Ni Hao Y'all!!!

      When we began our adoption process we had pictures in our heads of how things would go.......how long things would take.......what the journey would look like.  As with most everything else in our lives......God hardly ever takes us on the journey that we expect.  When we sent in our adoption application we applied to adopt from Ethiopia.  We knew the wait would be long....but we were ok with that.   As we got further into the process the wait in Ethiopia got longer....and longer......and longer.  Our hearts grew discouraged and we began to pray.  Over the course of time we felt God leading our hearts somewhere else......somewhere unexpected.....somewhere we thought was not possible.  We talked with our social worker....and continued to pray.....and we decided to apply for a Special Needs Adoption through China!!  The special needs we are open to include mild and correctable physical needs (cleft lip...cleft palate....clubbed feet....ect.).  The wait time has literally been cut into a fraction of what we were expecting before!  Depending on how fast we can complete our Dossier things could potentially move very quickly.  We are hoping to have a referral before next fall.  We still have a long, emotional road ahead of us.....but we are filled with so much excitement and joy!!  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!!!  

A family announcement.....

Our Family: By Ava Gleason, age 5

I love this picture.  I love it for so many reasons.  I love that it includes our sweet baby who went to be with Jesus almost four years ago....and I love that it includes our precious child that we have not yet met.  No, I'm not pregnant....but our family is definitely going to be expanding!!!  Brett and I have decided to pursue international adoption!!!  Before you pass out or decide that we've lost our minds, hear me out.  We love adoption.  We've always loved adoption.  As a christian couple who is passionate about pro-life issues, we truly feel that orphan care is something so near to our Father's heart.  His word says  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you..." John 14:18........and "Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:27. 
We've looked at our own lives and been amazed how He has rescued us and adopted us into His family!  We've had the joy of seeing how adoption has blessed close friends and family.
For the past five months we have been praying, and reading, and seeking counsel on whether or not we should pursue adoption and we truly feel like this is something the Lord is calling us to do.
All though the thought of adoption can be scary and overwhelming, God has been building our faith in so many ways!!!  He has been bringing people into our lives who have gone through the journey of adoption before us.....provided us with books that have encouraged and challenged us.....and when we prayed and asked God to sell our house quickly so that we could move and start our adoption process, He sold our house in 3 days!!!!!
We're so excited to see how He continues to provide and prove Himself faithful on our journey.  You might think that we have gone crazy.   That's ok.  (There are days when I'm pretty sure we have.)  We understand that not everyone is going to share in our joy or even understand why we would want to do this.  That's ok too.  We're slowly learning that our lives aren't meant to please others, but to bring Glory to God.  We understand that this comes with risks and major responsibilities, but when we look at those risks, we know they are completely worth it to follow hard after Jesus and what He is calling us to do.  His plans are better than our plans....His ways are better than our ways.  So that's our news!  That's why we are selling our cabin.......that's why we sold our house.....to follow Jesus and what we feel is His call on our lives.  We hope and pray that through our journey of adoption you'll begin to see more clearly the Father's heart for not only orphans but for you!!!