November Numbers

The end of the month means updated numbers.  We are thrilled to share that there has been some movement on all 3 lists!  We are praying that God will continue to move mountains on behalf of the precious children in Ethiopia in need of a home.  We are praying for the families in Ethiopia faced with the difficult, heart-wrenching decision to part with their child because of various situations.  And we are continuing to pray that God will calm our hearts throughout this process as we wait on His perfect timing.  We haven't been on the wait list long, and we know that there is a long wait ahead.  While we were and are prepared for this wait, we've already realized how difficult it is going to be.  Our hearts yearn for this child/children.  We feel as if we are "expecting" without a certain timeline.

This month, we decided to make ornaments that display our numbers leading up to Christmas.  We hope that next Christmas we will be able to make ornaments with much smaller numbers!

Here are our November numbers:

Baby Boy:

Baby Girl:

 Siblings:

New Numbers!

Is it really November already?  It seems as though the garage sale fundraiser wrapped up last week; it’s difficult to imagine three and a half months have passed!

 

Although the garage sale is a not so distant memory, much has happened since then.  Steph has started and finished a very successful volleyball season.  Her team was very fun to watch this year, and they certainly grew as individuals and teammates throughout the season.  Steph is also several months into the school year.  As always, she has a great class of fantastic kids who love their teacher!

 

I’ve not only changed jobs, but careers, moving from the Business Intelligence team at GFS to the Supply Chain Planning Team at Amway.  I’m very excited about this opportunity!

 

On the adoption front, our puzzle fundraiser is officially complete.  To everyone who helped us complete this fundraiser so quickly, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  I know we’ve said this before, but we can’t say it enough – we are extremely humbled by all of the support, which has come in many forms, from our family and friends.

 

Onto updated numbers!

Baby Boy- #111

Baby Girl- #134

Siblings- #58

(we WILL get more creative as the months go on... stay tuned)

 

You’ll notice that we moved one spot up on the boys and girls lists in the past month, and we actually moved backwards three spots on the siblings list.  This occurs when people already on the boy and/or girl lists expand their parameters to included siblings. 

 

Some of you may be asking, “You only moved up one spot?  Are you kidding?”  Stephanie and I knew before we started this process that it would be long and often times discouraging if we allowed it to be.  In the months and years ahead, we have choices in how we respond to updates, news, hurdles, and setbacks.  We can either choose complaint, discouragement, and despair, or we can choose to seek God, to trust his timing, and to grow in Christ while we wait.  It’s very early, and the choice is simple!

We have NUMBERS!

Oh, happy day!   All of our paperwork is DONE, our homestudy is revised and complete, and we have officially reached the waiting list!  A week ago, we overnighted our notarized homestudy and our dossier off to our agency, anxiously awaiting great news that no revisions had to be made and we were officially on the wait list.  While all of our paperwork looked great, we have one tiny revision to make and resend.  We overnighted that the next business day, and received the call on Tuesday, October 2 that we are officially a waiting family! 

So, now you are probably wondering what our waiting list numbers are.... 

The reason it took a few days to get it posted is that we wanted to have a creative way to display our numbers.  The only problem is, there is not a whole lot of time for creativity in our home right now!  Between school, coaching volleyball, Curt's job and transition to a new job, it's been a busy fall.  But, we chipped away each night this past week, and here are our OFFICIAL OCTOBER NUMBERS!!

For a baby girl, we are number....

For a baby boy, we are number....

For a sibling set, we are number....

So what do these numbers mean?

These numbers tell us how many families are waiting for a child.  Some families are on the waiting list for just a girl, some are on the waiting list for just a boy. Many families, like us, are on multiple lists, so when a referral goes out, there is a good chance that your numbers will go down in multiple areas.  Also, each family has their own set of parameters for their age preference of the child.  Some families prefer a toddler or older child, some families have a wide range from infant through child, and some families have parameters for an infant.  All of these variables affect the numbers and timing of referrals.  

What we do know is that God has already chosen a child for us.  The most amazing part is this child is likely not even born yet or even conceived.  But God has him/her/them chosen to be a little Bolhuis.  We find so much comfort in that as we begin this long wait ahead!  

We ask that you continue to pray that we will trust God's timing and provision completely.  Please pray that we will be patient and find joy throughout this next waiting phase of the journey!  

What's next?

It's time to relax for a little bit!  It's been a busy 3-4 months of paperwork, homework, and paper chasing.  We are ready to sit back a little and spend some time learning more about the Ethiopian culture, as well as reading some books about international adoption.  Each month, we will get updated numbers as to where we are on the waiting list.  We plan to share these numbers through the blog each month, so stay tuned!

Thanks for your prayers and support!  

Big Update!

Friends,

We sincerely apologize for our lack of posts over the past several weeks. We’ve been busy, and we have many updates!

Garage Sale

Wow! What a success!  Let me begin by thanking everyone who donated items and everyone who volunteered their time during this four-day event.  We simply could not have done this without you. 

So many items were donated that one garage and driveway was not enough!  A special thanks to the VerMeulen family for their graciousness as we took over their garage for a week, too!

The garage sale helped us raise over $3,500!  This amount is far beyond our expectations, and it’s truly a testament to God’s provision.  Thanks again to all of you who were involved in the event and to all of you who prayed for us.  The sale brought us one step closer to bringing our child home!

 

Garage Sale- Day 1

 Garage Sale- Day 2

 Garage Sale- Day 3

 Garage Sale- Day 4

Puzzle Fundraiser

Why don’t we just show you how far the puzzle has come…..
 

Incredibly, 984 pieces have been sponsored, leaving only 16 unsponsored pieces!  To everyone who has helped us come this close to completion: thank you!

If you do the math and total the amount we’ve raised between the garage sale and the puzzle fundraiser, you’ll see that we’ve raised about $8,500.  When I was crunching numbers before this process started and I tried to show God how the adoption wasn’t going to work because we simply could not afford it, he had a plan.  He knew how generous and caring and selfless all of you are.

I want to take a brief moment to let all of you know what your donations are funding.  It’s well known that adoption is expensive, but if you were like me four months ago, you have no idea why it’s so expensive.  Let me break it down in simplified terms:

About one third of the cost of our adoption will be to pay for two trips to Africa.  Four round trip tickets (and a one way lap seat for our child!), 14 nights of lodging, and food.

One fourth of the cost pays for the wonderful service our agency, All God’s Children International, provides.  So many people at AGCI are involved in our process, and we’re so grateful for their guidance and expertise.  The service they provide is invaluable.

One sixth of the cost is associated with our dossier, or our official paperwork that is sent to the Ethiopian government.  This international fee helps to ensure that the child we are referred is not a victim of child trafficking, among other things.

One eighth of the money pays for childcare once we are referred a child.  There will be a period of time when we will know who our child is, and they will be cared for at a transition home called Hannah’s Hope.  Our child will be fed on demand and cared for by a handful of wonderful people called Special Mothers.

The rest of the money is used for various things: adoption application fee with the U.S. Government, fingerprints, background checks, medical expenses, etc.

Again, we could not pay for all of these services without your help.  Thank you so much!

So, Where Exactly Are You In the Process?

We’re so close to being on the official wait list! Our homestudy is almost complete, then we will send our dossier to AGCI’s headquarters for approval.  Once it's approved, we will be on the official wait list!  We’ll keep you updated as each step unfolds.

What’s Next?

The summer has flown by.  The week after the garage sale, Stephanie and I took a few days off and spent some time in Grand Haven.  We came back just in time for Stephanie to begin volleyball tryouts, and she has been busy with her JV volleyball team ever since.  Stephanie has already gone back to school; her first day with students is next Tuesday!

Since Stephanie will be busy with volleyball and a new school year in the coming months, and since I have many projects to complete around the house that I’ve neglected to do all summer, we’re going to take a step back and focus on these responsibilities.  All of our paperwork is in order, and we’ll be ready to send it off as soon as our homestudy is done, so we will not be holding up the adoption process at all.  Additionally, we’re only able to take time to focus on other responsibilities thanks to your generosity which was outlined above, so thank you.

Garage Sale Fundraiser

We are collecting many treasures for our upcoming garage sale!  Here is what our garage is looking like right now....

As you can see, we are stocking up on items!  We have a little bit of everything, and this doesn't even include most of the furniture that has been donated.  We are looking forward to getting it all organized, priced and ready for the sale NEXT WEEK!  We will be having it in Hudsonville at Curt's parents.  I'll post more information later this week on dates and times, so stay tuned! 

In the mean time, if you have items to donate, we'd love to come pick them up and put them in our sale.  Thanks for your support! 

Social Worker, part 1

Last Monday, July 9, was a very special day for three reasons:

1. Our social worker was coming for our very first visit!  We were filled with excitement and a touch of anxiety at the same time.  We spent HOURS organizing every shelf and every drawer in our house, along with dusting every surface and nook and vacuuming every inch of carpet.  Necessary?  Probably not.  But we didn't know what to expect, and we missed Spring cleaning this year ;)
 
2. It was our second anniversary.  Really, is there a better way to spend/celebrate an anniversary than meet with our social worker and take a giant step closer to our babe?  We decided this will probably be one of our more memorable anniversaries!  On a side note, it was not only our anniversary, but we also learned that it was our social worker's anniversary as well!  She walked in the door and one of the first things she said was "Hey! Happy Anniversary!"  We looked at each other a little stunned, wondering how in the world she knew it was our second anniversary.  She went on to mention that she happened to glance through our personal profile sheets and noticed our anniversary because it was the same as her and her husbands.  Great first conversation starter, and a great way to kick the initial jitters.

3. Curt went and got our mail at lunchtime right before our social worker was due to arrive.  In the mail were two envelopes that looked pretty important, and maybe just maybe what we have been waiting for.  Curt tore him open to find that our FBI background check came back (and of course, we were clear)!!  Now this might now seem very exciting, but we were told that these could take a LONG time.  Months.  We were VERY pleased to have them back in roughly 4 week or less.  This was one step that could have potentially slowed up the process a bit.

We spent about two and a half hours with our social worker, and it went very well. She is very easy to talk to, and she is genuinely interested in us and our lives.  We got to talk to her mainly about our relationship with each other, from beginning until now.  We also talked about how God led us to this big decision in our life and how He is continuing to work through us and others to bring our precious child home.

We will meet with our social worker again on Tuesday of this week for individual interviews.  I will spend about an hour with her, and then Curt will spend about an hour with her as well.  We will wrap up our time together on Saturday morning for a couple hours to talk about........

....PARENTING!  Yikes!  Nephews and a niece, babysitting kids, volleyball camps filled with young girls, a class full of energetic first graders..... those seem easy compared to parenting! :)  We are very excited to begin the journey of parenthood when God is ready for us to have this child, but oh how difficult it will be to not get wrapped around that sweet babe's little finger! 

Gojo Ethiopian Cuisine

As a part of our education experience for the adoption process, we were asked to visit a restaurant that serves authentic food from Ethiopia.  We've heard about Gojo from a few different people, and for the most part, heard nothing but great things!  So, last Friday, Curt picked me up after work and we headed to Eastown to a little place called Gojo Ethiopian Cuisine!

First off, this place is so neatly decorated!  (Of course, I forgot my camera, so we had to take a picture with Curt's phone.... therefore, it's quite blurry!  You can get the idea though).

See?  Isn't it cute and welcoming?  I loved the straw huts and the authentic decor throughout.  Not to mention, the owner has precious pictures of many children adopted from Ethiopia that have dined at Gojo!

So we found a seat by the window and enjoyed the yummy smells!  The different spices smelled delicious!  We looked at the menu, and really weren't sure what to order.  The owners name is Sam, and he is originally from Ethiopia.  He suggested we try to lamb sampler platter.  Curt and I weren't so sure... we have never tried lamb, but why not.

In the Ethiopian culture, it is common to share a platter of food community style.  Also, rather than using utensils, you tear pieces of a spongy tortilla shaped bread called injera to scoop up the food to eat.

So our large platter of food came out, and of course I forgot to take a picture, so here is one that I found that looks similar except there was a large portion of lamb on it as well.

 So below all the food is the injerra bread, however, you get extra injerra bread on the side.

So now you're probably wondering... what is it?  Well this is what was on our plate:
Doro Watt- Spiced Chicken
Atkilt Alicia- Mixed Vegetables including cabbage, potatoes, peppers
Misir- Spiced Lentils
Shiro- Spiced Chickpeas (my favorite!)
Ethiopian Salad (not pictured above-- looked more like a salad you might picture in your mind)
Then there was another chicken and the lamb (not sure what they are called exactly).

The first few bites were very tasty (but a little spicy)!  It definitely was a lot of new spices and textures to get used to.  Curt and I enjoyed the experience, and enjoyed the food, but it will take some getting used to.  We are excited to go back again though, and try more!  We do believe that it is important that we bring the Ethiopian culture into our home when we bring our child home.  Their culture is and will forever be a part of them, so we look forward to celebrating their culture and its beauty with them!

Onward!

- 10-12 hours of online trainings.... check!
- 177 pages of With Eyes Wide Open handbook... check!
- 51 page personal profile completed by Curt... check!
- 51 page personal profile completed by Steph... check!
- Doctor's appointments... check!
- Blood tests and TB tests... check!
- Employment letters... check!
- 8 Letters of Reference... check!
- Local, State, and FBI background checks... check! (Well... still waiting for some results)
- Child Abuse checks... check!
- Lots of other random paperwork... check!

WOW!  The past three weeks have been a blur!  But.... bring on the Social Worker!  Our Social Worker will be visiting us Monday!  We will be doing our combined interview, and then we will each meet with her one on one another day.  We are one. step. closer!  From there, we will wait for her to complete our homestudy, then we can compile our Dossier and get that sent off.

Please pray that this process will continue to go smoothly with few bumps in the road. 

Psalm 95:1-7,
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us should aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care."

Blessings!

Wow!  We have been taken aback and humbled by all of the donations to our puzzle fundraiser.  We haven’t kept up with weekly updates to the puzzle simply because we could not put the puzzle together fast enough.  THANK YOU to all of you who have already graciously supported us through this fundraiser.  To date, 740 pieces have been sponsored, leaving only 260 pieces until puzzle completion.

We learned a couple lessons in our haste to keep up with all of the donations to our puzzle:

1.      Our puppies love to chew on puzzle pieces, as evidenced by a piece of the large elephant’s abdomen and the left wing of the bird directly below the elephants.  Replacement pieces are on the way!

2.      God provides, and he has done so through many of you who are prayerfully following this blog.  Many donations have come from completely unexpected sources and can only be explained by God’s movement in all of your lives, too.  Again, we thank you.

We will soon be entering into a waiting phase.  The paper chasing and education processes have already slowed down to a manageable amount.  We’ve been so diligent in taking multiple steps each day towards taking our child home, but now we simply need to trust God and his timing.  We know He already knows our child by name.  Just as He has shown we can trust Him to provide for this journey financially, we know He can also be trusted with timing.  Friends, please pray for our patience.

Quick Update!

We are so blessed!  We are working hard on updating our puzzle right now.  We have just been amazed by the outpouring of love and support for us.  We will have a picture puzzle update VERY soon! :)

Right now, we are almost done with all of our homestudy paperwork and homework!  We've gone through all of the online trainings and we are almost finished with our Eyes Wide Open workbook.  We have completed all of our "paper chasing" and now we are waiting on our appointments with our Social Worker.  Once we get through those 3 interviews, we will be ready to start sending paper work off to work toward a spot on the waiting list.  Please continue praying for us and we prepare for this long wait ahead of us.  We trust that this is God's plan for our lives and we are SO excited for the day we get to meet our sweet blessing in Ethiopia!  We trust His timing-- as hard as it is and will be.

Next up, our garage sale!  We are planning to put on a garage sale the third week of July.  We have begun collecting donations.  If you have any items around the house that you wish to get rid of, we would love to take it off your hands.  We are willing to pick it up from you.  If there are large items, we will arrange for a way to get them as well.  Thank you for your support.

I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Puzzle Update: Week One... and More!

What a week!  Last Monday, we received an overwhelming amount of paperwork.  When we first went through everything, we didn’t even know where to begin.  After a couple calls, one each with our case manager and our social worker, we planned our attack and we’re happy to say we’re moving along very quickly!

What’s the rush, you ask?  Once we complete all of the paperwork, we are placed on a waiting list for our child.  The current estimated wait time once adoptive parents are placed on this list is 22 months.  We are doing everything we can to shorten our wait!  Next up: 10-15 hours of adoption homework, then a few visits from our social worker…

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

The picture below shows a great start to our puzzle.  Just over one week into the fundraiser, 46 puzzle pieces have been sponsored!   Yes, we are a little behind, so be on the lookout for week two pieces soon!  We are so grateful for the support we’ve received from family and friends.  Thanks to everyone who sponsored puzzle pieces, and thanks to all of you who are faithfully praying for us! 

Adopt a Puzzle Piece!

We have been amazed by the support of all of our family and friends.  We’re so happy to have such a great support system as we sort through the details of this process because we simply can’t do it alone, so we’re humbly asking for your help.

First and foremost, please pray for us.  Pray for patience, pray for us to trust God and his timing, pray for our child(ren) and his or her biological family.

Second, we ask that you may consider supporting us financially.  While we aren’t necessarily comfortable asking for financial assistance, I can tell you that if we were left to our own talents and abilities to raise the funds necessary to adopt, you’d be reading this blog for many years to come!

We have a few fundraisers in the planning stages, including a garage sale, t-shirts, a possible auction, and our first fundraiser relating to the puzzle below. 

Here’s how it works:

We purchased this 1,000 piece puzzle of an African Safari that we plan to frame and hang in our nursery or playroom.  We are inviting you to sponsor two pieces of the puzzle for $10.  With each piece of the puzzle you sponsor, we'll write your name on the back and begin assembling the puzzle.

We will periodically post pictures of the progress of the puzzle. Once it is complete, we’ll frame it in double sided glass as a reminder of all those who helped bring our child home!

You can sponsor pieces a couple of ways:  by using the donate Paypal button on the right hand side of the blog or by sending it to our home address (please email curt.bolhuis@gmail.com for our address).  A special thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Peuler for sponsoring the first couple pieces of our puzzle!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.  May God bless all of you for being such a blessing to us!

Sharing the News!

Spreading the news has been so much fun!  Curt and I spent hours planning up ideas of how to tell our parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and coworkers.  We wanted it to be meaningful, and we wanted them to share in our excitement for this anticipated child and God's provision in our lives.

The first people we told were my parents.  We invited them over for a casual dinner, and after we finished eating, we were sitting around chatting.  We handed this frame and a homemade card that said grandpa and grandma on it (see photo below). We wrote a short letter to them from their future grandchild(ren).  While it took them a few minutes to put all the pieces together, they cried tears of joy!  It came as a bit of a surprise... But definitely a great surprise!

The following day, we had Austin over for lunch.  Now, something you need to know about Austin... he has been NAGGING for nieces for nephews since the day Curt and I got married, so we knew this news would be just what he's been waiting for.  Austin is going to be an awesome uncle!  He has so much love to give, and our children sure will be blessed by him.  He was so excited... a little unsure about the two year wait, but it will be well worth it!

Then we headed over to my grandparents.  Curt was planning to plant some tomato plants there, so it was perfect timing. As we were sitting in their living room, we gave them a copy of our first blog post and a little magnet that says wait, hope, expect (see below).  They both read the letter, cried, and shared in our excitement!  They have been models of what it is like to live your life for Christ, and if it wasn't for the faith that they have passed down from generation to generation, I don't know if we would be following God's calling to adopt today.  We asked that they keep the magnet on their fridge as a reminder to pray for our child and us often on this journey.  Eventually that magnet will hold precious pictures of our little blessing or blessings from Ethiopia.

Then we headed over to Curt's parents.  We created a similar letter to Curt's parents from the perspective of their future grandchild(ren) from Africa.  Curt also read the first blogpost to them.  Curt even got choked up as reading it, and if you know Curt, he does not openly share his emotions.  Curt's parents also took a minute to put all the pieces together, but once they figured it out, they were so excited!

Then we stopped and Curt's grandmas house, as well as at his brother Nick's house.  We also gave them a magnet like the one above to keep on their fridge.  They also shared in our excitement as Curt read the first blog post to them about our calling from God to adopt this child.  We had to wait until the next day to tell Curt's brother, Dan, and his wife, Meghan.  They knew something was up after we tried to meet up with them a couple times in one day!  They were thrilled (and shocked) as well!  We have such supportive family, and we couldn't be more grateful!  This child (or children) is going to be so blessed by the Peuler and Bolhuis families!

Finally, this week, we shared the great news with our coworkers.  My friend Ashley helped me construct an awesome poster of Africa with the phrase, "I have prayed for this child" on it.  I also made cute purple and blue frosted cupcakes (because well... at school, you can't really announce something without a treat!). We are so blessed by the outpouring of love and support already in this journey.  We recognize that this journey will have its highs and its lows, and we are SO grateful to family and friends praying for us every step of the way.

We are coming for you sweet child! We are ready to work tirelessly to get you home in our arms forever!

A Call to Act...

Last Sunday, we were running late for Church, and not just a little late – very late.  We’ve been attending Ada Bible Church since before we were married, so each Sunday, we stumble out of bed around the same time we wake up during the week, have a couple cups of coffee, and hop in the car to make the trek from Byron Center to Ada. 

Since we couldn’t seem to get moving on this particular Sunday, we decided to attend the Kentwood campus of Ada Bible which is only about 5 minutes from our house.  If you’re not familiar with Ada Bible, the church has three campuses; in addition to the Ada and Kentwood Campuses, there is a North campus near Knapp and the East Beltline.  While the Ada Campus features a living, breathing Pastor at all three services (one on Saturday evening, two on Sunday morning), the other campuses feature a recording of a living, breathing Pastor on massive HD screens.  You see, the Saturday evening sermon in Ada is taped and played Sunday morning at the satellite campuses.

While the quality of the recording is stunning, we don’t feel as connected to the sermon or message as we do with the live version in Ada, thus the half hour ride to Church each Sunday morning.

As we walked into Church and found our seats, I felt out of place.  Disconnected.  As we began the worship portion of the service, my mind began to wander unlike it ever has on a Sunday morning in several years.  “What open issues do I have to tackle this week at work? Our house is a mess; I should really spend some time cleaning today…but when will I have time?  What’s for lunch?....”

Before I knew it, the A/V team hit “Play” and the sermon was rolling.  Pastor Jeff continued the series entitled “When God Moves.”  The series has focused on the Disciples’ interaction with the Post-Resurrection Jesus, the subsequent sending of the Holy Spirit, and the early Church.  This week’s sermon was about detours God often places in our lives, and how on the surface, the detours may seem burdensome; however, often times these detours lead to transformational spiritual growth.

Midway through the sermon, Pastor Jeff played a video clip of Dr. Wess Stafford, the President of Compassion International.  Before you continue reading, please take a couple minutes to watch the video here (we watched the first three minutes during the sermon).  As Dr. Stafford shared how his childhood friends died from diseases which he was immune to due to vaccinations, I looked over to see tears streaming down Steph’s face.  For those of you who know Steph and the Peuler family, this is not an uncommon occurrence since Steph and her family are so compassionate and empathetic and they wear these emotions on their sleeves.  But I knew that these were not Steph’s ordinary tears.

As we were walking out of Church, I asked a question I already knew the answer to, “Steph, what were you thinking about during that video clip?”

“Our baby in Africa,” she replied, her voice still brimming with emotion.

This wasn't a surprise.  We have talked about and prayed about adopting since before we were married.  Steph has been steadfast in her commitment to adopt, but I've always struggled with how we'd pay for the adoption, so I was resigned to the fact that we would have a biological child first and consider adoption after that.  We talked at length about adopting the rest of the day.

Sunday came to a close, and we woke up Monday morning to a new work week. Steph and I felt the Holy Spirit drawing us to adopt, but I was still struggling with how we could ever pay for the adoption and I was worrying about all of the details of the process.  I prayed much of the day and argued with God.

God, I know you want us to adopt, but no matter how I slice it, I can't make the finances work. Make your plans clear to us!

Monday afternoon rolled around, and as I sat at my desk listening to Pandora, "Word of God Speak" by MercyMe began playing. I opened my Bible to a random page and began reading.  I started in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 and read my way to verse 11 where God made his plans clear:


Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

Immediately, I was at peace.  I still had countless questions, but I didn’t need answers.  In that verse, God simply said, “Curt, I know you can’t make the finances work, but I can! I know you like to be in control, but trust Me!”

And so, here we are, taking a leap of faith and following a detour God has called us to take.  We have been approved for adoption through All God's Children International and we are partnering with AGCI to adopt our beautiful child or children from Ethiopia.

We're extremely excited and ready to work tirelessly to raise the funds necessary to adopt.  We don't have all of the answers, but God is Faithful and He is Good and we trust Him.

We’ll do our best to keep you updated on the process with this blog, so check back often!