if you had asked me six years ago whether i would adopt a child, my answer probably would have been a solid “no.”  my reasons were valid–so i thought. “there are plenty of other people in the world who can adopt, so i’ll just support those families,” or “i’m afraid my adopted child would feel out of place, and i wouldn’t want to put him or her through that.” or, how about this one: “i don’t think i could love the child as much as ‘my own.'” before we had any kids, my husband, phillip, had one conversation–just one–with me about potentially adopting a child someday. he expressed as much as he could in that conversation how much of a need there was for families like us to adopt. i told him, “i’m just not there. i am 100% supportive of adoption, and i would just try to help other adoptive families with financial support.” he simply replied, “that’s not enough. the need is so much greater.” after that day, he never brought it up again or pushed the issue.

then, sometime in 2011 i had a strange dream. all of a sudden close family and friends were adopting left and right. God gave me a beautiful, colorful picture of families from all sorts of backgrounds coming together as one. i remember in that moment feeling a peace i had never felt before about adoption. i feel like it was God’s way of saying, “see? it’s not so weird after all.” the craziest thing is that two of those people i specifically dreamt about have since either already adopted or are in the process of adopting.

when God placed the desire on my heart, i told phillip right away, “i’d like for us to adopt.” he, of course, was thrilled. ever since he spent time working at an orphanage in guatemala during college, his heart was burdened for orphans around the world. now i have that burden. i can honestly say that God has completely changed my heart and i no longer have the same hesitations as i did before. looking back, i see that i was approaching the issue from a selfish point of view, of how it would make me feel and affect my life. philippians 4:13 reminds me, “i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

we appreciate your prayers as we begin this journey of adding to our family through adoption. in my next post i’ll answer some of the basic questions you all may be asking right now, so please stay tuned!