Hope

         Recently, for the first time in awhile, I have felt hope surrounding our whole situation. The other day I really felt like God was finally speaking to me and sharing with me that we will be parents and that He does have children in store for us. I felt like He was giving me insights as to what His plans for us are. Even with these insights I want to remain open to whatever He has in store for us, as I'm sure I'm not receiving the whole picture and there could still be many surprises to come. I ended my prayer time feeling hopeful and joyful.
        As I said before, we feel as though God has been calling us to international adoption. Originally I had imagined adopting an infant, but recently God has been opening both of our hearts towards adopting a toddler. After these feelings of hope I was left wondering how God would bring this into fruition and what direction he wanted us to go in. After seeking God, we have finally narrowed our choices down to two different directions. Our two choices this point are working with an agency to adopt from Uganda or performing an independent adoption from Ghana. There are positives and negatives to both. From Uganda we are able to see pictures of available children and we feel drawn to two different little girls. The agency would take care of most of the work, we know there are children available in the age range we are looking at and we could possibly receive grant money. Unfortunately this direction will cost between $20,000-$30,000, but if that is the direction God calls us to we trust that He will provide the funds. From Ghana we might have a wait a bit longer to adopt a toddler and due to my age we can't adopt a child over the age of 3. We would also have to do a quite a bit more legwork, but we have come into contact with some women who have both served and adopted from Ghana and who are willing to help us with the process. Since we wouldn't be using and agency we might not be able to receive certain grants, but the total costs would be around $12,000-$15,000.
        The first step to either of these options is to complete a home study. This part of the process costs between $2,000-$3,000. We are hoping to raise/save this money soon so that we can begin this process next month, but we still have a ways to go to meet that goal, so please be praying that God will open doors and provide these funds! We are still open to other ways that God may lead us to adoption whether it be domestic or international, but at this point this is the direction that we feel God is leading us in. Thank you for all of your love and support and continued prayer is appreciated!