Why we chose to adopt?

PJ & I have talked about adopting since college. Something about Austin & the poor kids--not sure where the whole idea started but it was there. We decided that if we could not have children naturally, we would adopt. After the birth of Philip & Ashlyn, we talked about adopting but we were never on the same page. All that changed on February 21, 2008.

We attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert at our church (Hillside Christian Church) with our family. SCC is awesome! God used that concert to put adoption on our hearts. PJ & I came home after the concert, put the kids to bed & immediately got on the Internet looking for information about adoption. No words were spoken about us "doing this". After a weekend trip to Red River, NM, we decided to research more about adoption, countries and agencies. PJ said that we should research til June. Then decide if we wanted to really adopt. This was the end of February. PJ is so practical.

We submitted our adoption application on April 18--not exactly June! We were approved within 2 or 3 days. We were so excited! We were adopting a little girl from China within the age range of 0-4 years. Waiting til June was not necessary. We already knew our little girl was out there waiting for us.

Then the work began. Unless your family has gone through international adoption or you know someone, you have no idea what a family is required to do in order to be able to adopt. It is crazy! But totally worth it. Around this time, we found a new house, sold our old house, moved into the new house--it has been an exciting summer. We can not wait to bring our daughter home from China. God knows who she is & she is perfect for our family.

We are referring to our daughter/sister as "Hope". This will be part of her middle name. We are not deciding on a first name yet. Philip likes the name Mia and Ashlyn loves Penelope!!! I'm serious.

Please keep Hope & our family in your thoughts & prayers. Enjoy our journey!