Keeping up with the Jones'

Life is pretty great. I really have no complaints. I am blessed and I truly know it. Here's the kicker though: I am not content. There. I admitted it. 

The strange thing about being blessed and not being content has been the restlessness I feel. It's like I should be trying harder to just settle in to the life I have. To comfortably live in my 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house in the small, family friendly town we live in. To help out in my kids classrooms, shuttle them to and from sports practice and serve in my church. I thought all I wanted was to live a peaceful, comfortable life.

But then there's that restlessness...

I know what it is. It's that gentle nudging. That quiet voice whispering to me. Oh Lord, why do you ask me to do things that are seemingly so difficult! 

That's when I am reminded: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:9-10

God is asking my husband and I to do something that will be difficult, something not everyone will understand. We are not capable of doing this on our own, but with God's power I know it can be.

So what is it that God is calling us to??? Adoption. From Haiti. And not just one child, but two!! That's right... we will have 5 children and become a family of 7! 

Our hearts have been open to the thought of adoption for about 4 years now. We have tried being a family that provides respite care for children in crisis in our community and we have tried becoming a foster family. But each time God has either given us a closed door or an unsettled heart about serving in those ways. And yet the verse in James keeps coming back to our minds. A call we cannot ignore: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

And so now we begin this new journey. We begin to feel our hearts grow in love for our children that we have yet to meet. We search and pray for the right agency, knowing they will be walking through this life changing journey with us. We are very close to settling on an agency and the excitement is building!

For now, for those of you reading this, I ask for your prayer! We will be needing all kinds of support through this, but for now:

Pray