God's leading, our response

I (Jaclyn) have grown up in a home that has been supportive of international adoptions.  I have 2 younger sisters that were adopted when I was 14 (Suzanne) and again when I was 20 (Kelly).  When my youngest sister, Kelly, was adopted, I went with my Mom to the Philippines to finalize the paperwork and take her home.  We also have a niece that was adopted from Guatemala 5 years ago.  I was able to visit her in Guatemala with my older sister, Shelly, prior to their adoption being finalized.  Due to the history of my family, I think we both have a real understanding of the process of adoption and the difficulties that can and will occur in a family setting afterwards.  However, we also know how wonderful adoption can be and how blessed the whole family is as a result. 

Several months ago, I had been reading a couple books (Crazy Love and Unshaken) and was overcome with the emotions and feelings that we needed to adopt.   I felt like we really needed to live out our lives the way God intended, including taking care of orphans and widows.  But I didn’t act upon it then as it didn’t seem like it was the right time for our family.  Then just recently, my younger sister, Suzanne, married the love of her life.  My older brother, Greg, officiated at the wedding and spoke about how love in a marriage is a choice, just like the love in adoption.  We choose to love each other through the good times and the bad.  We have had a lot of rough times with Suzanne throughout the last 19 years she has been a part of our family, especially in the last couple years.  But through it all, we still love her as a sister.  This wedding was almost like a positive reinforcement/resolution for us that through it all good can come.

A week after the wedding, Josh and I were sitting outside at another wedding.  We happened to be seated right in front of a couple that is going through an adoption from Haiti currently.  They shared their amazing “God moments” about the process and it was so exciting to see their joy.  You see, I spent 18 months in Port-au-Prince, Haiti as a teacher just before Josh and I were married.  I have a heart for the people of Haiti and instantly felt connected to this couple. 

The next day, on July 3, 2011, we sat in church and listened to our children’s director talk about giving your children purpose in life.  She talked about how if you want your children to grow up serving others that we need to do that as a family together now.  Something in her talk really hit me (Jaclyn) in that we need to adopt now and not wait for the perfect time.

The next week I started looking into international adoptions.  Our previous neighbors and good friends moved with their family of 5 to Lesotho, Africa in December 2010 to work at an orphanage for 5 years.  We have stayed in touch with them through Facebook, their blog, and Skype.  We have since grown to love the people of Lesotho, which is why we chose this country through which to pursue adoption.