The top 3 questions we're guessing you're wanting to know...

Q: Why are you adopting?

A: To sum it up... we're adopting because we know God burdened our hearts to do so. I've had some people ask if we are adopting because I can't get pregnant, and that's not the reason at all! In fact I LOVE being pregnant and had a great pregnancy with Jude. We may in fact have more biological children down the road.... a LONG, LONG, road- but we're not ruling it out. We truly are pursuing adoption out of hearts that desperately want to be obedient to what we know God is calling us to do. It's as simple as that.

Q: Where are you in this process?

A: We have turned in our pre-application and gotten approval from our agency, All God's Children International. Before turning in our official application with the agency our goal is to save between $6,000-$8,000 to help cover the initial upfront costs that we'll get hit with. Once we have that money in savings, we'll take the next step of faith and turn in the official application! Both Joshua and I feel like God is only revealing one step at a time in this process and so right now, what we know He's saying is to "save and trust". Between generous donations we've already received and paychecks we're expecting to come in next month we have about $2300 in savings so far.

Q: What are you and Joshua doing to save money?

A: We are not in a position to fork over a ton of money each month out of our current budget into savings because truthfully, well, teachers don't make a lot! (o; . So we've been praying that God would get creative and bring about jobs that we could do specifically for setting aside the income earned for our adoption savings. For me, I felt limited knowing that it would need to be something that didn't interfere with my #1 job of being a mamma to Jude. Here's how God has answered our prayers regarding me:

• Every other Monday, from now through August, I'm working at church providing childcare for a couple kids. (This could potentially bring in a total of $168 depending on the attendance each week)
• On Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm watching my sweet nephew Jake. It's called the Aunt "Hee" summer fun program! (This will be an additional $195 per month)
• On Wednesdays and Fridays I have the opportunity to teach swim lessons to our neighbor's little girl.
• I'm teaching another Lifeguard class this upcoming weekend at Baylor & will continue to teach classes as they need instructors. (Each class provides around $200 or so based on how long the class goes)
• I've been able to dog-sit on several occasions for my neighbors sweet pup and am actually watching her again this weekend.

We also prayed the same for Joshua. Here's how God has answered:

• He was accepted to be an AP Reader (a big honor) and will be grading exams in Colorado June 1-9 (this alone provides us with an extra $1600!)
• He continues to mow three other lawns besides ours on the weekend bringing in an additional $280 per month.
• There will also be opportunities this summer for him to administer tests for students who need to do make-up exams & he'll get paid for doing so.

We will continue to seek out opportunities to help fund this adoption. We also pray for wisdom that all the while we maintain a healthy balance for our family. We KNOW that God is our provider and we are hanging onto the truth that God ALWAYS funds his callings…and we should never let money stand in the way of pursuing the things God has called us to.

We also know that we are ALL called to care for “the orphan”…and while most will not choose to adopt, many will and can join the process and GIVE. We are humbled to be in a place where we are asking other's to join with us financially in bringing our child home! We have already been blown away by the generosity of so many! To each of you, you are already a part of this amazing story we'll one day tell our child of how God brought them home to us... Thank you!

Our hope is this helped answer some questions, and if you think of other questions, don't hesitate to ask! We want to be an open book through this whole process and we're grateful for any opportunity to share what God is doing in our lives!