I don't remember when we first decided to begin the adoption process. All I remember is that after we had Cayden we seemed to be surrounded by adoption. We knew a few families at church that had adopted from China and we couldn't shake the thought that maybe just maybe we were supposed to adopt now and not wait until we had 2 biological children under our belt.

Everyone we knew had adopted from China. We never felt a call to China and honestly wouldn't have even qualified, but we knew that God was leading us towards adoption. I'll never forget walking into the adoption agency and basically just telling them that we wanted to adopt. We didn't care what they looked like. We were open to any sex. That was about it.

That was the day we began our domestic adoption. That was around September of 2004.

They told us that their greatest need at that moment was for families to adopt domestically and be open to any race.

That was easy for us.

We began our paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. Most people that begin the adoption process race through paperwork. Not us. We had a child less than one year old. We were in no hurry.

Finally we finished.

Every step along the way I just knew that we were going to miss “our child” because of how long it was taking us to do the paperwork. I had a very hard time resting in God's perfect plan. I put lots and lots of pressure on ourselves. I put way too much confidence in myself and not enough in God.

In May of 2005 we were officially approved and waiting. Oh that was so exciting to me. I just knew that we were going to be matched soon, I mean we're great people and great parents, wouldn't you want us to parent your child. Oh God was testing me. I was learning patience and little did I know that two years later we would begin an adoption that would take us almost 2.5 years to complete!

to be continued …..