There Are 170 Million Orphans In The World

Our newest adventure.....

For quite some time, Kyle and I have considered adopting.  The conversation started years ago when we had trouble getting pregnant for the first time.  And then we got pregnant.  And Again.  And Again.  Our third son turned 6-ish months, and we had adoption Sunday at church.  And I started thinking about adoption again.  I happened to mention something to Kyle about it at the time, and his response was close to a heart attack.  I remember him specifically asking me, "Do you and I live in the same house?!"  Haha.  Yeah - our house is nothing short of a circus with three boys under the age of 5 and two very rambunctious (and large) dogs.  A few months went by, and Kyle woke up one day having had a dream the night before about adopting a girl.  It wasn't so much the dream that caused him to pause and consider but rather the fact that the idea of a fourth child no longer caused him to suck in his breath.  And so began our intentional effort about two months ago.  We have filled out the preliminary applications, had numerous conversations with families that have adopted, spoken with the agency that we have chosen, and we have been learning a LOT about adoption in general.  Domestic vs. International.  Healthy children vs. those with special needs.  Open adoption vs. not.  There is a LOT to learn.  We felt for some time that we were going to adopt from South Korea.  So we spent some time exploring that route.  And, the punchline - we don't think we will adopt from South Korea.  It turns out there is only one agency in the state of Virginia that can help us.  South Korea is not part of the Hague Convention, and it is increasingly difficult to adopt from there.  Typically most agencies will only facilitate adoptions for children with special needs.  80% of the children adopted from South Korea are boys.  (We think we have enough boys in our house.....)  And once all paperwork is finished and a family goes to pick up their child, there is a requirement to stand in front of a judge in South Korea.  Just a month or two ago a judge denied a family the ability to adopt the child they had been working so hard for for a couple years.  The entire process, all that work, all that prayer, all that money.  No child.  So, we begin again to identify a country.  And we are leaning toward China.  The waiting time for adopting a healthy child from China is 6 years.  So we are in the process of praying/ deciding what sorts of minor correctable special needs we can handle. 

All that above is the "facts" of our newest adventure.  Woven among those facts are some really amazing life experiences already.  It's incredibly amazing to be doing something really big with God.  It's amazing to be able to live out the gospel in a new way for our family.  This is a very cool opportunity to teach the three children we have about how to love others.  This adventure is a big lesson in patience and our lack of control.  I recall learning the first bit of frustrating news about South Korea and wondering if we had gotten something wrong.  And Kyle reminded me that this process will be a LOT of that - ups and down, seeking God, learning, adapting, and pressing on.

Yesterday at  church, I was struck by the verse our pastor preached on. 

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (I Timothy 6:17-18)

Putting our hope in God has a whole new and refreshing meaning for us.  Doing good (we are COMMANDED to do good) has a whole new meaning and application for our family.  God commands that we do good in ways that we are passionate about.  And I have to say, Kyle and I are so very excited about adding to our family.  While we feel God is calling us to adopt, it is breathtakingly exciting.  It has to be, because on the surface it doesn't make sense! 

So....more to come over the course of the next couple years......

This Buddy Is Growing Too Quickly

Oh Brooks

This kid is one bite away from getting expelled from pre-school.  Second time he has been written up for biting someone at school.  And this time it was NOT one of his siblings.  A hand-written card by Brooks, and a hand-written note by me to the other kid's mom, and Brooks definitely knows, "No More Biting".

Smiley Climber - Tanner is IN.TO.EVERYTHING These Days

 

Ha Ha!

Daddy pulled out his old roller blades and chased the big kids around on their bikes - hilarious.  Does anyone still roller blade anymore?!

A little bit of "Memory" during dinnertime

I don't really know what Dr. Brooks thinks is going around our house, but he sure isn't about to catch it (leftover supplies from the rounds of RSV we had last season....)

Brooks definitely dresses for dinner

My Little Walker

Oh my - he loves to walk, and he loves to "run away" and have you chase him.  And chase him, I do!

We Got Boo'd!

I LOVE this time of year.  We've actually gotten boo'd twice!  How fun is that!?  The boys are having fun trying to decide what their Halloween costumes should be this year.

Cuteness

This little buddy loves to put his feet on the table - and laughs hysterically every time!  He must know about manners already.  I bet his Gigi has been teaching him. :)

We got stuck inside Target in the midst of a torrential downpour.  So, we bought a clear umbrella and had a rain party to swim back to our car!

Ah - The Beach - Peaceful

While Danielle was on her honeymoon, I got to spend a lot of time with the boys.  And we had some really beautiful weather that just meant we had to go to the beach.  And what a ball we had.  We picked up Graham from school that day with sand in our toes, and no shirt for Brooks.  A perfect beach bum group of people we were.

 

Silliness

We were able to get one last swim in the big pool last weekend before the weather turned a bit chilly.  Kyle is now working on closing up our pool for the winter season.  BOOOO.

 

The boys were a bit chilled, so we suggested warm water in the baby pool and a lot of bubble bath suds.  They were able to con Daddy into getting sudsy, too.

The Pumpkin Patch

Just after Jack's birthday, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  We had two little super heros (above), and our sweetest little nugget who stole the show among all the pumpkins.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turned 4 a couple weekends ago, and he had a super hero birthday party.  So fun!  Our three super heros completely wore themselves out with all the fun they had.

Every Day Life

Tanner has learned how fun it is to feed other people.  Including the dogs.  HAHA!

Picking Up The Brown Girls

While we were at the beach, the girls had their own vacation at Holly Ridge.  What an amazing place Holly Ridge is!  They are the only dog boarding place we have used (for context, Kona is 11!), and both Molly and Kona get ridiculously excited when they realize they are only about a mile away.  And they are sufficiently worn out when we pick them up - Kona took a nap in the car on the way home, and Molly snuggled in, too.  We sure missed our ladies!

DD's Wedding

One of the reasons we went to the Outer Banks - Danielle's wedding!  And what a beautiful wedding it was!  We took only Graham, and he really enjoyed the wedding and reception.  He was mesmerized by his DD and was always keeping his eye on where she was.  He thought she was absolutely beautiful - telling her she looked like a princess!  A very special time for all of us!