A New Adventure

I never thought I would ever blog...until today. Our story begins with one thing...God's direction. God has spoken and what can we do but humbly follow? I am Shannon and my husband is Dan. We already have 2 beautiful children, Erin and Sam, but we now know for sure there were meant to be more. Only God can open your heart to love, I mean REALLY love, unconditionally. We know we are selfish by all accounts but God has spoken and we must follow. Looking back, our journey began before we even realized it. We have been being prepared for this for a long time. I am awed by God's perfect timing and His perfect will. He knew it was time. About 2 months ago my cousin (I only have 2) traveled to Ethiopia to pick up her precious new child. She and I had been talking off and on about the process since they began. I had stirring emotions every time we talked but quickly tucked them away. God began His relentless pursuit. Every where I would turn "ADOPTION" would be staring me in the face. Billboards, magazines, conversations with friends, news stories, newspaper articles, Christian literature, and numerous other "reminders" were every where. I realized God was speaking. Then came the big one. My sweet husband says, "You know Shannon, if we are going to think about adoption we really need to do it soon. Let's pray about it." You see, he didn't know what I was seeing and hearing every where. I hadn't told him yet. When he brought up the subject I knew deep down this was going to be for real. Not my will but Yours God, that is what will be done. I confessed to my husband what I had been experiencing. We were speechless for a moment then I think we both knew deep down but we didn't say it. We began to pray that God would make His will very clear. I couldn't think about adoption without tearing up. I still can't. That never happened before. What was going on? Where did this compassion that did not exist even a year ago come from? Oh, I knew of course. It was just one of the many ways God made His will crystal clear for me. We decided after much prayer that it was what we were to do. Memorial Day 2009 Dan made the final decision....it was time. Oh the excitement I felt! Oh the emotions that were within me! Oh now what!?! Our next prayer was "Which country should we adopt from God?" Again, clarity abounded. It was to be Russia. Now, "Which agency God? There are so many. Please lead us to the right one." Well, as if the journey hadn't been good enough yet, it gets better! We began to search relentlessly on the internet for adoption agencies. We, at some point, filled out a form on an unbiased website that would send our information to the appropriate agency(s) and we would get a call within the next few days. We did not receive a call and eventually we forgot about it. One night a few weeks later at 7:30 PM our phone rings and I answer. A lady with a very heavy Russian accent begins to talk to me and asked me if we had found an adoption agency yet. I was skeptical and I thought at first she was a telemarketer! (LOL) I was not in adoption mode when she called and was caught off guard. We began to talk and I kept questioning her about how she got my information. She must have thought I was crazy but she was so patient with me and talked to me for a long time. She had a lot of information and seemed very interested in the children. I told my husband when he got home what happened and he was skeptical too. The next day I called her back and she talked to me again and was again very patient with my questions. After about 4 days we finally figured out that our information we had filled out on the website had been forwarded to her agency. After several weeks, more conversations with her, and much prayer we realized that her agency was the one we should choose. I am still amazed that God took all the confusion out for us and literally had the right agency call us instead of us trying to find them. Problem solved!!!! So many things have fallen into place and I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the months to come. I know we will face challenges, trials, and experience many joys. I look forward to how this will strengthen our family. Yesterday, we received our acceptance letter for the agency here in Missouri to do our homestudy. It has officially begun. Let the journey begin!!!