Faith & FamilyThe Next & Best Chapter in Our Story December 7, 2020 These last ten years have been filled with so much adventure. Y’all know the story. God took two kids in a totally desperate situation. They were at their wits’ end. They didn’t see a light at the end of their very dark tunnel. But He did. He took their ashes and started to weave threads of beauty. Light dawned. He showed them the way out and they started climbing their way step by step, and house by house. And they got that first taste of freedom. For the first few years of our renovation and debt journey, we were focused on one thing: paying off our debt. It felt scary to dream beyond that because it still felt so daunting. So impossible. But God knew better. He started laying dreams on our heart and we began to believe that just maybe, one day… they could happen. While there were (and still are) a whole lot of dreams, there were two beautiful life-changing things in particular we thought God would bring out of the ashes of our student debt. One of those was our family business: White Buffalo Homes! After ten years of dreaming, we officially launched it this fall, as y’all know. We turned our weekend renovating to survive and the passion it sparked into a business we get to do together. But like I said above, as awesome as it is, it isn’t the best chapter. Not by far… There was another dream… an older dream that took root in our hearts long before we were married ten years ago. Several years back, God began growing that pull in our hearts. He showed us that our debt journey was about a lot more than ourselves. While paying off debt and living freer as a family benefits us, He showed us that was only scratching the surface of what He had in store. We began praying. We spent a year researching. And then some waiting. And then more praying. And now, here we are. We are on a new adventure… TO FIND OUR BABY! After over a decade of talking about growing our family through adoption, it is here. We couldn’t be more excited to go down this exciting, crazy, unknown, wonderful, purpose-filled path. Over the last several years, we’ve gotten to hear so many amazing adoption stories from all kinds of families. The more we learned, the more God revealed to us that there was no right way. No path to adoption was more worthy. Just like every person in the world is a child of God and has more value to Him than we can imagine, every single child is worthy of having a loving forever home and family. But throughout that process, God grew an inexplainable pull in my heart to one very specific place. Yes, in a year or so, the four of us will be traveling across the ocean to bring our baby home from China. There is so much to this story and I will share it all! Tomorrow, I will share more about the logistics, the timeline, the FAQ’s. But here’s a glimpse at some basic details for y’all today: 1.) We are partnering with Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham and have had an AMAZING experience so far. 2.) Our child will be 0-3 years old at the time they come home to join our family, so they will be younger than Dax. We don’t know yet if the child will be a girl or boy, but are open to either. 3.) China is a special needs program. We have done lots of research, sought advice, and prayed over what conditions our family could be equipped to handle. We have chosen mainly minor conditions, however we recognize there is much unknown in this process and we are putting this part of the equation in God’s ever capable hands just like we do the rest of our lives. 4.) While we don’t believe there is a right way to adopt and believe that all are worthy, the orphan crisis in China specifically pierced our hearts. Just like we’re all supposed to play different parts of the body of Christ, we believe all families are led to adopt in a way that leads them to the child God has for them. We believe all children who are in need are worthy of a family raising their hand and saying, “You are ours.” God has just revealed that our baby happens to be in China (more to this story in the video below). In a follow-up post, I will share where we are in the process and more logistics. I’ll also share more about China specifically, but for today, I wanted to focus on the heart of this. In this video, I’m sharing a look at our adoption story and our heart behind it. OUR ADOPTION STORY: All of you being here means the world to me. You have made so many things about our lives possible and we’re so grateful. We love you guys and treasure your support over the last ten years as our story has unfolded. As I said in the video, the biggest way you can support us in this journey is through prayer. We need it desperately for patience and trust as we navigate this process. But we also ask for prayer for our little one who’s currently in China now waiting on us to bring them home. For those who want to support us financially, you can do so by clicking below. We’re really thankful to have received a $5,000 matching grant from Lifesong. If we raise $5,000 toward our adoption journey, we are matched with an additional $5,000. There is no pressure at all, but all donations, no matter how small, are so helpful and we’re very thankful! All donations are also tax-deductible.
Rhonda L McKenna says December 14, 2020 at 3:51 pm This made me cry! Happy tears only. So happy for your family! Reply