I realized today that it's been around six months since we've posted anything here. That has been the case for a couple of reasons : 

1. We've been SO busy being a family. What a great joy we've found in that. Hardly a day goes by that our oldest doesn't remind us of that fact. She's so thankful to be part of a family, and to get to be part of a family forever. It's hard to believe all that the Lord has done over the last six months. Today I was looking back at old pictures and videos on my phone and seeing how these girls have grown so much in that time period. Even in the short six months that we've had them, it's hard to believe how much they've grown, and how much we've grown together. 

2. We haven't had a lot to share. You've seen our pictures on facebook and instagram (despite the fact that you can only see the backs of our girls). There has been a legal process happening behind the scenes that has slowed down the 'technicality' of our family being official, but it hasn't slowed down us becoming a family. That has been a day to day process of joy.

Today, we do have some news to share. Last week, our girls became legally free to adopt and this week, we signed adoptive paperwork to allow us to put a date on the calendar for that.  When I told our oldest what we were signing, she jumped up and down exclaiming "I'm so excited. This is my family forever!". It's a huge step for our family, and we feel like we have SO MUCH to celebrate. Even as I write this, I just received the email with the legal notification of this officially happening. God is good and He's working this for good.

With that though, it's hard to ignore the fact that there is pain behind it. There is a broken family behind it. And even though our girls don't understand it now, that brokenness will lead to pain in the future and hard questions to answer. That is hard, and it will be hard, but for now we rest in the joy we find in Romans 8:28:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God is doing what God does. He's bringing good from bad. He's bringing healing to brokenness. He's bringing joy to pain. So we celebrate the good, and trust the One who is working it. Pray for us as we get the joy of making this final in the coming days! (You'll finally get to see real pictures!!) 

Last week, Emily and I took a huge step in an adoption journey that we’ve been on for a long time. We welcomed two beautiful little girls into our home on the week of Christmas. They’ve been an incredible gift to us from the Lord. Even as I write this, I’m surrounded by the pitter patter of four little feet playing tag around the house.

For over thirteen years, we’ve had the identity of husband and wife, focused on our relationships with the Lord and each other. It’s been incredibly fulfilling and full of joy, but we’ve always desired to be something more.

Last week, we got a new identity - Mommy and Daddy.

It all happened so quickly, quicker than we expected. Emily has still called me Joel on occasion, but is quickly reminded by our oldest that it’s not my name. My name is Daddy. We laugh about it every time, knowing that we will always be Emily and Joel to each other. But still, we can’t deny that everything in our life has changed. All the cool breakables in the house are put away. There’s a lot of furniture sitting in the garage that isn’t kid friendly that will be going on Craigslist this week. There are constantly toys everywhere in the house that we are constantly picking up. We are soaking in our quiet moments together, because they are few and far between.

But there is so much joy in this house. There is so much joy in being Mommy and Daddy. Sure, there are moments of whining and waking up in the middle of the night, but they are overshadowed by the moments of hearing them giggle and being told ‘I love you daddy’ by our youngest after I changed her diaper.

There is also sacrifice, probably more than we expected. I don’t think we really expected for this to change everything about our lives. But we sacrifice the life we’ve lived and known for the sake of being Mommy and Daddy to these two girls. And it’s worth it. It’s worth it because they bring us such joy. It’s worth it because they deserve a Mommy and Daddy who love them and consistently care for them. It’s worth it because of love.

But for us, this Christmas, it’s worth it for another reason. It’s just a glimpse of the love and sacrifice that was involved when Jesus took on a new identity for us. He humbled Himself and left the Father’s side to become the Word Made Flesh. Jesus gained the identity of being fully human, while still being fully God. It was a great sacrifice, one that eventually cost His life. Christmas is all about that. Jesus being born into a new identity for the Father’s glory and our salvation.

We still have a long way to go in figuring this parenting thing out, but I’m grateful this Christmas that God has used it to remind us of the sacrifice of Christ for us, and the love He displayed in taking human form. So from us this year, Merry Christmas, and may we all remember the depths of the love of Jesus.

John 1: 16 - For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

A month and a half ago, I wrote a difficult blog post sharing how God shut the door on the adoption that we had been pursuing for over two and a half years. It was a tough time for me and Emily, but we held firm to the Lord and trusted in His best. We still felt as if God was leading us to adopt out of our area through DSS, despite the fact that it’s been a difficult road. So we chose to persevere.

Today, I get to share some good news. Next week, we have the JOY of having two beautiful little sisters move into our home before Christmas. We have been chosen as their adoptive family, and will foster them until that adoption can take place. This was completely unexpected for us, especially to happen this quickly. We can thank our wonderful workers at DSS and the relationships we have built there. We can thank an incredible attorney who has consistently fought for us behind the scenes. But ultimately, God is working a miracle of grace in our family. We don’t deserve this, but are beyond thankful for His consistent love to us. He has been working in our family for good since the very start of it.

We can’t share a lot of details over the internet, but we can share our joy. 

It’s been a long road to get to this point, and we certainly still have many things that need to take place before an adoption is finalized. But for now, we will take the time to become a family, to learn each other, and to celebrate the gift of Jesus together this Christmas.

Thank you each so much for your prayers for our family over the last several years. Your faithfulness to pray and care for us is showing great fruit in this time.

Here’s how you can pray for our growing family in the coming days:
1. Pray for these precious girls that this transition will be as smooth as possible for them.
2. Pray for me and Emily, that we can quickly learn parenting on the go and do our best to communicate the love of God through the love we show them.

We love you all and hope that God’s gift of Jesus to your family this year is felt strongly. Merry Christmas!

This morning I was reading through Psalm 71 and the words echoed strongly in my heart:

1     In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
       let me never be put to shame!
2     In your righteousness 
       deliver me and rescue me;
       incline your ear to me, and save me!
3     Be to me a rock of refuge,
       to which I may continually come;
       you have given the command to save me,
       for you are my rock and my fortress.

I know that many of you have been waiting on an update on our adoption (you can read some past blog entries for more context). It has been well over a month since we let you know that we had a hearing that did not go well and that we were still waiting for a verdict. Last week, we had that hearing and we received that verdict.

Just as a recap, earlier this year we had a hearing that was a huge win for us, seeming as if it was a 99.9% chance that these kids that we’ve been praying over for over two years would be coming home with us. It left us with what we thought was a small, simple step for DSS and us in order to get the kids home. It still, however, required going to another judge for another hearing.

What we thought would be a sure thing with no complications ended up incredibly complicated. In the end, we received a no on the kids coming to us now, and the future of the case is all but shut down. There are so many details that go into all of this, but the result of it is that the kids will likely stay in permanent foster care until they age out.

Emily and I are heartbroken over this. It makes no sense considering the goal of foster care in South Carolina is to either return kids to their parents or have them adopted into a permanent home. Nevertheless, this is where we are. We have no answers. We’ve been praying for them, and I know the Lord will reveal them to us in time.

For now, this prayer is what we have: Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come.

Last Sunday, I had the honor to preach on the death and resurrection of Jesus from 1 Corinthians 15. It was a highly emotional experience for me with everything going on, but it was clear that God gave that passage to me for one reason.

Paul says in verse one: ‘Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you STAND.’

God knew that in that moment, we needed to be reminded of the gospel. We needed to be reminded that our sure foundation wasn’t our emotions. It wasn’t in any hope that we had in this world. It wasn’t in our hopes for these kids in our home.

Our sure foundation is the good news of Jesus Christ, and it’s in that hope that we stand.

We may be sad, and we are. We may experience anger, and we do. But those things don’t make us who we are. Jesus makes us who we are.

Here’s what we ask of you: Pray. Pray for these kids that God would work His good news out in their lives. Pray that they would be safe and well loved. And pray that each of us remembers what our hope is in: Christ alone.

Most of you have been following our adoption story for awhile, some of you for years and others over the last several months. Emily and I want to say a huge word of THANK YOU for your prayers for us over this season, as well as give you a quick update. We honestly could not have walked through this process without the support of so many who have patiently walked with us through this.

Here's where we are -

Most of you know that over a month ago, we had a hearing that we won by God's grace. Basically this opened the door for us to be the only couple to move forward in adopting these kids we've been promised for over two years. This was a HUGE step and gave us so much hope. 

Since that hearing, we've been waiting for all the paperwork to be signed and a bunch of legal things to be worked out. The great news is that most of that has happened now. We have so much to be thankful to the Lord for in getting us to this point.

So now, we would like to ask your prayers again. As far as I understand it, we only have one (yes, just ONE) step left before the kids are able to move into our home. Simply this - We are waiting for a signature from a judge. This could literally happen any day now, and we are incredibly excited! So please, pray for expediency with all this, so we can begin this transition for these children and work to help them feel loved and a part of our family.  

Thank you so much for your prayers. We can't wait to let you know the good news!

If you’re reading this post right now, this question has probably come to your mind at some point or another - Are the Ainsworths still adopting? Unless you are in our missional community, a huddle with us, or involved in the regular rhythms of our life, you may not know. I realize that for you, this has probably been a bit of an awkward journey. You may be unsure of the status of things, and afraid to ask because you don’t want to bring up a sensitive topic. We totally understand that.

Truthfully, it has been difficult, and we haven’t talked about it much because there hasn’t been much to talk about. We’ve been tied up in court hearings and proceedings that progress things, but ultimately haven’t led to any decisions. We have had many moments of great hope, believing that this was the time where things would be finalized, only to have that hope diminished by various circumstances. We’ve had long periods of nothing happening, proving difficult to endure with optimism. Through it all, we’ve persevered, believing God’s call to be better than our failing emotions.

To answer your question - Yes, we are still adopting. 

It’s been over two years at this point since we were supposed to have two beautiful little kids placed in our home. I would be lying if I didn’t say those two years have been hard. Every day we walk by the bedroom we worked so diligently to prepare for them, from building a bed to making quilts and curtains. With each glance, we experience a mixture of hope and sadness. Every time we open a drawer or cabinet with a child safety lock, we are reminded to pray for these kids.

I’m writing today because everything is changing over the next several days. We have a court hearing early next week that has the potential to be a final decision in all this. With this, we need each of you that have been praying for us over the last several years to spend some time praying over the coming days. 

Pray - 
1. For the Kids - Whether it’s a transition for them, or things stay the same, God loves these kids deeply. Pray that He would use either circumstance for His glory in their lives. 
2. For the Case - Pray that our judge will make a decision that’s best for the kids, that their welfare and well-being is at the core of the decision.

I know many of you have been praying for us, and we do appreciate that. Whatever happens, we will continue to trust and believe in God’s sovereign hand, not just over the world, but over our lives as well. He is working our lives, and this situation, for His best. We may think and believe that we know what’s best for us, but my idea of ‘best’ for me doesn’t begin to compare to God’s best for me. So if you pray for us, pray for God’s will and God’s best for our lives, and not just for our desires.

Whatever happens, our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our lives, whatever they may be, are only a reflection of the true life He’s given us. Our love is only a glimpse of the love that He has shown to us. Our family is a picture of the family that we receive from the reconciliation by Christ’s blood. Our adoption is ultimately a reflection of God adopting us as His children by the work of the cross.

He is good. He is love. He is best.

Well it’s been quite awhile since our last post. I’m sure that many of you have been wondering what is going on in our adoption world. Truthfully, we haven’t posted in months because there really hasn’t been anything to tell. I can catch you up pretty quickly -

We were selected last April to Foster to Adopt two beautiful little kids (M&M).

Their move into our home has been tied up in court since then.

Honestly, that’s all we really have as an update at this point. It seems simple and uncomplicated, but it’s been everything but that in our heads and hearts. There have been multiple moments where we’ve been close to getting them, and court has been postponed for varying reasons. That has been hard emotionally, but we trust our God who is faithful, not only to us, but to these kids as well.

We have another court date coming up next week, and would ask your prayers for these kids and those in charge of making these decisions.

Because we don’t have too much to share at this point, we thought we could give you a glimpse into our home and the room we have ready for them. Emily and I have worked hard to be prepared for them at any moment (as we have to be). 

Because it will be most comfortable for them at the start, we have them sharing a room together. You can see from the above early pic that we once had a crib in the room (Emily made a cute little crib quilt). The youngest is now too old for that, so I built a little toddler bed and Emily made a comforter for it.

Here's a little shelf area with a place for more books (we LOVE books!) and toys. We have a little chalkboard framed on the wall to leave notes!

We want to say a special word of thanks to each of you who have been praying for us these past months, even without word of an update. We believe that now, more so than ever, we need to be bringing these kids before the Lord. If you can join us in praying for them over the next few weeks, we would be incredibly grateful. 

Can you pray for us? Yes, but I would hope that you would especially pray for these two beautiful little kids made in the image of God. Pray that, no matter the outcome, they find their hope in the one who made them for His glory!

I made a decision to separate my blog into two separate blogs. I think it's confusing to have family stuff and work/theological stuff located together. So for simplicity sake, I'm creating this new blog to deal with our adoption journey and family life. You can find my other blog dealing with christian issues here.

It's been interesting to look back on life as I've put this blog together. The last several years have been quite a journey for Emily and I. The Lord has been beyond good to us, but we've walked through some difficulty as well. Sometimes it seems easiest to put difficulty behind us. But the truth is, it's never really behind us. The things that we go through in life stick with us and make us who we are today. 

It's tempting in starting this new blog to just erase it all and start where we are, which is full of hope and joy in what God is doing. But the last year, our failed adoption, and the pain that came with it existed for the glory of our Lord. That's why I can't bring myself to erase the past. I believe it exists to strengthen us, but also maybe to encourage others. Adoption isn't always easy, and it doesn't always work out. But that doesn't mean it's not worth it. We learn from the journey. So take a journey through our blog and our story.

I hope and pray that this blog is an encouragement for people dealing with the pain and struggle of loss in adoption. God is faithful. He will carry you through. There are too many children out there in need of a family. We can't give up just because it's hard.

God has proven His faithfulness to us. We are in the process to adopt two beautiful kids, and though slowdowns continue to pop up, we ultimately trust in the sovereignty of God. He will have His will, and that will is beautiful and trustworthy.

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.  - 1 Thess. 5:24

I just got off a pretty exciting phone call. Let me give you some background -

Most of you know that this past year has been a difficult one for Emily and I. You can read back through this blog to find the history, but here’s a basic summary. We were in the process to adopt a beautiful thirteen year old girl through DSS and were confident that God was guiding the entire thing. She was with us for four wonderful months and then made the decision to attempt an adoption with a family member who stepped into the situation. It was heartbreaking for us, but we were still confident that the Lord was guiding the entire thing. We have realized through all this that we are called to obedience, even in difficulty. In all this, however, God has blessed us with His kindness and comfort, a wonderful marriage relationship, and incredible family and friends who have been a great support. We have much to be thankful for.

Today, we have even more to be thankful for. We still believe that God has called us to adopt through the DSS system. There are too many children in our own neighborhoods that are without families. A little while back, DSS contacted us and let us know that our file would be going to a selection committee for a young sibling group. A couple of weeks ago, we had the joy of discovering that we had been selected for a Foster to Adopt situation with a girl (almost 3 years) and a boy (1.5 years). Yesterday we met with DSS, were presented with all information on the kids, saw pictures of them (they are beyond adorable), and wanted to immediately say YES! Under state law we had to wait a day to do that, so that was the pretty exciting phone call I just got off of.

Their names both start with M, so for now, we will call them M&M in all of our online sharing. We are unable to share any details beyond that and probably can’t for awhile, but I will explain a little more about Foster to Adopt and where we are. In this situation, the rights of the parents have not yet been terminated (it’s in process), but DSS is fairly certain this will take place. So we will foster the children until they are legally free to adopt, and then be able to adopt them. It’s not a certain thing that they will ever be free for adoption (it’s ultimately up to a judge), but DSS wouldn’t move forward with this if they didn’t feel pretty confident. We understand the risk in this, and knowing that God has called us to care for the fatherless, have confidence in His best as we say yes.

This can be a very quick situation from here on. There is a ten day transition window, and barring any slow downs, these kids could be living with us in as little as 10 days! That’s a big transition for a family that’s never had little kids before, so we are working hard to get things ready with the little bit of information that we have at this point. Most people have 9 months for this, so we are working to prepare for two kids pretty quickly.

So we would ask that you please pray for us -
1. Pray for these sweet kids that they would have a smooth transition into our family.
2. Pray that we would be able to do the work of preparation needed ahead of time. As a side note, I’m leaving in the morning for a mission trip to Haiti for 7 days. Pray that Emily won’t feel overloaded or stressed working through this stuff without me here.
3. Pray for God’s best in this. That’s really what we desire for these kids and us. We hope and pray that it’s with us as a forever family.

Thanks for all your prayers over the last year or so. God never ceased working in this situation and we are thankful to be a part of His story!

Many of you have asked in recent months about our adoption. Unfortunately, back in October our process to adopt was halted outside of our control. The sweet girl who was living with us had a family member pop up at the last minute who wanted to adopt her. She was of the age to make the decision and she decided to attempt to work that out. I know how difficult that must have been for her, because the draw of family is so strong in our lives. We still pray for her and ask that you do as well.

We are trusting the Lord in this. His faithfulness endures through ALL generations. It is enduring in our lives even now. Things may not have happened they way we desired, but we trust God's hand in it all. I'm thankful that we had the opportunity to show her the love of Jesus, even if only for a few months. I pray that she would constantly remember that love in her own life.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for us. We are continuing down the road of adoption through DSS and trusting God's timing for all of this. He is faithful. He always has been and He always will be.  Like David in Psalm 26:3, we trust in God's love before us, and walk in His faithfulness.

Psalm 26: 3 - For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

On Monday of this week, Emily and I went to the zoo.

This wasn’t just any normal zoo visit. It was the second biggest and most important day of our relationship so far - we met our future daughter!

Here’s the story:
We had been planning this day for weeks, working with DSS to get a date on the calendar. After having been approved to meet her, and us deciding to move forward, we put together a scrapbook of our life and sent it to be used to introduce us to her. So a few case workers got together with her and showed her the scrapbook. At this point, we didn’t even know that it had happened until Emily got an email at her work from her. She took the time to track us down across the internet, and we began a process of emailing back and forth with her. I haven’t been so giddy to get an email since Emily and I first started emailing each other. I’m still at the point of constantly checking to see if there is something new in my inbox.

Monday finally came, and we were so nervous. Not only were we meeting her for the first time, but her foster parents and three social workers were going to be on hand as well. As soon as we met her, all of that washed away and it was just natural. We had a wonderful visit for six hours at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia as we fed the animals, chased squirrels, made every animal sound in creation, and just marveled at the fact that we were hanging out with this girl who, if the Lord wills, will become our daughter. It was such a great joy.

There is alot that we can’t tell you about her online, but here are a few tidbits:
1. She just turned 13 years old.
2. She is absolutely adorable.
3. Zebras are her favorite animal.
4. She just got braces.
5. She wears neon socks.
6. She told me last night in an email that ‘she can’t wait to become an Ainsworth’.

So here is where we are now -
We get to spend every weekend in May with her. We will be heading to the upstate this Friday for our first visit, and will follow with another up there the following weekend. Hopefully, for the last two weekends in May, she will be able to come spend the weekend with us in Charleston. If all goes well and everyone is happy, she should be able to move in with us at the beginning of the summer!!

Please keep praying for us as we continue in this journey. It’s all moving so fast now (which is such a contrast to the earlier pace), so pray that we can keep up with life over the coming months. Pray for her that she would feel comfortable, loved, and attached to our family. Pray for her transition away from the foster home that’s been her most consistent home in her life. Pray for us that we would make God honoring decisions as we begin to parent her.

We love you all and are so thankful for your thoughts, encouragement, and prayers over the last two years. You are all our family. God is beyond faithful!

Get ready.

This is the most excited that I have ever been about a blog post.

Most of you know that Emily and I have spent the last two years working through DSS in SC to adopt a child. More recently, God began to work in our hearts to adopt an older child. More info on that here ---> http://pursuitofblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/an-adoption-update-something-far-better.html

Around November, Emily and I inquired about a girl that we saw online through DSS who was twelve years old. Pretty soon after, we got a call letting us know that we would be presented at a selection committee as possible adoptive parents for her. We were very excited about this, and began to pray for her and the process.

In early December, I had the chance to do an interview through Love Gave (http://lovegave.com) about our adoption process that was live streaming on the internet. You can watch that interview here ---> http://vimeo.com/57062240 . There were pictures hanging up everywhere of kids who were waiting to be adopted in South Carolina. But there was one picture that was sitting right in front of the couch across from me. It was the only picture that was by itself. It was of a girl, and it was the girl that we had been praying for. There are over 1,100 older kids in South Carolina waiting to be adopted, and the only one who was pulled out to set on the stage was this girl that we were going to a selection committee for.

It was one of those moment where you just knew that God was working in a situation. We spent much of the two years earlier not finding much traction and wondering where God was taking us in all this. But as I sat through the interview talking about the great need of all these wonderful kids in our state without a family, I had her on my mind the entire time. It was really difficult to not start talking about it during the interview. God was making this personal in our lives, and Emily and I were getting very excited about that.

It really wasn’t much of a surprise at that point when we got a call in January letting us know that we had been selected by the state to adopt her. We knew God’s hand was in this. It took a couple of months at that point for them to pull together all her information, and last week, we had a meeting in Columbia where we were presented with all the information. We are beyond thrilled to move forward and to be a part of a young girl’s life, providing her with the love and stability that she deserves.

We are now putting together a scrapbook of our life, which they will present to her. After that, we will begin setting up a day visit, and then weekend visits where we get the chance to meet her and know her. Pray for God’s will to continue to work in the midst of all of this. Pray for this sweet girl that God will work in her life and have her be receptive to a new family. Pray for us that we would be obedient to God’s will and would display the love of Christ to her in this. We are so thankful to all of you for your prayers and thoughts over the last two years. Keep it up!

As many of you know, Emily and I have been on this journey of adoption for almost two years now. It has been an experience of patience, with lots of ups and downs. We signed up with South Carolina DSS to adopt a child from birth to three years, and have worked hard through all of their adoption requirements to get to that final point. There aren’t many other things that we would cause us to hang a fire extinguisher in our kitchen and childproof all our cabinet doors. What we didn’t expect, was that somewhere along the way, God would begin to change our heart in some pretty significant ways.

We really believe in adoption of all kinds, but for us, we really felt like God was pushing us in the direction of adopting locally. Specifically, we wanted to be able to help put a small dent in the amount of kids in our foster care system. No child should be without a forever family, and we want to be a part of that solution.

As our journey continued, we began to hear from DSS that there was a great need for something that we weren’t even considering: adopting an older child. We wanted younger kids, to be able to walk through the whole experience of parenthood and to not miss out on the cute kid phase. But some of the stats that we began to hear really shook us. Things like:
1. There are 500 families in the state of South Carolina waiting for kids 3 years and younger.
2. There are 1,100 kids older than that sitting in foster care that are available and waiting to be adopted that no one is adopting.
3. In the US every year, 20,000 kids age out of the foster care system, setting them up to be without a family for the rest of their lives.

So God changed our heart. While we were desiring one thing for ourselves, God was desiring something else, something even better. Ultimately like marriage, adoption is a picture of the gospel. It’s one of selflessness, sacrifice, and love. Looking into our hearts, we understood God was taking us somewhere far better than just filling an empty spot in our lives. He wanted to use our family to be a glimpse of His love.

Emily and I have changed our age range and are now focused on adopting an older child, and we would love it if you and your family would pray for us as God continues to work to bring His best to our lives. We are really excited, specifically as we realize more and more that God has prepared us for this. Through Emily teaching middle school, and my involvement in student ministry, God has been getting us ready for this and building a strong desire in our hearts. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, and support that we continue to receive along the way. We love you all!

Many of you know that Emily and I began a journey a little over a year ago to adopt. You can browse down in this blog to find out more about the beginning of the process. I know that we haven't updated you much on what is happening, but I thought I would take a moment to let you know where we are in the process.

We made a well thought-out and well prayed about decision to adopt locally through South Carolina DSS. We spent much of last summer/fall going through our home study process for our adoption. Last October, we were officially approved as adoptive parents. DSS works their adoptive process differently than most other adoptions. Rather than having a case worker that picks the best child for your family, each child has a case worker that picks the best family for them. While this is a slower process, I still believe it is a good one, and one that we signed on for.

Since October, we have been on a journey to be that best family for a child. It's been slow, and at times it has felt like it wasn't even happening. I know that this is a struggle that all adoptive families deal with, and we are trusting that God's timing is best in this. To be honest, we haven't loved the wait and lack of communication, but we know that God's faithfulness is far greater than our doubts. Psalm 100:5 reminds me of this - For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Honestly, the great news lies in God's faithfulness. Even when it might seem like nothing is happening, we can trust that God is at work behind the scenes. He is bringing about His best in the midst of this process for us.  We can trust that, and we do trust that. We love each one of you, and are thankful for your thoughts and prayers for us, and God's best. Please keep praying with us!

Since Emily and I announced the exciting news that we are adopting, we have received lots of questions. The most repeated word in all of those questions is why. Whether it's why adopt, why adopt local, or why adopt now, these are the big questions that have come our way. I wanted to take a little bit of time and give an answer as we step into this process.

I'll start off answering the question of why adopt. In John 14:18, Jesus states "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Jesus is promising His faithfulness to His followers in saying that the Holy Spirit is soon to follow. Our world is full of our own children who need followers of Christ to be faithful and come to them. James 1:27 tells us "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James is finishing up a passage about how living out Scripture is more important than just hearing Scripture. The culmination of that whole passage is the application that visiting/taking care of orphans and widows is very important, as well as keeping ourselves pure from the world. Scripture is pretty clear that we as Christians need to be involved in taking care of orphans. Emily and I have always had the desire to adopt because of the great need, but more than that, we want to act out of obedience to the Lord in His desire to see that these great needs are met.

Another big question we get is what kind of adoption we are doing, and why we chose to adopt local instead of internationally. For us this is a really important question. We love adoptions of all kinds, but really wanted to have the opportunity to make a difference locally. One passage of Scripture really stands out for us in this. In Jeremiah 29, God is speaking to His people that have been exiled into Babylon. It's not a completely ideal situation for them, but God wants them to make the best of it for His glory. He tells them to marry the locals, plant gardens, have kids, and build houses. He wants them to settle down and be good neighbors that make a difference. Then he finishes up in verse seven with a word that has been very important to our lives lately: "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." In the welfare of the city, you will find your welfare. Through adoption, we want to be able to make a difference in the life of our city, even starting with just one child. We want the life of one child who has little hope to be given the opportunity to have great hope in Christ.

The last question to answer is the question of why adopt now. We both knew this would happen eventually, and we have been waiting on God's timing for leadership in this. Through many different circumstances, people, and closing other doors, we feel confident that this is the time that God has for us to begin this process. We are beyond excited and praying for the Lord's leadership as we move forward. While it is easy to be selfish in this because we will gain a child that we desire, we are praying that our hearts will be focused on God's call to be a family for a child that needs one. Please pray that we stay obedient to God in the process, and that we take every moment of the process for God's glory!