The Journey of a Thousand Miles
When Amanda and I were dating, we got pretty serious fairly quickly. We met at a wedding, started “dating” within a few weeks, and was daily talking on the phone for hours talking to one another. Our relationship was long distance, so our options other than the few times we got to physically be together was to either talk or talk some more. After hours and hours of conversations, you really get to know someone. During those conversations, we dreamed about the potential of our relationship, and even talked about having a family. From the very beginning, we talked about having a desire to adopt. We were not sure how or when or where, but knew that God was starting something in our hearts.
Look how young we were!
Fast forward to 2020. God has truly blessed us with a lot of those dreams that we had discussed all those years ago. A home, two amazing daughters, a crazy dog, good jobs, and even fulfilling a passion to plant churches here in Chicago. Even with all of that, Amanda and I started down the path of adoption that we long ago dreamt of. We started researching adoption agencies, ones that would be a good fit for us, and would help us bring home the newest member of our family. Although it has already taken some very unexpected turns (saving that story for another time), we are so excited that God has been overseeing this adventure, and enjoying being in the thick of it.
To give you a quick glimpse on where we are: we signed a contract this past February to adopt from Haiti and have sent in the first payment to our Adoption agency. We have since been working to gather a lot of legal documents, have gone through education training on adoption, and are engaging in our Home Study to make sure our family and home is approved for adding another child. This should take about 6 months. I can give a little more clarity on each of these steps with continual posts, but for now, just know we are at the beginning of what will most likely end up being a 2-5 year process.
For us, the crazy thing to consider is that right now, somewhere in Haiti, our child could already be there, waiting for their forever family. And here we are, ready for them to come home - but we have to wait. The thought can make this big guy start to tear up knowing my child does not have their mom or dad there to advocate for them. However, I am grateful for the process, for the red tape, and for all of this work because 1. it protects children from going to families/individuals/homes that should not have children present, and 2. it forces me to trust that God is protecting and looking after it all. So I will take it one step at a time, and today is one more step closer to my kid. The journey of a thousands miles starts with a single step, and we are taking ours.
