We are the Estep family. Founded in 2005 and expanded, first in 2008 and again in 2011. Comprised of Matt, a worship pastor, Heidi, an elementary school teacher, Braeden, a bright, inquisitive second grader and Micah, an energetic, music-loving pre-Kster. We’re a faith-based, Financial Peace-loving (almost done with Baby Step 2 for all of you FPU/Dave Ramsey fans out there), spirit-filled family of four who want to live and give all that we can to bring honor and recognition to the One who gave it all for us. And so, we have begun this incredible, terrifying, overwhelmingly beautiful journey into a territory that is unfamiliar to us but already known intimately well by our Father.

Just over a year ago, before we ventured down this road, we had more questions than answers…

• How can God be calling us? How will our family and friends respond? How can we afford this?
• Why adopt when we already have two healthy, beautiful children?
• When are we to begin this process? When will we be financially ready?
• Where do we go to begin the process? Which agency do we choose?
• Should we foster to adopt or adopt internationally?
• Who will this child be and how will we know which child belongs with our family?
• What changes will this bring to our family, specifically for our biological children?

The list goes on and on…and while we’d love to tell you that each question now has an answer, that would not be true. In fact, questions continue to come up each day as we seek the Lord in this process. So, why proceed? One little word…

faith

While reading James 2, these verses rang out loud and clear:

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” -but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James 2:14-17

After reflecting on these verses, a thought came to mind. It’s not about me. It’s all about Him…all for Him. If He calls us to do something, no matter how impractical, illogical, ill-timed, and unrealistic it may be to those around us, the truth of the matter is that it’s not about any of us. We are called to follow His will in our lives: period. And this is the next chapter in our story.

So, here we are. Prayerfully following the words in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Hoping that you’ll join us on this great adventure! We'd love it if you'd follow our blog at https://rightlyplaced.wordpress.com/ to learn more about our story and updates that we share along the way.

With love and gratitude,

Matt, Heidi, Braeden, & Micah