SIBLINGS

Well, as some of you know, we've been praying about whether or not to change our request to siblings. We believe children are a blessing from the Lord, and have wanted to be open to welcoming two children into our family. For the first part of this journey, we agreed on one and decided this in itself would be a leap of faith. We felt peace from the Lord about this, but completed our paperwork for two just in case. As time has passed, we have gone round and round about this HUGE decision. We want to walk in faith and not in fear. We would love for our baby girl to not be the only adopted child in our family, and the only one with brown skin. The Lord would be faithful in either circumstance, but we've been seriously considering these things. Also, we know that once we arrive in Ethiopia, our hearts will forever be changed and we will want to bring a little 2 year old home. These are the children that have a harder time being adopted. The babies will be requested, but the toddlers and older children have a much slimmer chance of being adopted. Add this to the fact that our "baby", Thatcher, is now 4 1/2 years old. Wow! He has grown so fast, and would LOVE to have a brother: someone to wrestle with, play ball with, fight with : ) As God would have it, we have bunk beds in his room and tons of hand-me-down boy clothes. We see this as an opportunity for God to build our family in a very unique and special way. We prayed this past week about whether to change our request and Sean and I completely agreed that it was time. We have now officially changed our request to: girl/boy siblings (infant girl, 2 year old boy- our homestudy approves us for a boy up to 36 months). I say this with a little fear and trepidation, but sensing peace from the Lord. He gives us the grace we need when we need it. We are called to walk by faith, and this will definitely be a faith-builder. We anticipate the transition to be hard, but know that it will be such a blessing in the long run for these 2 children to have each other, and for us to be stretched or squeezed. We will need to rely on His strength and not our own. This may change our wait time, but what is a few months in light of ~ the rest of our lives, and eternity??? Thank you to those of you who have been praying for God to lead us. He is leading and we are grateful.