I Am Crazy

Our presentation at church blessed us! We were able to share transparently the journey God asked us to take one step at a time. We admitted to them that we weren't sure about the outcome. We told them about Edmond and Edina, but clearly stated they were just one option in the wide world of international adoption.

Individuals and couples encouraged us in the next days and weeks. They wanted to share with us. Without us asking, they began inquiring about how they could financially give (tears....God's people are his very hands at times!). Yes, our church would be our support. We were confident in that and translated the message to Chris, the social worker responsible for finding a forever family for Edmond and Edina.

With the blessing came...well, other stuff. Now everybody knew how crazy we were. Before this, we could be selective with whom we shared our adoption process. After sharing freely with whomever chose to show up at church, we knew that word would get out that we were adopting two kids from Africa (translated: crazy).

I'm not gonna lie. Something told me that when a conversation landed on the Shoafs, people would speculate our motivation, capability, sanity. And so the second-guessing continued...some days worse than others.

This was bad timing for second-guessing....Cradle of Hope sent an e-mail entitled, "Welcome Aboard!"

We were officially matched. Our home study was complete and Edmond and Edina were reserved for the Shoaf family pending international documentation and approval. This is what we had been working for!

Tim and I were excited to be officially matched and conveyed the news over dinner to the kids. They began discussing sleeping arrangements, offering their bedrooms for sharing. And if the second-guessing wasn't enough, the reality of having two more kids began to weigh on me. Was I going to go crazy?

Then I found it.

I was sitting in church on a Wednesday night. Tim worked late and didn't make it in with us. Josie had dropped my Bible the day before, causing all of my "inserted notes" to fall out. Bless her heart, she cleaned them up off the floor and shoved them back in my Bible, but the bulky mis-placed notes were making it difficult for me to navigate the Scripture passages being taught by our pastor. Desperately trying not to show my aggravation, I flipped a chunk of pages to discover a small, home-made booklet with "Haiti 2012" printed on the makeshift cover. It was my journal from Haiti!

Throughout our adoption process, I had often wondered if I documented any information about the children we grew close to from the Mission of Hope orphanage. As the pastor continued teaching, I flipped through the pages...memories came flooding back. One of the last things written in the journal took my breath away. In my own handwriting from July 8, 2012, I read:

"We have seen first hand, these poor children in the village and their parents' request is always that they could go to school. I also spoke with Abby, a staff person, who shared more personally. Lydia was with me and we discussed adoption. This is the first time in my life I have ever felt the nudge to ask more about adopting. After seeing so many twins in the orphanage, I asked her why they have a lot of twins. She said they were viewed as a curse and were many times unwanted. That broke my heart! Back home, twins are quite the opposite. I thought, if I could adopt a set of twins out of this poverty and their stigma, I would do it in a second. I will continue to pray about this."

Our pastor kept speaking, but for me, time stopped. Had I written this?!?! I remember that conversation. I remember having those thoughts and I vaguely remember a prayer time on the roof...but those memories were foggy. Here it was, in writing. God was bringing to pass what I had prayed. He was in the details....and twins even!

Yes, I was crazy. There was no more second-guessing that. But now I knew that I was crazy because God is crazy. He is crazy about His people and working things out for good. He is crazy about the afflicted. He is crazy because He uses ordinary people to carry out extraordinary things.

I am crazy. But I don't care. God will use imperfect people in crazy situations to work out miraculous details. Scripture is full of them. Hebrews 11 had become my comfort in knowing that God does crazy things. And now I felt like I was living part of this crazy thing called "faith." I know God planted that journal on Wednesday night because he knew I needed to know that I was the best kind of crazy there is.

Yes! No. Maybe?

Our Gateway Woods consultation prompted a phone call to Cradle of Hope, an adoption agency from Maryland with an adorable listing....twins that wedged their way into my heart and onto my prayer list. I spoke with a social worker named Chris, mentioning that I had previously inquired about the listing and asked if they were still available for adoption.

"I haven't received a single inquiry about these two," he replied.

My heart broke. My initial discovery of Edmond and Edina happened weeks, almost two months before. They were perfect and yet nobody thought so....except me. I knew this meant a couple of things.

First, I realized, with new understanding, how difficult placing orphans must be. Chris suggested some may have been deterred because there were two of them. He also suggested that the age of the twins, 5 1/2, could be a factor in the difficult placement.

"Oh, Edmond and Edina!" I wanted to tell them, "You are not unwanted!"

Then I realized that this may just be God making a way for Edmond and Edina to be placed in the perfect family for them....OURS. Waves of excitement, relief, reluctance, love, and fear washed over me. Was God going to place these two in our family?!?! Were we ready for this?

Yes!

No.

Maybe?

I kept in touch with Chris, passing along information about our family and situation so he could give us an idea if this match had potential. Countless e-mails sent back and forth finally eluded to positive feedback from Chris and Cradle of Hope. As soon as our home study was complete, they would officially match our family with the twins and begin the international documents!

Just as my initial response evoked many emotions, so did our wait. Should we tell the kids? How do we pray? Could I picture them at my supper table, chiming in on our crazy family dinner conversations?

Yes!

No.

Maybe?

My heart wanted to invest, but my brain told me to, "...hold off." I would begin to play out scenarios in my head that always began with, "Well, when we have two more kids, we'll...." and would always end with, "Stop. They aren't yours," followed by a schizophrenic prayer about Edmond and Edina. I know God has processed those completely and perfectly, but probably chuckled at my reluctance and rephrasing on hundreds of occasions.

We continued forward in our part, collecting documents, sending e-mails, praying, praying, praying. At one point, Cradle of Hope asked for a finance plan on our adoption. How were we going to pay for this? Did we have support from others? So, we studied the costs outlined in their documents and devised a plan from our savings account.

But we were short. Adopting two kids instead of one added costs that we had not counted.

We knew that God could provide. He would provide. But how do you say that on paper? We asked Chris that question and he said he would need evidence of support. We decided to share with our pastor this crazy plan laid out before us and see where he would suggest we begin in covering the difference for our financial plan.

We thought maybe he'd just sign off and say, "Sure. Tell him you'll have support!" And then later help us figure out a way for fundraising. But he didn't. He said, "You need to share this with the church. Get a presentation ready...we have an opening three weeks from now during an evening service."

Gulp.

Our kids weren't even convinced we were serious about adopting (because we had been so reserved in our communication about being matched...it wasn't official yet!) and now we needed to share with our church?!?!

We didn't feel ready. We didn't feel qualified. We didn't feel like the timing was right. Good thing God doesn't push us to do things that "feel" right.

We discovered that first, laying out our journey was a blessing to us. We created a Power Point presentation with pictures detailing God's hand in our adoption process so far. We counted our blessings. God had been with us. This reminder gave us confidence that he was involved in every detail...even in our presentation before the church. Second, we were reminded that although adoption is an unsure process, it is okay...even good, to be transparent with people. We so wanted that in our presentation. We wanted our church family to know our struggles and hesitations, our yes, nos, and maybes. We wanted our church family to know how heavily we relied on Hebrews 11. We wanted our church family to know that he does not call the equipped, but equips the called. Confidence in our adoption story was gaining and we were excited to share.

Go Time

Summer's end neared and we still hadn't done anything to move an adoption forward. Tim and I both felt that it was time to act. After finding Edmond and Edina's faces on Rainbowkids.com, I contacted their listing agency. The reply seemed an end to that option as they indicated that families with a completed home study was the starting point with that sibling group. That was not us.

However, I knew that God had a plan for those orphans and he had a plan for us. We decided to call a local Christian agency that offered social services including home studies. Gateway Woods was an organization that I had grown up knowing well. I had distant relatives that had moved the forty miles north to Gateway Woods when I was an adolescent and I remembered that they had moved there to be "houseparents" to troubled foster kids. Every year, we would attend the fundraising auction that our church denomination held to aid and grow the campus of Gateway Woods.

Tim and I made the short drive to Leo, Indiana, finding a much larger campus than I had remembered as a young adult. We met with the adoption coordinator  there (she happened to be a dear friend of my mother's from when they lived in Bluffton) who flooded us with information on adoption and the services they provide.

One pleasantly surprising detail we discovered was the opportunity to adopt from a handful of countries. We know from Loving Shepherd Ministries that Ethiopia was a viable option, but Gateway plays a major roll in many international adoptions and she gave us recent, real stories of families just like ours also adopting from the Congo and Niger. She added that because each orphan is different, sometimes countries will overlook laws in order to place orphans, especially if they are older. Because we wanted to adopt an older child (or children), she thought we would also be eligible to adopt from other countries.

This seemed freeing to us! Other families had recently applied, been matched, and brought kids home just like we intended! For the first time, we looked at each other with expressions that said, "We are really doing this!"

At the end of our consultation (at no charge!), she asked if we were ready to move forward to which we responded together, "Yes!"

She advised us to begin with our home study and passed a stack of paperwork across her desk to us. The packet would guide us through the document collection we would be doing for the next few weeks. She set another appointment up for us and said, "At that appointment, we will need to know from which country you are interested in adopting."

We immediately replied, "Well, you tell us...we have no clue and really just want whatever God makes available to us." We reassured her that we were fairly flexible and wanted her expert advice in choosing a location from which to adopt. This seemed too big a decision to arbitrarily make.

She then asked, "Well, do you have any leads? Have you seen any photos of waiting kids?"

Tim looked at me and his face said to me, "Ummmm, do those twins count?"

Of course, I immediately chimed in, "Well, I did see an adorable photo of twins! I don't know much about them, I only know the agency wanted a family with a completed home study."

A smile spread across her face as she said, "Twins! Well, they would fit right into your family! Won't your parents be tickled...another set of twins for the Smith family!" She laughed and encouraged me to contact them again to see if they were still available for adoption  After asking several questions about the agency, she assured us that it seemed like a legitimate option. She also gave us names of other agencies from the countries she had mentioned that also have photo listings of older children and sibling sets in case the twins were not an option anymore.

Oh my....we had a plan! WE WERE DOING THIS!

We felt for the first time that we had someone willing to work for us, advocate for us, pray for us and with us, and guide us in this foreign process. We also felt a bit more overwhelmed as the details began revealing themselves. Adoption is a costly and rigorous process. Yes, we had a lot to talk about on the way home from Leo that night...a conversation that continued for the next several days.

Faces With Names

Our meetings with local adoptive families spurred me on! I was ready to research and explore options for adoption. With list in hand, I looked at recommended agency web-sites and prepared to sign on the dotted line with our money, hope, and future to an agency. But that is a very difficult thing to do.

Tim and I both felt paralyzed. We wanted to start, but how? We knew enough to be dangerous...but not enough to really commit. In my aimless exploration, I stumbled upon a web-site called Rainbowkids.com. And that is where I first saw them.

The site exists to help families adopt and specifically tries to encourage families to adopt children from around the world who are hard to place. The site contained great information for families interested in adoption, so I kept clicking around on the site until it asked if I wanted to see pictures of waiting kids. YES, I WANTED TO SEE PICTURES OF WAITING KIDS! And so, I added a user name a password (was I really doing this?!?!) to get a glimpse of children waiting for a family.

I knew this decision could be dangerous...especially when I logged in and saw #1 of some 1,700 waiting kids. An orphan seems like someone far away. A distant prayer request. But this orphan had a face with a name. My eyes softened, right along with my heart. Good thing I didn't have any plans that night.

The photos I saw on my initial visit to Rainbow kids were from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the United States. I learned that disabilities made placing kids extremely difficult. I understood why. Tim and I weren't opposed to a child (or sibling set) with disabilities, but seeing them here with names made that become much more real. What could we handle...were we really up for this?

About two-thirds of the way through, I found a little girl from Africa. I remember thinking, I shouldn't even be pulling this one up...a boy would be much better suited for our family. Then, instead of one African girl, I was looking at an African boy with an African girl. I hungrily read the information....a girl, with a brother, healthy, but considered too old to be easily placed. And then I looked at their birth dates. They were TWINS!

I remember thinking right away, "Don't get too excited, Lana. You are far from an adoption. Keep researching." But I couldn't. After viewing every last one of the 1,700 orphans on Rainbowkids.com, I realized that I had "saved" only two files...the two files from that set of twins in Africa. I showed Ally (Tim wasn't home) and she immediately melted. Not only were they twins, but seemingly healthy, and from Africa no less!

Of course, I told Tim about it when he returned home that night. And of course, he told me not to get too excited because we were a long way off from deciding what direction our adoption would take.

Regardless, I had a set of twins to pray for and they had names: Edmond and Edina (I loved those names!). I didn't care if it was a long shot for these two to join our family, I prayed they would be placed in the family God had waiting for them. (And if that happened to be us, that would be fine with me!)

The Pros Weigh In

After learning a little about adoption programs, but not knowing where to turn, we looked to the professionals...friends who walked the road of adoption. We brainstormed a list families in the area we knew had adopted and spent the summer planning dinner engagements with each family. We specifically called families who had adopted from Ethiopia, hoping to learn more about the Ethiopian program.

The families revealed more about the adoption process than any agency could afford. After meeting with three families, we recognized common sentiment among them. First, they all said if given the opportunity to do over, they would 100% adopt again. Reassurance flooded our souls with these statements. Real people sharing real stories, with rough edges and ugly spots even, and every single one of them said adoption was more than worth it!

Secondly, the families suggested adopting more than one child. Without noticing, every family we invited over for dinner had adopted more than once. When addressing this topic, they all recommended adopting more than one child because we were considering trans-racial adoption. And so began our "sibling group" conversation. Because we were looking for an older child, sibling groups would make sense, we thought. The only problem: our age range was too tight for most sibling groups. Over the summer, we decide that we would be open and perhaps even prefer a sibling group and decided God would have to place the perfect set in our hands.

The third realization these families brought forth was the difficulty in diversity. We initially realized the challenges and uniqueness of adopting from a different culture, but here were faces with stories of how even the most optimistic family faced challenges in a trans-racial family.

We live in rural Indiana with little racial diversity, so we knew an African child would stand out in a crowd here. Some of the families opened up about real challenges with overcoming stereotypes and racism among family members. Others had no problem with Indianians, rather the child themselves noticed the glaring differences in appearance at school, at church, at Wal-Mart. One family told of how just in recent days they had found the adopted child scrubbing his skin "white." My ridiculous optimism lessened in this conversation. Adopting a child with a different cultural heritage and ethnicity, I began to realize, wouldn't come without its challenges.

In the end, however, we encouragement abounded. These families offered a type of support we couldn't find anywhere else. And, after each meeting with each unique family, we felt God telling us, "This is for you." So, we kept praying and the doors or adoption began to open.

Family Fast

After Ally revealed the truth and made it known that she wanted to help orphans, she enlisted her siblings to help too. They all began asking if we could adopt an orphan. Tim and I listened but were also realistic and a bit overwhelmed. We knew that adding a child to our family would be a stretch. We already enjoyed our four kids, but kids take a lot of energy! We were overwhelmed too because we had no clue where to begin asking about opportunities to help orphans by way of adoption (and were we really serious enough to broach the subject outside of our family dining room table?). We also didn't want to make an emotional decision, so we continued to pray and encouraged our kids to do the same.

Well, Spring came, and the kids tired of our automatic response to the adoption question, "Keep praying, honey." So, finally, while planning a Spring Break trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama, Tim and I decided to talk to the kids seriously about adoption on our trip. We enjoyed a sunny (but cold) stay at the beach in Alabama and spoke frankly with the kids about adopting. We talked about the things that may have to change. We suggested foster care. We shared the exciting parts, the risky parts, and the areas of sacrifice. At the end of our vacation, we decided to "do" something.

Tim and I and the kids decided to commit to fasting during the month of April. We fasted from eating out. I know this seems trivial, but for the Shoafs, this is no small feat. We eat out. A lot. Tim visits fast food drive-thrus and gas station fountain pop stations enough that the attendants know his name and order by the sound of his voice! I'm a working mom and have ordered my share of pizzas through the school weeks. I'm not saying that to expose our bad eating habits, but to say that this certainly was a sacrifice for us. We made orphans our prayer focus for the month of April.

 This is us in Alabama, ironically at a restaurant:)

We felt the sacrifice. About every three days at least on of the kids would beg to order a pizza, go to a restaurant, or grab a fountain pop at our local deli. Each time we reminded them that God honors sacrifice and we prayed specifically for God to make a way for us to help at least one orphan.

Did God answer? Did He show us what to do? Not right away. In fact, on our last day of the fast, we sat around the kitchen table and I asked, "So, what's next? What do you think we should do about helping an orphan?"

Jackson summed it up best when he said, "I think we should keep praying AND go out to eat!"

So, we went out to CoCo China Buffet! AND we prayed. We also contacted the organization that Stephanie Fast endorses which gives families interested in adoption some direction. Loving Shepherd Ministries does a lot of things, but one service they provide is an adoption questionnaire customized for families to fill out according to their specific family dynamics.

From our contact with Loving Shepherd Ministries, we discovered that our family would probably be a better fit for an older orphan (4 years old, at least), but still younger than our youngest (the twins were 7). After determining that, they provided information for programs geared for older children. And that lead us to narrow our adoption focus. We learned that adopting an older child from the U.S. is a sticky process. We also learned that to adopt Internationally, our family size would prohibit us from most countries. In the end, Loving Shepherd Ministries told us that Ethiopia would be a good place to start in our inquiry for adoption.

From here we felt paralyzed. There were so many agencies to choose from and so much corruption in the adoption world. (I started reading blogs and googling information which turns up miraculous stories alongside stories of deception and trafficking.) We also began to realize the immensity of the process and costs. We didn't know what to do. So, we kept praying, (does that sound familiar?) and God kept answering.

Oh, Ally.

Our oldest daughter inherited her grandmother's name, Althea. My husband's mother passed away one day while Tim sat in his seventh grade classroom. Her death rocked his world and his faith. So, when our first daughter entered the world, he used his beloved mother's name as a tribute to her life. Her legacy consists of countless friends sharing testimony of her deep friendship. She seemingly lived for the sole purpose of caring for others and building relationships to benefit the kingdom of heaven. Knowing her son, I believe that.

Althea, 13, also hears testimony of her grandmother and appreciates the "vintage" name she's been given. Ally is independent and confident. Adventure intrigues her, so our trip to Haiti left her with a longing for that land. Even after contracting "the Haitian sensation," she ate up every minute in that country. When it came time for us to return home, she was begging to stay the rest of the summer (all while I was dreaming of what I'd buy first at Wal-Mart). Poverty didn't scare her. Loss didn't scare her. She embraced the land and culture. And it followed her home.

The Fall time for her was also busy. Somehow, though, she managed to pick up a book in our church library entitled Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis. Perhaps the brown faces on the cover reminded her of the faces she touched in Haiti. Perhaps Katie seemed like a grown up version of who she wants to be. For those reasons and probably more, she began to read Katie's story.

I haven't read the book, but Ally was taken. She summarized chapters for me and talked about it often. The story involves a young girl moving to Africa and caring for orphans until one day she adopted one. And then another, and another, and another until she had thirteen daughters. Ally continued to share Katie's inspiring story with me until one day, she was moved to action. I remember her coming downstairs from her room to show me what she had just read in her book. She said, "Mom, did you know that if 8% of professing Christians would help an orphan, there would be no more orphans?!?!"

I questioned her immediately, "Are you sure it doesn't say 80%?"

"No, it's right here, Mom." She said, showing me her book. "I want to help. I want to be part of that 8%."

"Sure," I added quickly. "Yes, we should pray about that." That was a good response, right? One can never go wrong with prayer.

"Well," she came back, "I don't know what there is to pray about.  God commands us in James 1:27 to care for the orphans."

Ouch. Of course he does. Why do 13-year-olds spotlight so plainly what I strategically undervalued?

"Yes. You are right. God tells us to care for the orphan and the widow, but if we are serious about helping orphans we are really gonna need to start praying how that will look."

That satisfied Ally and she stuck her nose back in that book and wandered upstairs again.

Oh, Ally. She had done it now, said what was true and I knew it. Tim didn't need convincing, he felt God's gentle nudge to keep exploring ways to help orphans. But I was dragging my feet, mumbling my excuses, and praying my neat, safe prayers to avoid risk. But, here, Ally blatantly pointed out the truth and confronted me with it. And I had agreed to pray about how we would help. Yes, she had done it now, because I know the power of prayer and I knew things were about to get very interesting.

African Cousins

After Haiti and Stephanie Fast, I certainly prayed for God's direction in my husband's serious quest to help. Our four children added to the push in a roundabout way.

Tim's sister and her husband help children through Children's Medical Mission (CMM). The Ringgers host little ones from Ghana and Burkina Faso, Africa while the kids receive necessary medical attention. The kids come with issues like cleft pallet and club foot that would leave them extremely disadvantaged in their home country situations.

These kiddos have become our "African Cousins," celebrating family birthdays and holidays right along with us. We also celebrate with them, attend church with them, and love on them whenever possible. These are not orphaned children, but while they are here the Ringger family considers them one of their own.

 This past summer, Faida (held by Tim's sister, Kim) stayed with the Ringgers. Here, we were celebrating Faida and saying our goodbyes before she left to return to Burkina-Faso and her mommy.

This little guy, Jayson, stayed with Ringger's twice: first for leg amputations, then for surgery, and will likely come again to be fitted with prosthetic legs. It took a while for him to warm up to people, so Grace is excited here to be holding him and loving on him!

Our own kids desperately want to help a child through CMM, but our situation does not allow us to host. Tim's sister stays at home to be available for the numerous doctor appointments required to keep these kids on schedule for repairs, therapy, and general check-ups. Nevertheless, our children often ask if we too could host an African child.

Of course, I meet this with "realistic" situational suggestions to show that having an extra child in the home is not like getting a puppy. They see the smiles, braids, and clapping hands without the tears, wounds, and diapers. In a way, the Ringgers have opened the eyes of our youngest children without them stepping a foot in a third world country. Grace, Jackson, and Josie see these beautiful, spirited children and love them as part of our extended family.

In this way, I think God was preparing our kids for adoption. At the time, I knew it was expanding their world-view...but God was using it for a larger purpose.

Call Me, Maybe

During the Fall and Holiday Season, Tim and I occasionally prayed for a way we could help an orphan. I recalled fondly our trip to Haiti which motivated me to pray. That's about as far as I could go.

I'm not opposed to risking material possessions, time, or energy for Christ. I've often thought of myself as one who would do the craziest things for God if he would ask. This freaked me out though...another kid? Let's be honest. I'm an amazing mom to about 1.7 kids. I'm not that organized. I work. I don't like doing dishes. Yeah, my thoughts couldn't surge past these debilitating facts (hey- not doing the dishes is debilitating, try it sometime!).

I desperately longed to help an orphan. However, helping an orphan and inviting one to live with you is a completely different thing. Sacrificing financially didn't bother me. I thought, maybe God will ask us to support 15 World Vision kids. Yeah, that would be good. I could support by licking an envelope and not have to invest emotionally or get messy with another soul that needs shaping and reconciliation. Besides, I needed to get back to my dishes.

I did pray. Neat prayers that pointed God to this idea of supporting in a hands-off kind of way. Here I was, at a point in my life when my husband insisted God continued to tug at his heart in this calling for aiding orphans and I, reluctant to invest in this risk. But I kept praying and God kept working.

Grass and Tears and Orphans

As I mentioned in the previous post, school was in full swing for the Shoafs in the Fall of 2012. I signed permission slips and helped with homework while Tim wrote checks for lunch money to keep our seventh grader, fifth grader, and two first graders going. Again, I worked but felt more in control and less dazed in my second year as a working mom. Tim entered his busy season of spraying and fertilizing lawns. The house was buzzing (well, when we were home).

One lawn application from that Fall is etched in Tim's memory. I'm sure the lawn is amazing (he takes care of it!), but green grass is not what made the memory books that day. Tim was riding on his spreader/sprayer and listening to Dr. Dobson on his headphones. That's when Dobson introduced a woman named Stephanie Fast. In short Stephanie Fast was born and eventually abandoned and left on the streets of Korea as an orphan. As an adolescent, she was adopted and loved and came to a place in life when she knew that Christ identified with her hurt and accepted His grace given on the cross.

While Stephanie told her story and Tim sprayed that lawn, God made a connection between Tim and hurting children. Tim cried. No, Tim sobbed in that lawn. He heard the hurt in Stephanie's story and then the redemption of Christ realized. Tim's heart hurt for the forgotten children of the world. He wanted badly to reach a child so that the redemption of Christ could be realized for that child just as it was for Stephanie Fast.

I remember greeting Tim that night and he just said, "Well, I cried like a baby in a customer's lawn today." I briefly tried to picture this bronze man on a fertilizer spreader with wet cheeks and an ugly cry-face in some guy's yard. Then my thoughts turned to the guy...and the guy's neighbor. Oh, boy.

Anyway, he proceeded to tell me about the testimony he heard and insisted we sit together on the couch to listen to the radio broadcast together.

It was good. God is good. Stephanie Fast effectively advocates for orphans in the world today. Tim and I talked briefly about her story and then Tim said, "It just makes you want to adopt....I wonder if we should do that."

"What? Adopt?" I replied. And Tim just nodded. I thought he was weird.

All throughout our marriage, I have brought up some pretty crazy ideas. Even ministry ideas that were far-out...sometimes in an incredible way and sometime in the way of impossible. And here was perhaps the craziest idea that had ever been brought up, but this time by Tim. Yes, this was weird.

"Let's at least pray about it," Tim suggested. And I agreed that praying would be an excellent place to start. So that's what we did.


 

Listen to Stephanie Fast's testimony here.