Our Adoption Story

Praying that God breaks your heart for what breaks His is a life-altering prayer.  I wasn't ready to feel the pain, the heartbreak, and the saddness over the millions of orphans worldwide.  The 147 million orphans that are out there, without a home, without a family, without knowing about the gospel and God's love BROKE MY HEART.

Therefore, God placed adoption on our hearts a few years ago.  Of course, we were young, not married, and still in school.  All pretty significant barriers.  Plus, after prayer, we felt God saying "wait".  So we waited.  Prayers and research passed our time. 

Thoughts about who and where crossed my mind constantly.  We talked about where - but we didn't really care.  International adoption had always been what we were led to, so we tried to research as many countries as possible on our own.  We talked about adopting a girl or a boy - then we talked about adopting a deaf child.  With my training and our connection and love for the deaf community, we felt as if God was really leading us to a deaf child.  We want to provide an orphan with a language and a community that they can grow with and who will grow with them.  We do not have any deaf in our family, so we feel like God led us to the deaf community and ASL so that we could help provide that to our future child as well.  Although scary, Ryan started taking ASL classes at UofL and we began going to deaf events together.  Through each event, God seemed to really set on our hearts that we were going down the right path - when we were ready, we would pursue a deaf child internationally.

Finally, Ryan said one day, "I think I'm ready".  That was an answer to my prayers.  I knew I was ready - I'm typically the free spirit who will jump the gun if it's a good idea and let's be honest, adoption is a GREAT idea!  But I knew that passion, although beautiful, could be easily misplaced.  So, I prayed that the Lord show Ryan when the time was right.  I prayed that prayer almost every night for a few months.  And then, he said it.  He was ready.

We signed up for a meeting with Lifeline Children's Services in hopes to solidify which agency we would go with.  Their love and sharing of the gospel really helped me sink right in.  

We contacted them and recently got approval to go ahead with the application.  We meet Bulgaria's requirements and Bulgaria meets ours.  Even though we're too young, too new, and too inexperienced, we are also too loved, too blessed, and too forgiven.  So, we are trusting and we are praying and we are finding comfort knowing that God will provide.

Thank you for joining us on this journey as we bring our child HOME.

Blessings,
Kristi