The Lies that Bind

GUYS.

You have been so encouraging and kind and we have been totally blown away by everyone's gracious responses to our announcement yesterday. Thank you so much.

Would you believe that I've had that post written and in my unpublished section for over a month? I have been terrified to "announce" it. The fear has mostly been based in a lie. That lie was that people would not be supportive of our journey- that perhaps people would be more critical of this, and that I would somehow jinx this if I told people too soon. What a terrible lie I was fed, and what a tragedy that fear lead our family away from sharing something so huge.

Right before I finally hit "publish" yesterday, I was shaking and nervous, but was overwhelmed by Romans 8:15... "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear; but the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

AH.

Fear stinks. But you all DO NOT. You are gracious, and kind and encouraging and we love you. You're the best, and we are so excited to live freely in this adoption. Some of the most beautiful, raw, and real things come from vulnerability, and my prayer in that through our vulnerabilities and inadequacies, the name of Jesus will be glorified.

I've had some people message me asking if there's anything specifically they can be praying for, so I'm planning on sharing that right here, right now... because when it comes to prayer- the more the freaking merrier :)

1) Right now, our MAJOR prayer is for provision. We are applying to tons and tons of grants. We needs some grants or some other form of miraculous provision. Please pray for the hearts of those reviewing our grant applications to be moved towards our family.

2) Please pray for Caroline's body and mind. Her "special need" is more of a symptom rather than a specific diagnosis. Her condition could vary tremendously upon her arrival. Until we have her examined by doctors here, we don't feel comfortable elaborating more than that publicly :) However, please pray that in the meantime God would heal her brain and body, and that she would show incredible improvement between now and when we bring her home.

3) Lastly, please pray that through our  journey, another family might be moved to adopt. There are SO MANY CHILDREN in this world who need a family. Pray that God lays adoption on other families hearts.

There was so much about the adoption journey that I was clueless about. Kris and I have already said that if we adopt again, it will seem SO MUCH easier the second time around. This process is like learning a whole new language (in addition to the little bit of Mandarin that we are working on!). It's so exciting and interesting, especially to those who are thinking about adopting too. I'll work on a post sometime in the next couple of days to share what OUR process has looked like up until now, and into the near future.

Thank you again for your kindness and support.

I once read something along the lines of, "As you move around you leave a little bit of your heart wherever you go, and your heart will remain in each one of those places, so you can never be fully home (okay, that was SUPER paraphrased and horribly expressed, but you get it! HA!)." The outpouring of love from everyone from ALL OVER THE FREAKING COUNTRY AND WORLD is baffling. My home is wherever you all are. What a gift and a joy.