How we knew God called us to adoption

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”  James 1:27

When Todd and I were about 16 years old, we attended a Winter Jam concert with our small group, where several Christian bands and speakers all come together. One presenter spoke on international adoption and in particular China. Todd and I both knew from then on that God had put adoption in our future. 

Over time and as we have grown together, we had come up with a plan that we believed would work best for our family. Well, for those of you that do not know me, my name is Alex and I am a planner. Because of this, The Lord is constantly showing me that His plans are perfect and that I need to let go of what I think is best. Submitting to God's will and plan for our lives is our ultimate goal, but is something that is a constant struggle for me. With that said, Todd and I were very confident in what we thought our adoption plan was for our family. We thought that we would have 2-3 biological children and then when they were old enough to really be able to walk the adoption journey with us and were able to understand how adoption mirrors the gospel, we would pursue international adoption. But, God has better plans!! 

A couple of months ago, I (Alex) started to feel The Holy Spirit telling me that we should start looking into adoption. Since this was not in line with my timeline, I shrugged the feeling off because "that couldn't be hearing that right." But over many weeks of The Spirit's prompting, I finally mentioned something to Todd, half hoping he would say "you must be hearing wrong because that is not our plan." But instead, he said "let's pray about it!" So, we did. Over several weeks confirmation after confirmation and a peace that surpasses all understanding, we told our friends and family about this new, updated plan and humbly asked for prayers. 

We are beyond thankful for a God that is continuously moving in our lives. And to say we are excited about this journey to our newest baby would be an understatement!