Year of Hope

"I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.  Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:  The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"  The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him."

Lamentations 3:20-25

(Photo Credit)

Hope.

2011 is a year of hope. 

Hope like I've never known. 

2009 was Shyla's year.  It was the year of blessings and my first year of true grief and Creative Joy. 

2010 was Jakin's year.  The year of our rainbow.  It was our year of new beginnings and then new grief. 

2011 is our year of hope.  I'm standing in faith and believing that.  God is going to show me things this year like I have never seen before. 

My hope is in him.

There is something God laid on my heart a long time ago.  I shared it with Ben before we were married.  We have talked about it off and on through out our marriage, but we really became serious about it this summer and agreed we would move forward after Jakin was born in the spring.  Well, Jakin wasn't born in the spring, but made his journey to his Heavenly home much sooner.  I've been praying when the time was right, Ben and I would both be on the same page about what had been on our hearts...and I think we are. 

Ben gave me these for Christmas...

(Let me first clarify that the first one he says is mostly for him...he didn't want me to think he was calling me a name!)

We are hoping to adopt!  We had requested some info from an agency in our state and have began sorting through the information.  Right now, we are still praying and seeking God on what path to take, but as we were talking about it tonight and discussing when to share the news, we decided to go ahead and have people praying for us and with us every step of the way!  Also, it's not like I don't share pretty much everything anyway...I used to be such a private person!   

We are going to meet with the agency in a few weeks and get some of our major questions answered and ware still praying for God's direction and leading.  We understand we are about to be bombarded with questions, so let me just say one huge...

"We don't know"

We don't know exactly how we are going to completely pay for this yet...BUT God knows.

We don't know if God is preparing our baby through domestic or international adoption (although we are feeling pulled in one particular direction at the moment)...BUT God knows.

We don't know how long the process will take...BUT God knows.

We don't know...BUT God knows! 

He is forming our child in the secret places that are truely secret to us.  And that is AMAZING! 

We DO know...

How God feels about adoption.  He adopted us.  And it pleased him.

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him much pleasure."

Ephesians 1: 5

So now, won't you join us in praying about all the things we don't know?  God will be holding our hand through every step.  We know it.  He has never left our sides in any other joy or grief we have ever experienced (but I can say He has been awfully quiet at times...or maybe I was just too loud to hear him...hmmmm).  I can almost see him in Heaven now cradling our babies and preparing the heart of another little one to be a part of our forever family!

(One more thing!  Happy New Year!  I pray much hope, peace, joy, and laughter fill your hearts and homes this year!)