the starting point

James 1:27
"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."

I'm sitting in Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS as I type this, in awe of everything God has done in the last couple years.
"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps," says Proverbs 16:9. That has never been truer for me than right now in my life. Kevin and I are coming up on our 6 year wedding anniversary, and we always thought little kiddos would be with us by now. Wow, how God laughs at our plans sometimes. We learned a little over three years ago that infertility was in our life in a big way. I'm still not 100% sure what that means for us, but I do know that God is sovereign over that and we are trusting Him with the desires of our heart. While praying and crying and losing sleep over this massive boulder in our road, God showed me that the heart I had for adoption prior to getting married needed cultivating. This was about 18 months ago. I started listening closer to the ones around me who were adopting or had adopted. Their stories were amazing and all had the distinct fingerprint of God. For me, adoption has never been something you do if you can't have your own kids, but it was something to do after having our own kids. I knew I would adopt; I just thought it would be after little Huguleys were here. God's thoughts are bigger and higher than my own and I'm learning that one day at a time. After almost a year of talking with Kevin and praying about when to get started, we finally felt the green light. That is the quick version of the story that brings you up to speed to today. Kevin and I have spent the last several weeks sifting through adoption agencies, trying to find the "right" one. I'll spare you all the tiny little details of how we made our decision, and I'm happy to say that we have started the process of adoption. Holt International is our agency of choice, South Korea is the country. Where are we exactly in the process? We have submitted our application to Holt and by the end of the week we'll have our home study application finished. Then the fun will start!

As heavy as my heart has been for biological children, God has graciously turned that energy into an excitement for adopting from South Korea. I cannot wait to share this journey with you! Please, please, please keep us in your prayers during this process. From our very limited knowledge, we are understanding this to be at least a year's long adventure with a lot of ups and downs. We have a huge support system of people that have adopted and are still in the process, and they have been honest about the good, bad, and ugly. We are mentally prepared for it....we think. :)

The first big hurdle that we will face is fundraising. You'll notice that there is a donate button on my blog where you can give whatever amount you feel is appropriate. I'd love for you to pass the blog address along to your friends and family so we can gather support from all areas. Know that we are in need of your prayers first; anything above that is icing on the cake.

Love!