About a year ago...

About a year ago, in April 08, some friends of ours went before the church one Sunday morning. They projected two pictures on the wall behind them. One was William. The other was Marissa.

My thoughts at the time, "Oh. Cute kids."

That's it.

I was happy for them. I wanted to pray for them. And that's as far as it went.

In May, they came to the church/school picnic, and by that time, I was really excited for them. I was excited they were going to have a long layover in London (even though someone was not that eager to see it...and to this day is unimpressed) to get out and stretch and see a tiny bit of the city. I was excited that they would be meeting their littles for the first time and very curious as to how that would go.

Fast forward to November 08, during a Sunday School lesson, Mike made a observation that the first words God spoke to Man and Woman was, "Be fruitful and multiply...". Well. That did me in and I cried the rest of the day. (It has been 11 almost 12 years since I carried/birthed a baby and I really wanted to, and for now, it isn't possible.) I ran into the Nursery and sat there with Amy, April, and someone else, I think. They listened. Amy said, "I'm going to ask you a question that I was asked." "Ok..." "Have you considered adoption?"

Huh?! We had never considered adoption. Not once. We were not closed to the idea and certainly not against it, but never considered it for ourselves. So I pondered on that a week. Prayed. Sought the Lord.

Next Sunday, MORE crying. ugh...it gets old after a while.

I totally lost it when I heard that Amy's family was moving (and still don't like it). Melissa just looked at me and said, "What is wrong? This can't be just because Amy is moving!" I blubbered, "I want to adopt!"

After church, Amy, April, and Melissa (I think) sat down at a picnic table and I joined them. They asked if I had told Jeff. I said, No. Amy said, "Let's do an experiment. Let's pray that the Lord will speak to Jeff about adoption." We went home and that night I told Jeff what I was thinking.

Shocked is an understatement. He said he'd pray about it...which I don't think he did for the first few weeks. I think he was nervous, and didn't want to know what God thought on the matter.

However, when he did start to pray and think about it, he came to me and said he thought this was something we should do. WOW.

Then I freaked out! I questioned him up one side and down the other. I really thought he would say no, and we would move on, and life would go back to normal. When he said yes, I blew a gasket. I really thought it was crazy, and that God certainly was not calling us to do this. I wanted to go back to my safe little life. I was scared to death!

Ha ha. And now look at me...a mom to 5 boys. Those 3 boys are just about to meet us, and us them. We are total strangers. We know nothing about each other. And yet I am their mother. I don't know what they eat, if they have likes or dislikes, what their personalities are like...but if you think about it, what Mom knows these things about her baby? Yes, a 'birth mom' has 9 months to get used to the idea that a baby will be arriving soon...but I have had that time too, 7 months to get used to the idea that 3 little boys will be joining our family very soon. Even a baby born to a Mother are total strangers. At least, that is how I felt when Joshua and Caleb were born. We had to get to know each other. And we did! ;o)

We are still waiting for our immigration papers. Maybe by the end of next week we can start to expect them.

This has been one wild ride so far. And it isn't over yet. However, I have lots of encouragement at my fingertips.

"For as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about His people from henceforth, even forever." Psalm 125:2