Committing To The Journey With Prayer

And so the journey continues .... before we received our Welcome Packet and Application Eric and I spent some time talking through our expectations and thoughts and actually writing them on paper. I think Eric knew if my emotions kicked into high gear it would be important to have some things that we had talked about and agreed on on paper. I think one of the big things we discussed was that if one of us felt at any time during the process that God blocked it or changed our heart no matter how far into it we were that we would take a step back and honor where the other person was at. Another thing we felt like we needed to do was talk with my parents and make sure that we had their support. We had no doubt in our mind that we would have their complete support on this journey. We knew one of the biggest ways we would need their support was helping with our kids when we travel to China for 14 days. Knowing that we would be leaving our children for 14 days in the care of a Papa and Grammy, who our kids adore is a huge blessing. Of course they were totally supportive. I also think it was so neat that at the time when we talked to my parents my mom had been following a family from my parents hometown on their journey to their daughter in China.

We received our application in the mail. We spent some time e-mailing and actually sat down with a wonderful couple who had adopted two little girls from China. It was wonderful to ask questions and to have them share their experience and wisdom with us. We had our application filled out and ready to send in and Eric told me he felt like we needed to wait a week. He told me he felt like we really needed to commit this journey to God as a couple. So for a week we got on our knees together every night and committed our journey to our little boy to the Lord.

I have to say it was a very powerful and emotional week. We prayed diligently that God would block it and change both of our hearts if it wasn't His will for our family. We spent time praying for our marriage, our children and their adjustment, the process, God's timing for our family and of course our little boy in China. I think this is when it became real to me. The first night when Eric prayed for our son in China and prayed for the people taking care of him there was something that changed in my heart. This journey changed from papers and just talking about it to knowing there is a little boy living in China that God created for our family. The mommy side of me struggles with the fact that he is not in my arms right now and I have no control over how he is being cared for. So needless to say it was a powerful week and every night my tears flowed freely for my little boy in China. I think almost every night I looked at Eric with my teary eyes and said something like wow, I feel this emotional already and we are just starting! At the end of our week of prayer we both felt like we were on a journey that God has called our family to.

On November 2 our application to Holt for the China program was put in the mail.