Once Upon a Time...

Isn't that how all good stories begin?

And this is going to be a good story.  I believe that with every fiber in me.  But I also know that every good story has twists and turns, highs and lows, happy scenes and scary scenes.  And I know that as my family stands at the beginning of this story and we look toward the future, and we picture the face of the little girl that we hope to one day call our daughter, I know that we are in Chapter 1 of our story.  There's a lot of unknown out there, a lot of blank pages waiting to be filled.

But this isn't just my family's story.  This is so much bigger than us.
This seed was planted and watered and blossomed only because our great and faithful God tended it.  We were not looking to adopt.  We had no plans to grow our family.  We were happily raising our daughter and our son, blissfully believing that our family was complete.  But suddenly we found ourselves sharing a fresh dream that maybe we do have one more seat at the table...room to add one more child to our family.

One day I was absently scrolling through Facebook, and there she was.  A precious little girl sitting in her pajamas, coloring a Hello Kitty book that was upside down.  I paused and read the caption.  She was a Chinese orphan being hosted by a local family.  And then I scrolled on, looking at my friend's kids, shopping for new Lularoe leggings, and seeking inspiration for a new craft project.
But the face of that little girl kept coming back to me.  Chloe.  7 years old.  I couldn't forget her.  I waited a week before I said anything to anyone, but I realized that these thoughts just wouldn't go away.  During our annual trip to Lights of the South, I noticed that my dear husband was in an especially good mood, and I took my chance at broaching the subject.  I knew I only had one shot.  "Would you ever consider adopting?", I ventured.  He looked at me sideways and responded, "What?  A dog?"  And then he looked at me square in the face and said, "NO."  I had my answer.  Forget that little girl.  This wasn't a good time to pursue something as wild as adoption.  Just forget the whole thing.

Another week went by.  I couldn't stop thinking about her.  As we were taking down Christmas decorations I decided to bring her up just one more time.  I casually mentioned that I had seen the picture of a sweet little orphan girl on Facebook, then I pulled up her picture, walked my phone over to my husband and held it up to his face.  He saw her, I said nothing, and I put my phone away.  The damage was done.  In that moment he had seen her face and she became ingrained in his heart the same way she had in mine.  We were undone.

We contacted the host family only to find out that she was leaving early the next morning.  "Can we see her tonight?" I frantically asked.  Yes!  And then we got the real kicker - she was being hosted by a family who lived in our neighborhood!

She was perfect.  Lively, affectionate, bright-eyed and sweet.  And that was the day that our journey began.  We still don't know how this story will end.  But we do know that our God is faithful.

We invite you to walk this journey with us.  We absolutely cannot do this alone.  We need encouragement, we need donations, we need wisdom, and we need support.  We need you!  Thank you for taking the time to hear our story as we look forward to writing many more chapters!

Philippians 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.