Where You Go, I'll Go....

So I think all of us know by now that God’s plans don’t always go in the exact way WE plan for them to. For the past year Pete and I have been on this journey towards our princess in Ethiopia. We have been happy, and I can honestly say that the wait, though hard at times, hasn’t been too pressing on us because we’ve been so busy with our other little one at home!

 Let me preface all of this by saying that when Pete and I began this journey, the only thing we were sure of was that God was calling us to adopt. We never felt led to a specific country. However, had we chosen ourselves, our first choice would have been a Latin America country because of where we are in life right now. We live in a city of 95%+ Hispanics, we've learned a good deal of Spanish, I work with all Hispanic kiddos…. However, when we pursued that route the door closed because they only had older children available. So long story short we ended up in Ethiopia and have been very happy waiting for our little one to come home.

Soooo here we are, possibly within just a month or two of a referral (although its all unknown)… And I get an email from our adoption agency announcing the opening of their new Honduras program. My heart skipped a beat. But then I thought “Marcy you’re crazy. Don’t even think about it!” Soooo I deleted the email and went on with my day. Welllll about a month later I decided to call to get more information. Why? I have no idea. Of course Pete said “why do you want to torture yourself?!” SO I expected to get off of the phone with the Honduras rep with a confidence to carry on in our journey to Ethiopia. Instead my heart was racing and my mind was thinking all sorts of crazy things. Not only do we live in a Latino community, but my best friend and her family, with whom we spend many of our holidays, are from Honduras. So of all the Latin America countries to suddenly open….Honduras? really? And why/HOW could I even be considering this when my heart, my thoughts, my PRAYERS have been for my little African princess???

I’m trying to make this brief but its so hard because my heart has been on quite the ride these past couple of weeks. So I guess here’s the bottom line. We have decided to switch programs. We are now adopting a little girl from Honduras. Really? Yes, really. Will this extend our wait time? Most likely. Will we lose money? YES. A LOT. : / However, this will not deter us from pursuing this path. We prayed and prayed and somehow just felt like this was where God was leading. And that He would continue to provide.

SO are we crazy for switching after waiting this long, after getting so close to a referral… And to have to paperchase all over again, pay out more money….are we crazy? You know I keep going back to the lyrics of several songs and the ones that spoke to me last week (as we were making this decision) were “Where you go I’ll go. Where you stay I’ll stay. When you move I’ll move. I will follow.”



 I may not understand why God would have us go through a year with ET before this, but I don’t regret a moment of it. The support I have found through other adopting families in the Ethiopia Yahoo Group has been priceless. With Honduras being so new there are few families with which to share this experience, and there are just so many unknowns. But I’m not fearful. I'm excited. I feel like this is the right path for our family.

Our little Hannah is already learning Spanish so its neat to think that even if our newest addition can only speak her native language, we will all still be able to communicate with her. That's exciting. Growing our family is exciting. I know that all these prayers I have prayed for my little Ethiopian princess have not gone unheard. God has known all along where our daughter is. My prayers were not in vain. I will continue to pray for her safety, health, and for her to be nurtured and loved until we can get her home.

We would appreciate your prayers as we begin the process of gathering some additional paperwork, updating health documents, etc. in an attempt to get our dossier (stack of paperwork) to Honduras by the end of the summer. We are still hopeful to be matched with a little girl (12-30 months old) by the end of this year, but we have learned that the adoption world is anything but predictable...

So I chose to tell our story via blog so I wouldn't have to answer the same questions a million times...although I would if it meant spreading the word about adoption and God's love for the orphan here in the US and across the world.

Thank you for your support and I hope to post updates more frequently... Though as I said earlier our little Hannah keeps us VERY busy! :)

If you or anyone you know have any questions about adoption, domestic or international, or foster care, please don't hesitate to contact me. I love to share with others how adoption has and continues to change our lives, and it was through hearing someone's else's story that we were also led into this amazing journey.


Much love,
Marcy