Welcome!

We are so thankful to share that we are in the process of adopting a child from China! We will give you the snap-shot details here, and if you'd like to learn more about our journey keep reading below!

Snap-Shot:

In 2009 we went to Africa and could not deny the need for adoption. After returning, we read Adopted for Life and were challenged when we learned the story of our own adoption through the Gospel. After a lot of prayer and God's intervention in each of our hearts, we took the first step toward International Adoption from Uganda in May 2012. Real life presented real hurdles for the next four years in both our adoption process and our personal life as a family. Our adoption changed in May 2016 when we switched to the China program. We believe God has had His Hand in this process all along, and in Spring/Summer 2017 we will hopefully bring home our child.  

Quick Details On How You Can Join Us On This Journey:

You are our village. We invite you to be a part of this story by playing whatever role God leads you. The two most important needs are prayer and funding. 

Prayer:

We truly believe not one prayer involved in this journey will be wasted. We believe our adoption process is not a surprise to God. We want to be wise and courageous in our obedience with each step that leads us closer to the child He has in mind. We ask you begin praying for this child now. There are so many specific prayers we'd ask for, but our main ones are:

1) for our child in China: the nearness of Jesus as we don't know their current situation and health

2) for us: continued wisdom to know what to do and the courage to do it so that we may be in His will as He unites our forever family together. 

Funding: 

The total cost will be around $34,000. We are committed to contributing $14,000 of that total ourselves. We humbly ask you to consider contributing to the remaining need of $20,000. We are pursuing several grants to help as well. 

Long Story:

God wrecked our world in the best way possible when we went to Liberia, Africa with Young Life Expeditions in 2009. He broke our hearts for what breaks His. He expanded our ability to see beyond ourselves. He birthed in us a desire to respond to the needs we had seen in a personal way. 

Shortly after, my (Sally) sister gave me the book Adopted for Life by Russell D Moore. It educated me to understand further that,

 "...Adoption is, on the one hand, gospel. In this, adoption tells us who we are as children of the Father. Adoption is also defined as mission. In this, adoption tells us our purpose in this age as the people of Christ. Missional adoption spurs us to join Christ in advocating for the helpless and the abandoned." (1)

 We came to agree with Moore that we all have a stake in adoption because Jesus does. So, we asked the question, "What role do you have in mind for us, God?"

God moved Taylor and me at different speeds for the next few years. He brought us to the same place one afternoon. Taylor was driving down the road praying for wisdom if we were to adopt and God whispered to him, "Did I delay in adopting you?" 

We had our first daughter, Daye, in April 2011. In May 2012, when she turned one, we began the process to adopt internationally from Uganda. We knew it would be at least a two year process so we left the door open for more biological children in the meantime. We had a miscarriage in December 2012. We learned a lot during this time of grief - one lesson being the miracle each life on this earth is. 

We were blessed to welcome our second daughter, Finley, into our family in December 2013. While no life can ever replace one that has been lost, God gave us the eyes to see one way He redeemed the season we had been in by giving us Finley. 

In the meantime, we also moved (which required more paperwork), Taylor changed jobs (more paperwork), we changed our insurance (more paperwork), and, therefore, adoption progress was slow. Not to mention we had to wait until Finley was 6 months old before they would allow us to proceed, and Uganda continued to extend the wait time for international families wanting to adopt. So, as Finley got older we continued to leave the door open to more children biologically. 

We had two more miscarriages in 2015. The last one being almost 15 weeks along with a son. It took every ounce of emotional and mental energy to continue raising Daye and Finley while grieving. So, our adoption progress slowed yet again. 

In April 2016, just a few months ago, Uganda announced a potential new bill requiring families adopting internationally to live in country for two years. This was a game changer for us. After talking with our agency and praying about it, we decided this was another closed door. Our agency, Bethany Christian Services, strongly advised we pull out of the program and switch countries. We were a good match for the China program. So, after more prayer and seeking more wisdom, we moved forward with peace to adopt from China. 

While we were disappointed not to be adopting from Africa, Africa wasn't necessarily the call for us. Following Jesus was - and still is. Jesus is actually where this adoption journey started. And when we said "Yes" to adoption, we were saying "Yes" to Jesus. 

Jesus, you are writing this story so differently than we expected. The road seems to have been longer and slower and filled with more hurdles and heartache than we would have preferred. We thank you that you have not left us alone as we've continued to take each step. We thank you that you see the Whole Story. It can be brutal, it can feel lonely, it can be exhausting, but we still say "Yes" to You. We trust You, Jesus. We thank you for the family you have already created, and we thank you for how you are still growing us through this journey of adoption.