You're Doing WHAT??!!

Yes, you heard us right ... we're adopting a little boy from Ethiopia.

You think we're crazy. You think we've totally lost our minds. You know what? I'm okay with that! ;-)

The first question people typically ask us is why? Well, to put it simply: because God told us to.

Mike and I cling very closely to our Christian faith and we believe God has given us the desire to adopt a child. Very specifically, we believe God gave us both a separate "vision" for an African toddler boy in our family. It's hard to explain sometimes how we came to this point. So, let me take you back in time a bit to last summer.

Last summer, I told my friend, Dawn, about this "vision" I kept having of this little boy. I told her I just "saw" this little black boy in our family... I could just see him ... like I'd come around a corner and "see him" playing amidst our children. I told her I'd even named this little child "Isaiah" in my mind -- that was how I thought of him: Isaiah. (In case you're wondering where that name came from: no idea, because Mike and I have never discussed that name for any of our kids -- in fact, our kids don't even have biblical names, except for Andrew, so this was really out of left field.) I asked my friend Dawn to pray for us, but other than her, I kept these details to myself and did not even share them with Mike. I also began to pray and ask God to make this vision come true if it was His best for our family.

Fast forward to August 3, 2006. On that day last summer I wrote the following entry in my journal:

"I'm a little sad that we're done having children. I know Mike feels our family is complete, but I'm feeling a very strong desire to adopt. As far as I know, however, Mike does not feel the same way. I've felt like God has said to me in my heart: "I'm going to give you the desires of your heart." But, what does that mean? Does that mean that we will have more children one day? I don't know. What I do know is that I am up and down on an emotional roller coaster over this adoption thing. I've practically been begging God lately to just give me some kind of undeniable sign or something telling me WHY I have these desires to adopt. I mean ... if Mike doesn't want to, then take this away from me!! THEN ... last week I was sitting out on the porch, watching the kids play, and I really felt like God was just whispering into my heart: 'Julie, I'm not going to speak to you about it again. I'm going to speak to Mike about it. I've already given you the desire for adoption and for more children. I will speak to Mike about it. In my time, in my way, I will speak to him about it ... and you will know when I do.' It was almost an audible voice in my ear, but these were words I just sensed in my heart."

Woah. That kinda rocked me. Actually, it really rocked me. It gave me hope. But, the months passed by and I would drop an adoption reference or two, but they were always followed by Mike's raised eyebrows and a "no comment." We had one somewhat direct conversation about adopting or fostering, but we were clearly not in the same place and Mike pretty much said: "no."

I became frustrated and if you could read through my journal, you would see how I was just crying out to God to explain these feelings to me or else take them away. Even in my frustration, I continued to pray every day for God to speak to Mike in a very direct way about the possibility of adoption. I still hadn't shared the specifics of my "vision" with Mike, nor did he know that I'd been praying for God to speak to his heart. I knew that pestering Mike was not only annoying, but it wouldn't accomplish anything. On the flip side, I knew that if I only prayed about it and he *did* change his mind, then I would *know* it was from the Lord.

Then ... just about 8 weeks ago now, Mike came to me on a Sunday night. He said: "I have something big to tell you. I think God gave me a ... a ... for lack of a better word ... a vision ... in church this morning. I was sitting with the children during communion [I was playing piano that morning, so I was up front] and I saw another little boy sitting with us. A black boy. Kind of like an African Drew. He's ours. We have a son out there in the world somewhere and we have to find him."

To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the UNIVERSE!!!!

I sat there, literally shaking. I couldn't believe it. And I could believe it. What I'd "heard" from the Lord last August had happened: God had spoken to Mike. In His time. In His way. And I knew when He did.

Wow. Amazing.

We talked for three straight hours that night and immediately we began loving this child we don't even know. We can't wait to welcome him into our family.

One more quick story that served as major confirmation for what we'd discussed just the night before:

The night following Mike's "vision," we were talking about names. Mike said: "Won't the child have a name?" I said: "Yeah. An African one. It's common for adoptive families to keep a child's African name as a middle name, but give them something more American and easier to pronounce in English." We threw around a couple of the names we'd discussed during my pregnancies and suddenly Mike got very quiet and said:

"Please don't think I'm strange, but I love the name Isaiah."