Zambia update!

Hi everyone!  A little update on our move to Zambia!  We have been busy bees preparing for this major move to a different country and culture.  It is hard to even wrap our heads around the fact we will be leaving in September and gone for an entire year.  But as crazy as it is to think about it, we know this is exactly where God wants us to go and be.  And I know (as I am going to teach to the Titus girls next week about peace) that if I keep my focus on Him, all the worries and stresses and ups and downs of this process will go away.  But if I start looking around at all I have to do, all the money we need to raise, all I will miss when I am gone, there is no way I would be able to take this step of obedience to Him.  So....keeping my eyes on Him and Him alone!

One major process we are working through right now is being cleared to adopt by the U.S.  There are quite a few hoops you have to jump through but this is what keeps adoption safe for children and families.  Our first task was to find a certified adoption investigator.  Before you can adopt, you have to undergo 3 home visits by someone who has this license.  We are not able to work with an agency because Zambia doesn't currently work with any U.S. agencies, so we needed to find someone independent.  Thankfully, we found a wonderfully, kind lady with tons of experience and she was right in West Des Moines, not too far from us.  She has sent us a bunch of paperwork, needing to know pretty much everything about us and our family.  We have also had to schedule physicals and fingerprinting for background checks.  And our first of the three visits is next week!  At this visit, she will get to know us and meet our kiddos, check out our house, and talk with us about everything we need to do to prepare for adoption.  

I'm going to stop there and discuss why Mickey and I are adopting.  Some of you may be wondering, are they having trouble getting pregnant?  Or, why would they want to add to their family in this way?  These are valid questions and we have an answer.  For the last two years, (and not really prior to this at all) adoption has been all around me.  Our youth pastor and his wife who left to be missionaries in Chicago have adopted two children from overseas in the last few years.  A lady who was a mentor to me at my current church when I first started attending recently adopted 3 little ones.  A guy I started working for 2 summers ago who runs Kingdom Hoops, he and his wife have adopted 3 from Ghana in the past few years.  All their stories kept tugging at my heart strings. And it just so happened our pastor was preaching through James and one verse just kept sticking out to me: (CEV) James 1:27 Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.  This verse made me realize I wanted a religion that pleased God, not just one that made me a pretty good person.   

Of course, I told God no at first.  Wasn't there another way to please God? Why would I want to adopt?  I can get pregnant, I love being pregnant, and I already have two children of my own.  But of course, God continued to press my heart.  Last summer, I would literally watch my two kids playing together and I felt like someone was missing.  I could picture this other child that was supposed to be there but wasn't.  As I started processing these feelings, I talked with the hubs.  Of course, he fought God on it at first as well.  He didn't think we needed to do it or that he would be capable of doing it.  By this time, I knew adoption was something that our family needed to do.  So, I started to pray that my husband's heart would be changed.  I knew he needed to work it out with God if we were going to do this with positive hearts.  Philippians 4:6 (NLT) Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done for you.  And God quickly answered my prayer!  My hubby was on board!  But, now what?  I will write about that next!  Why Zambia?  Why are we going for a year?  Who are we going to adopt?  

(A little side note: the verse above about orphans doesn't mean that is the ONLY way to please God, I felt God speaking to me through that verse and adoption is how I felt lead to respond.  Now, I do believe every follower of Christ should be doing something about all the orphans in the world, but adoption might not be what you need to do.  There are many other ways to get involved!  Those that support us will in turn be helping the orphans of this world for example.  So pray about how you can take action. I will leave you with this staggering statistic: If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, there would be effectively no more orphans. Taken from:

http://www.showhope.org/Resources/TheNeed.aspx