I can recall so many situations growing up where it seemed no matter how old I had gotten, there were things that I was not allowed to do because of my age. My parents claimed it was “for my own good.” And for those of you with older siblings, you’ll be able to relate to this. It always seemed that my older sister, Allison, got some sort of thrill from being able to do things that her younger brother was not allowed to do. When she got to go to a movie on a Saturday evening with friends, I was stuck at home with mom, dad & Hee Haw.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Considering some of the crazy things I found time to do as a kid, I’m grateful looking back for the limitations my parents put in place. Had it not been for that intervention on their part, I’d probably have some sort of criminal record as a 7-year-old for blowing up things. So, mom & dad, thanks for saying, “you’ll be able to do that someday, but not tonight.”

Funny though that looking back, there seems to be a line we cross where we go from “not being old enough” to “you’re not getting any younger, you know?” I mean, in just about every conversation as a teenager and even in college years, older & wiser people always say, “you’ve got plenty of time for that.” Doesn’t matter the topic – marriage, parenting, careers, etc – there’s always plenty of time. And then, you wake up one day and in a conversation, you hear that phrase from someone like your grandma or great aunt – the one where they’re trying to be nice but essentially are saying that you need to get busy starting a family!

While Mandy and I consider ourselves blessed for not having to endure that phrase too terribly often over the past few years, there have certainly been hints along the way from those with the best of intentions. In reality, the talk of starting a family has been a frequent conversation in our house over the past three years. Mandy and I celebrated 5 years of marriage this year and we always thought we’d have our first child about year three of marriage. Well, with year three came some news that it might be more difficult than expected for us to have children of our own. We were given many options that ranged from easy & cheap to difficult and outrageously expensive.

About a year and a half ago, we started the journey of various medications and out-of-pocket doctor’s visits 2-3 times per month to see if God would bless us with a child. What we didn’t fully know at that time was that God was preparing our hearts in a different way.

A long story short – we continued treatments for about a year. We tried 3-4 different treatments in different dosages that had a really bad effect on Mandy and we decided to hold off on further treatments and seek the Lord again on His plan. It was in the following months that God really used people in our lives and situations to show us what His plan just might be.

In July of this year, Mandy and I announced to our close friends that we have officially started the process of adopting a child or children. While we’ve not broadcast this message on Facebook or to everyone we see, we’re comfortable enough now to share it openly. We’re working with Arrow Child and Family Ministries and we’re in the middle of our training classes at this time. We will wrap those up next month and then next steps beyond that are home studies that take place to ensure that we’re fit to be good parents!

Without saying too much just yet, we have great desires that we’re petitioning God to work out if it’s in His plan and we’re looking forward to what He’s got planned for us! We’d appreciate your prayers as we walk through the adoption process!

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