12

Before we got married, there was a conversation about how many children each of us thought we'd have.  Jon grew up mostly as an only child until he was 10 and his brother was adopted.  His sister lived with his dad, so he hardly ever saw her.  I grew up in a family with 7 children.  I thought I'd like 4 kids.  His max was 2.  Shortly after we were married, God gave us Evan and we quickly learned just how involved parenting really was.  So, we agreed we'd maybe have one more child, but wait 5 years, so that we could give each child 5 years of undivided attention.  Fast forward 2 years.  We moved from California to Reston right before Christmas.  Two days after moving, we realized I was pregnant with Nicholas.  God had other plans for us.  We joyfully welcomed Nicholas.  As time went on, I thought I knew for sure, without a doubt, that we would be a family of four...two boys.  Done.  Then, we truly found God.  On the night we were baptized as adults, in the fall of 2003, we had a long conversation and realized that our legacy would be our children.  So, a short while later, we decided to add a third child to our family.  As I waited and waited and waited to become pregnant with Sarah, a good friend of ours was encouraging us to visit an orphanage in Nicaragua.  I was on the fence about committing because I didn't know if I'd be pregnant when the trip arrived.  As time went on, we found peace with having two kids and stopped putting our lives on hold.  We signed up for the trip and went in June of 2008.  The trip changed both of us in ways we never could have predicted or expected.  We spent time playing with, praying with, and loving the kids in Puerto Cabezas.  Our eyes and hearts were opened.  We were called out of our comfortable suburban status quo into something bigger than ourselves.  We didn't know the details of just how this experience would change our life, but we were certain it would.  The day after we arrived home from Nicaragua, we found out we were pregnant with Sarah.  It was a beautiful, unexpected, long-awaited gift.  We were so grateful for God's timing, as I would never have gone to Nicaragua had I had an infant or been far along in a pregnancy.  On Sarah's due date the following March, my sister and I attended the Women's Conference at McLean Bible Church.  We had the opportunity to listen to Lysa Terkeurst's story, which includes an amazing story about God's call on her life to adopt and how that changed her community in a way that answered God's command to care for the fatherless.  Because of the example of Lysa's obedience and willingness to listen to God's call to adopt two teenage boys from Liberia, many families in her community have been moved to do the same.  As I sat there ready to give birth, I heard God's whisper to me, calling me toward adoption.  A few months after Sarah was born, we had a guest speaker at our church, who also spoke about how adoption was part God's story for her life.  I was moved to tears by her faithfulness.  As time went on, I was drawn to people's stories of adoption and orphan care.  I told Jon how crazy I knew it was to have a very young infant and have a strong desire to have another child, but asked if he'd consider adopting a child.  You can read more about his answer and the journey we both took to saying "yes" to God at the beginning of this blog.

All that to say, we got married 12 years ago today with a plan, but without God.  As we have grown to know Him, he has changed the course of our lives in ways we never could have predicted.  We are not the same people we were 12 years ago.  My expectations for the life we'd live have already been exceeded, not just by the story of how this family has been built so far, but in friendships and family ties, in our commitment and love for each other, in the ways our hearts and eyes have been opened to the needs of others, and in our strong desire to continue to grow in every area.  I am so grateful for this life we've lived together.

The story is far from over.  I look forward in hope for what's to come.