Our Story

Back in 2007 Brian and I had subscribed to a local magazine that we received each month.  I would flip through each issue and read various articles every month as it came in the mail, and every month I noticed a small article series on adoption.  I read the articles and would always think “what a sweet story” but usually think nothing else of it and go about my life as normal.  However, as the months passed and I continued reading more of those adoption articles, I felt a tug at my heart.  I began having inner wrestlings with God about it and would state my case with all the reasons of why this wasn’t for us.  For one, I had just finished working on my Master’s degree the year before and was focused on my career at the time.  Secondly, we had talked about having children, but that was still someday down the road.  And lastly, this wasn’t in MY plans.  Nonetheless, China kept surfacing in my heart and mind too at that time and finally I made a bargain with God—I would broach the subject with Brian and see how he responds.  I was sure Brian would tell me this was an outlandish idea and I would then be able to wash my hands of the situation knowing I had “tried”.  As we were watching TV one night and a commercial came on, I muted the TV for a minute and asked Brian out of the blue, “so what would you think about adopting a little girl from China?”.  His response was “if you are being serious, I think that would be a great idea that we would need to start researching”.  Keep in mind the topic of adoption had never been brought up by either of us before this so at this point I had to take this as God ordained.  We attended an informational meeting on international adoption the next month and never looked back.

The total adoption process took us just under 2 years and in April of 2009 we traveled to China to bring home our little girl, Olivia.  (You can read about our first adoption journey here if you want all the details). 

I believe God places a calling on each of our lives—we have all been given something we are passionate about, and for us that calling is adoption and in turn being an advocate for the fatherless.