We THANK each and every one of you who are sharing in our journey to parenthood! You are such a BLESSING to us! We are actually enjoying these first six weeks of waiting, as it feels so weightless to not have paperwork weighing down our shoulders! There is nothing more for us to do now......but wait. Everything is now in GOD'S HANDS and we can't think of a better place to put our hope and desires to be parents! GO GOD!!! {big sigh!}
A common question we are asked along this journey is, "How did you know adoption was right for you?" and "How did you choose to adopt from Ethiopia?" Our common response is, with a huge smile, "We didn't choose Ethiopia, Ethiopia chose us!" I thought I would share with you a few ways that God spoke to us and used others' stories to help open our eyes and hearts to adoption as "PLAN A for our family." Here goes.........
As many of you know, Jeff and I struggled to get pregnant ~ that is, until we sought out fertility treatments. We both always said, "If we don't get PG, then we know we will adopt for sure. We just don't feel God calling us to adoption. Yet, anyway. When and if we do hear His guidance, we will adopt without hesitation." Well, after two years of fertility treatments and miscarriages along the way, we began to Hear God's voice. Not audibly, but you know what I mean. Feeling His guidance, I guess.
It sounded different than we anticipated. We thought we would hear something like, "Since you cannot get PG and carry full-term, I want you to adopt." It was nothing like that at all. Instead, it was a still small voice speaking to each of us with excitement saying, "Adoption is not a second-choice plan. It is part of my original plan for the creation of your family! Whether you carry a biological child or not, adoption has always been part of my PLAN A for blessing you with children." We both began to see that adoption was always part of the plan for our family. It wasn't a second choice or a "less-than" decision. It wasn't a "Plan B."
Adoption is meant to be part of our journey to our child or children! Biological children? Maybe. Adoption? Most definitely! PLAN A!
We have very near and dear friends, Connie and Rick, who adopted Emily from China, and sharing their journey with them was such a blessing to us. However, at that time, adoption wasn't even on our radar for our own personal family. (Yet!) As God began to spark within us an interest in adoption, I was lead to various adoption agency and orphan outreach websites which helped me gather more information. Just in case we pursued this avenue...
Jeff and I began to converse more and more about adoption, and we began to google different adoption topics. It didn't take long for us to realize the huge need out there ~ EVERYWHERE! Domestically and Internationally! Huge needs! BIG!
As Jeff's and my interest in adoption grew, God drew me to a college friend, Karen, from the good 'ol Luther College days. Karen and I became FB friends, and I often saw her posts about orphans, which lead me to her blog. Given my increasing intrigue in adoption, I went back on her blog to track the days of their adoption story. I read every entry about her and Jay's journey to their two sons, Jayden and Wesley. Two amazing boys who joined their family in November 2008. Reading the ups and downs of their story helped make adoption become so much more "real" to me! A "real" option for OUR family! God was using their story to their sons, to awaken this deep desire within my heart! I could physically feel it stirring me!
I soon became a "blog hopper" and grew into the "blog addict" that I now proclaim to be. {giggle} I could not read enough (I still can't!) about other adoptive families and their journeys to their children! Many a nights were spent into the wee hours reading about these blessed families! Thus, stirring the flame within me even hotter.
As I felt this love for our child/ren, half way across the world, grow and begin to overflow, I shared more of my thoughts and emotions with Jeff. Divinely, God was speaking to Jeff in much the same way, using a different, more individualized manner! God was drawing us both toward adoption right before our eyes! It was neat to experience its evolution in our hearts. I am SO THANKFUL that God stirred BOTH of us at the same time!
As we looked into all options, domestically and internationally, we could not ignore the magnetic drawing pictures of sweet precious children in Ethiopia had on our hearts! God made it so VERY clear that our son (or possibly siblings!) was in ET! As Joyce Meyer would say, we "knew in our knower" that we were meant to go to Ethiopia to bring our child or children home. FOREVER!
Allow me to share, with their permission, some photos of Karen and Jay with their family. The family that helped stir this love for adoption and for Ethiopia that we now carry so deep in our hearts.......
Beautiful blessings come when adoptive families share their stories! Praise God such stories can be used to inspire others! We cannot imagine missing out on this amazing blessing of adoption! God has hand-picked our precious children already, and in His perfect timing, we will be united with the very child or children meant to help make our FOREVER FAMILY! This is not a second choice for us. Adoption has become the passion of our hearts! Adoption is a beautiful way of becoming a family! This child (or two!) will bless us far more than we could ever bless him/them! Thank you, Wistrom family, for your role in awakening this dream in our hearts. In our souls. Thank you for giving us such an amazing vision of the beautiful blessing of children. All children. Adopted children, as well as biological children.
THANK YOU, GOD, for bringing us on this precious journey! We can't wait to meet who you have chosen for us!
