Odds are... Who cares? God's in Control Anyways!

Rick and I knew that we desired more children after our loss of Michael. It had been suggested that we grieve his loss for a year before we entertained the idea of more children. God made it clear to us that we should permanently prevent any additional pregnancies as the chance of reoccurance of Michael's diagnosis was high. For as long as I can remember, adoption has been attractive to me. The month I got pregnant with Michael, I had started researching different adoption agencies and acquiring information about our options. When we learned that we were expecting again, I hung that dream up on the shelf. Little did I know the plan for our family would not be to bring our fourth baby home from the hospital. But we persevered with faith and joy. Michael's story is saturated with a faith that we have never experienced. To this, we are most grateful in our brokenness. We experienced God's ultimate plan for our family when we held Michael and he beheld God's glory that January 22 day two years ago. That next year was hard. It still can be at times. Grief is not linear. Some moments are still tough. But God does ask us to keep living and serving Him because He is so good. I can say that, because I have experienced his goodness in a way that many have not. If you are one of those, I dare you to try God. He WILL not fail you.

Spring of 2010, again, I started looking into agencies not having a clue where God would direct us. Rick wasn't there yet. I assured him that I was fine and that I wouldn't fill out any applications until we were unified with this life changing decision. I am not patient. Lesson number 1. (P. S. I haven't mastered this lesson yet either). In December of 2010, Rick came to me and shared that Honduras had recently opened up to adoption again. I found this interesting considering Rick hadn't really communicated to me that he was ready to entertain this idea. I also found it interesting that Honduras happened to be where Rick and I were blessed to serve for a week six months earlier on a medical missions trip. I was enamored with the people not to mention the sweet little children with those big brown eyes.Could this be where God was leading? I had researched the history of adoption in Honduras in years past. I didn't like what I read. The numbers of placements were very discouraging. Under 10 children had been placed into homes several years prior. Odds were not in our favor. It's a pretty darn good thing I have a God who is not the least bit concerned with odds!

The end of December, after a few emails to some contacts in Honduras (one of which is a lawyer), we felt confident that pursuing an adoption in Honduras would yes be lengthy and costly at many levels, but also that the country was in a state that for the first time in maybe ever, orphans would be placed into their forever families. The lawyer stressed though that we had to use an agency and he made a recommendation of one here in the states.

The first week of January, 2011, I looked into some of our old files and found an adoption informational folder that I had saved from seven years prior. This is hard to believe seeing as I do not save anything! I was at an adoption conference in Dallas and even then I was interested. Guess what the agency name was? America World! (www.awaa.org) The same one that I had just been referred to by the Honduran lawyer I had emailed with the week before!

CONFIRMATION yes!

In April 2011 we were accepted into the Honduras program. Our journey on paper had officially begun!

What if adoption meant more than giving a needy child a stable home?

I should have started blogging about this a year ago, when God first moved us to begin the process of adoption, but it wasn't the time. I made a list of the different events that took place starting last December leading us to where we are at now. I hope to expound on some through this blog later on.

So where are we? Who are we? Let me start with an introduction. My name is Summer. I have lived almost half of my life serving a God who is right now writing this story. My other loves include, my husband, children, friends, running, the outdoors, cooking, and sleeping on the most luxurious bed I have ever known. I am blessed to stay at home with my children and started homeschooling our oldest going on our second year of school.

I love teenagers, yes. And frankly just love people. People of all ages, colors, smells, and walks of life which happens to work out well because I am also a pastors wife. I am convinced that I have been blessed with the most amazing humble man as my husband, Rick. He is one of the pastors at our church in a suburban church in the Chicago area leading others in worship and developing adult ministry and any other hats he may need to wear for any particular need. We have lived here for over five years having moved after Rick completed his masters at Dallas Theological Seminary. We are convinced that we are smack in the middle of God's will serving this community for the Lord although we vowed on our wedding day that we'd be ready to go where God leads trusting him every step of the way. Is there a better place then this? We pray our daily living is a breathing example of this call and devotion to our heavenly Father in every aspect of how we live our life.

We have been blessed beyond words with four full of character children. Caden, 8 has a slight obsession with Legos. For those of you that know him, you know this is slightly an understatement. Caden will not allow me to play with Legos as he has informed me that I don't have a clue what I'm doing! He is totally right! Ellie is 6, but comes with brains and charm much too mature for her own good. She is the one that tries so hard to make others believe she is shy. Don't worry, you will learn quickly! Will is our four year old tender hearted one. Will has the ability to melt your heart with one grin and spends most of his time following his big brother and sister. Michael is our son that passed away at a full term pregnancy in January of 2010. As I carried this pregnancy, we also carried the burden of knowing that he would pass away at delivery due to the absence of both kidneys. He entered this world with no breath, but I found him to be the most breath taking of all creations. Michael still has the ability to touch lives as God used him powerfully to "speak" God's grace, mercy, and love to the world as his story was and still is shared at: giftfrom316.blogspot.org

So this is a snapshot of who we are. I will forewarn you that the only reason that I am blogging is because of friends like you pressuring me to tell our story. I, in no way, claim to be a gifted or schooled writer as even this week I had to research what an irregular vowel was! Any and all feedback is welcomed and encouraged.

And this brings us to how God's call on Rick's and my life to adopt has caused us to examine His heart for the orphan and the miracle of our own adoption into God's family. Coming next...