Eighteen from Him!

I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

Isaiah 43:5-7

This message, found in the center of the Bible, has been a true blessing to us through the years. It was an Old Testament promise to Israel that they would once again live in the Promised Land. Today that same promise holds for the Christians whom the Lord will call his own. Yet, it is also a poignant set of verses which speaks strongly to adoptive parents. And it is the beginning of several of our children's story...for we are parents to children from the east, west, north, and south, who are now called by Christ's name and bring him glory!

Come to find out, God was not done bringing children into our hearts and home.

For years we had been praying for a word from the Lord as to whether He wanted us to add more children to our family through adoption. We are still quite young (well...at least that holds true for my wife!) and through experience have learned much about parenting children, regardless of how or where they were come from.

Not to mention, we know Adoption Truth #14:
Never say never to adoption again. As time goes on and you learn to parent the adopted child, there are many more hurting children who need and want parents.

The impression from the Lord to our prayer was yes, but wait. So year after year, we continued to wait and trust that the Lord would make it clear in his timing. 

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it

shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because

it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Habakkuk 2:3

Katherine had a desire in her heart to know if we were to adopt again. It was a growing burden for her. On November 16, 2010, she and I went out to dinner. While discussing our life, children, and future over a 'Bloomin Onion', she hit me with the question. She asked if I would be OK with adopting more children. I immediately responded, 

“If God drops children in our lap, I am not opposed to it.”


Much to her surprise and mine, on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 the Lord 'dropped four children in our lap'. On September 14, 2012, the Philippines gave us permission to adopt them. Now we wait for more paperwork to be done with the understanding that in 2-3 months from now we will be able to travel to bring them home. 

You can follow their story through our 'Journey to Cebu' blog posts at:
http://ontheirjourney.blogspot.com/