Our First Post / You Want to Wha????

Welcome to our first family blog!! You guys will probably be hearing a lot from Vanessa, and less from Jason. I (Vanessa) have been in bloggy land for a while now, but this is the first blog that will actually be read by people I know in real life (IRL). I hope to get some pictures up and do some more "stuff" as I find time. With 6 niece/nephews, church, work, beating Jason on the Wii, and cooking/cleaning, we'll see how that goes! ;)

If you know me at all, you probably know that I love orphans. This orphan-love didn't start when Jason and I started discussing adoption, but God has been preparing me for adoption throughout my life. I have always been a night owl. When I was just a little girl, I would stay up late at night watching tv. The only thing on were infomercials and Feed the Children episodes, and lots of shows I wasn't allowed to watch. Prior to watching FTC, I assumed ALL little girls and boys had a Mama and Daddy who loved them very much, a house, some animals, a car, etc. After watching FTC with little Romanian kids (I can still see one little girl's face), I worked it all out: I would give up my bed and sleep on the couch, so one of those little kids could have my bed. We had plenty of clean drinking water, extra desks at school, jobs, and if every family in the US took just one of these kids, surely it would take care of the problem! Better yet, I would sleep in the FLOOR, so that ANOTHER Romanian kid could have the couch, too!!! You see, I didn't really comprehend that sleeping in the floor would get old and uncomfortable and crowded. I didn't grasp the enormity of the poor around the world, and their families. I didn't know there were kids right here in America that needed clean water and food and they didn't have mommies and daddies, or that some mommies and daddies weren't very good to their kids. I didn't take into account that there would be other people afer all those kids were put in families, that the problem would NOT be solved.

I never told anyone about my plan, because somehow I knew that most adults would think it silly, or impossible. But that was the first seed that God planted in my little heart and brain. It continued into my school years, when I became friends with little girls and boys who liked coming to my house because they could play, and laugh, and run, and be loud little kids, and nobody yelled at them or beat them or worse. In high school, I kind of floated from group to group, and tried to help the kids that everyone else ignored or made fun of. Oh, don't get me wrong -- I, too, had my moments of snickering behind someone's back -- but even then, I knew I should be helping that person.

It took a lot of years and some pretty rotten stuff for me to realize what God had been whispering to me all of my life -- adoption is the path He has chosen for me. The only path He has led Jason and I to so far. I don't know why He has chosen **me** to live out such an awesome example of what God did for us.

We know that you will have lots of questions and comments for us related to our adoption plans. I have absolutely not covered everything I want to say... I have lots of posts in my head, but it will take some time to get it all down. I found out early on that we have to be married for 3 years before we can actually begin this journey... But in another way, this journey began so many years ago. We're about a year away from that 3-year-mark. We will be making some decisions over the next year as to where, how, when, etc this journey will take place, and we ask that you join in with us NOW!!! Be praying for us as we pray about those decisions. Pray for our children, pray for their biological parents, pray for the social workers and others we will be working with to bring our babies home. We invite you to make this journey with us.