sleeping at night. It just wouldn’t go away! I finally brought it up to John and given the craziness of our lives at the time his response was not surprising - no way! So I agreed that it was not a good time and worked on ignoring the feeling. It only increased. I built up the courage to talk to my husband again and this time he was open to listening. God had been working on his heart and showing him that this was His plan. The funny thing is that we had never considered international adoption in the past. Any time we would talk about it we were talking about domestic adoption with a specific agency in mind. But this time I somehow felt drawn toward Africa... Ethiopia more specifically. As we sat in a Mexican restaurant having this conversation about adoption on my lunch break I finally let John know what I was feeling. The moment the word “Ethiopia” came out of my mouth I saw a transformation come over John’s face. I asked what he was feeling and he said, “peace.” It was very clear to us that we were supposed to adopt from Ethiopia. After praying about it for the rest of the week we jumped in!

It wasn’t always the easiest journey. Did some people think we had lost our minds? Yes! Did we have the $30K in savings to pay for the adoption? No, but by God’s grace we raised every cent! Did we always have the support of every single family member or friend? No. But we always had God by our side helping us through and on January 15, 2011 we walked through the gates of the transition home and held my son in my arms for the first time and knew that it was worth every moment of heartache.

Something else happened in our weeks spent in Ethiopia... we knew we would be back again someday. We knew that there were more children meant for our family. That brings us to this September and a new journey. This decision wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the last, but every bit as special. It was just a conversation on our couch. I was feeling that now familiar tug for a few weeks. I sat down to tell John and with tears in his eyes he said he had been feeling it too. So we’re off again! We’re back on the roller coaster ride of fundraising, paperwork, prayer, and waiting. Is it the most convenient time in our lives for another adoption? No! Do we magically have the $30K to pay for this journey? Nope! Do some people think we’re crazy? I’m sure they do! But we have learned that God can do anything. We have learned that we don’t have to have it all together, be the most talented, the richest, or the best. We just have to be willing. God can do amazing things through those who are willing to be used. 

We can’t wait to see who this next little one will be. We can’t wait to welcome him or her into our arms and our home. We can’t wait to be back in Ethiopia and we can’t wait to see where this journey will take us. 

*A note about our son’s name. Remember when I said that John’s face changed the moment I mentioned Ethiopia and he said he felt peace? We had the opportunity to ask our son’s birth mother what his name means and we nearly burst into tears when she said, “peace.” So we have chosen to keep his Ethiopian name... our Mareto... our peace.

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P.S. Lauren is the one who did my amazing blog redesign and she is using this talent to raise money for their adoption so check out her place HERE and leave her some love HERE. 

Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone, don't forget your stretchy pants tomorrow!