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God can use Google.

Chip and I decided about 6 months ago that the next step for our lives was to pursue adoption.

We have a lot of friends who have adopted, so we are a little familiar with the process. We also know this is a way to use the blessings God has given us, and after a little reading, realized that adoption should be a major part of the Christian community (after all, God has adopted all of us non-Israelites into His family). It's not just an answer to infertility: it's a calling from God to care for the least of these (Mark 10:13-16). Plus it's something I've wanted to do for a few years now. I can't pinpoint when it started exactly, but that feeling has been lurking.

Our first task was to find out which countries we'd like to consider and narrow down the search for an agency from there. Somehow, it was a given that we'd go international. My heart is in Asia, especially after all the disasters they've had in the past several years. Chip spent some time in Russia a while back, making that another one of the choices. So we Googled, and the top result was the agency we've ultimately decided to use (after much research--we did our homework): Partners for Adoption. We also decided to go ahead with Russia, especially since Chip's always wanted to go back.

Currently, we're at the mind-numbing paperwork step. We've met with our social worker and started to pull together things for our dossier. Do you know how few pictures of Chip and I together we have in our files? It's amazing... Usually one of us has the camera in hand.

So I'll be keeping you updated on our progress. We're excited. We know life will never be the same again.

I made the recipe recommendation below for youth group...very yummy!

Book recommendation: Adopted for Life by Russell Moore

Recipe recommendation: Pelmeni

YouTube recommendation: Frazzle Ice