Monday, February 1, 2010

The Adoption Journey

One of my favorite questions to answer is, "Why do you want to adopt?" I just love it...get it Lovett...OK never mind...moving on. Well before I answer that question let me tell you how we even got to the amazing adopting stage in life.

So Ken (my amazing husband) and I have always been open to adoption from day one of our marriage. We both love kids and what a great way to add to our family of two!! While we have always been open to the idea, we were not sure how we were going to pay for the whole thing, so we kept the idea on the back burner of our minds. Ken and I moved to Louisville for him to go to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in July of 2008. We started meeting people our age and on our budget that have adopted. The wheels started turning. We then began asking our friends how they were able to pay for the process of adoption and got some amazing feedback. Did you know that there are grants, employee benefits and tax credits out there for adoption? We were excited to find this stuff out!! We started really praying if adopting should be the next step that we take in life. We knew that God would provide but we were still not sure how we could afford adoption. Y'all if you peeked inside our checkbook at the time, it was not a pretty sight!! The numbers coming in almost matched the numbers going out. Ken was looking for a full time job but we were having no luck. So on August 8, 2009 we decided to forget about the cost and take a leap of faith into the murky waters of the unknown. Boy it was scary making that decision at first but we knew God was in control and whatever happened, happened. Did you know that four days later Ken found a full-time job as an IT director, applied the next day (Wednesday), and got the job on Friday. God is so good!! We were so excited and had complete confirmation that adoption was the next step in life the Lord had for us. We have also been very blessed to have wonderful friends and family support us through this next step in life.


Now getting to my favorite part, the part about why we want to adopt. We want to adopt for many reasons but, one of the biggest reasons is how adoption plays a huge part of our lives as well. As Christians, we have been adopted out of a life full of darkness and despair and into a life filled with hope and eternal peace. We know that our Father will never leave us or abandon us but provide for us what we need. God, in his never ending love, chose to adopt us into his family despite our problems, our shortfalls, our weaknesses and the sin we commit. Ken and I desire to picture this love through adopting and caring for orphans. We also want to give children an opportunity to grow up learning about Jesus, experience love, hugs, a childhood, plenty of food, safety, fun opportunities, and someone to call mom/dad. We are excited about this journey and what God has in store for the Lovett family!!