Foreward...

Good morning cyber space! I have no idea how to do this, so I guess I will just dive right in. :) Exactly 1 year, 4 months, and 17 days ago, my life changed forever. I was walking in the front door after church one Sunday, my hands full of Rosa's take out, mine and London's traditional Sunday lunch, when my phone rang. It was my mom calling to ask if I had heard the announcement at church that morning. I hadn't heard anything, so what she said totally rocked my world! Our youth pastor and his wife had gotten their daughter out of Haiti through humanitarian parole that was offered after the earthquake, and there was reason to believe that more children could be placed in families as well. My heart soared, flipped over in my chest, Then proceeded to beat out of my chest! I had goose bumps and just this rock-solid feeling of certainty in my soul. I knew we would do this. I called Chris right away and he immediately agreed we needed to let them now as soon as possible that we wanted to adopt a child too, maybe even two! :) Looking back I feel somewhat foolish because, to be honest, we really didn't pray about it at the time. For me, adoption was something I had always wanted to do. For Chris, it was something I had talked about often enough that he had gotten used to the idea. For us as a couple, it was so clear. We felt that there was very little to pray about since scripture so frequently speaks on our role as the body of Christ to care for widows and orphans. So, we made a mad dash, along with 15 other families, to make our desire and calling known, to fill out paperwork, get fingerprinted at the police department, and prepare files for a team of 10 to take to Haiti. And that is where it all began. I cannot wait to share the rest of the story, but as you can imagine, I have much to tell from these last 502 amazing, bittersweet days, so I will have to take it one step at a time. In the meantime, we covet your prayers so much. We are hoping and praying our sweet girl will be home for Christmas, but in reality it may take much longer. Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement throughout this entire process. Much love and blessings to you all, Momma Maphada