In the beginning...

Our adoption journey officially began when we mailed our application to Children's Hope International on August 31, 2006, our fifth anniversary. We immediately began the paper chase, but as life would have it, we faced some unexpected surprises that set us back.

On November 15, my beautiful 32 y/o sister, Shanda, passed away. Shocked with grief, compiling our dossier was secondary to my precious nephew and niece my sister left behind (Kaleb - 7 y/o & Ainsley - 11mos.). As we continued to mourn our loss, Benjamin and I were able to refocus and channel our energies toward Kaleb, Ainsley, and our children who wait for us somewhere in Colombia. We began again to work steadfast in collecting required docs needed for the dossier.

We completed our home study with Acorn Adoptions; our SW is Danita Holladay. She is great! We chose to use Children's Hope Internationals after much prayer. We have also come to agree to meet the challenges of rearing three siblings!!!

God is so good and faithful. His word states that this is true ministry: to take care of widows and orphans...God is good and we have seen His hand at work in many different ways throughout this process. We have raised nearly $10,000 through prayerful donations given by family, friends, and strangers. That is God! But, because we accepted the challenge to adopt three children and to try to keep a sibling group together, then we will have to raise another ten thousand...we have found some neat fundraising ideas on the web and thru other adoption family stories. You will see some posted on the bottom of the blog. I hope to learn how to make them link to give more details...that will be coming soon.

So, please continue to pray for us as we move forward in completing the dossier requirements and continue our fundraising efforts. Please pray for our children. We can't wait to have them in our arms, to hug and kiss, to laugh and cry, to read bedtime bible stories, to be ours...to be part of our family...to be a mom and dad...to be responsible and serious and silly all at the same time...God is good; what an honor to give us to be parents of his chosen ones!!!!

Well more details to come soon including pictures of the family, details about the dossier, the chosen God Parents & Family, fundraising details, and an update on Chuck, Kaleb, & Ainsley.

God bless & Good night!