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!