The plane landed on a sunny afternoon. A small gathering of family and friends hovered just outside the TSA checkpoint holding posters and balloons.  They welcomed us with hugs and smiles. But to a 12-year-old sleep-deprived and slightly motion-sick girl who had been traveling for 24-hours straight?  To a girl who came from a culture where people were more reserved?  To Masha, they were strangers.  To her, even our small airport party was a bit overwhelming. It’s Different Much as we want to provide a “normal” life for our adopted kids, we have to face the fact that it’s just plain different. Regardless […]

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When we set out to adopt, we didn’t really know anyone else in our church who had adopted, or who was adopting, or who wanted to adopt. We thought we were the only ones. We were wrong. Our church has become more intentional since then about supporting adoptive families.  We’ve recently kicked off a community initiative to connect churches in our area to work together to support the many different aspects of the adoptive, foster, and orphan care efforts in our community. But we still see families feeling alone. We still hear church leaders asking “What can we do?” The answer […]

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Panic and pain engulf her.  She feels warm fluid stream down her thigh.  She doubles over in pain.  Yet the corners of her mouth rise into the biggest smile she’s ever felt. “Get the bag!  It’s time!” she screams to her husband. The adoption call is differently similar. It’s a turning point.  It’s the moment when all the paperwork and notaries and training classes and impatient uncertainty fade away into the reality of finally going to meet my child and bring her home. Waiting becomes action. Every country (including the US) is unique.  But there are also some commonalities that […]

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Waiting sucks. I’m impatient.  Mark is even more impatient.  Neither of us stand in line well.  He continues to shop.  I read random things on my phone.  We don’t like waiting. One of of top three questions when people begin to think about adoption is “How long will it take?”  Clearly, Mark and I are not the only ones who aren’t fond of long waits. Why the wait? When we decided to adopt, we assumed that an international adoption would be quick, especially for an older child.  Quicker than domestic.  Certainly quicker than waiting to be chosen by a birth […]

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Adoption found us. When it did, a boatload of really difficult and confusing and overwhelming decisions were made for us.  They just fell into place.  Our story is pretty unusual, and is an example of how God chose to use a 2×4 upside of our heads to get our attention and change our lives… For most families, it goes a little differently.  A million paths as unique as the families following them lead to the decision to adopt.  A million equally unique paths follow after that critical decision. I’m not an expert in every family’s journey into the decision to […]

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