Well, HollyAnn's newest blog has inspired me to write my first entry, and announce our commitment to adopt a little girl from Liberia through Addy's Hope, and the Greater Love Orphanage in Monrovia.

I have had a lot of fear about doing this, as there is a part of me that wonders if she is really coming home to us sometime this year. It is as though she is just something that I have imagined, and dreamed of, but she isn't real. International adoption is strange that way. You know in your mind that you have a child halfway around the world, but your heart refuses to acknowledge it, because you are afraid that something could happen, and your heart could be broken into a billion pieces in an instant. Almost as though, if you pretend it isn't going to happen, it might not hurt so deeply if it doesn't. I guess it is self preservation for us who have had a few adoptions that did not ever materialize.

So I will begin today, stepping out in faith and trust that my very big God will bring this child to us if it is truly His plan for her to be here. He will bring her here when He knows the timing is just right!

Thank you God that You are bigger than my fears and my hesitation. Thank you for loving your little girl so much. Thank you for trusting us to be her parents. I pray that you are readying her heart and mind for us even today. Protect her Father. Show Yourself to her today when she is scared, or hungry, or sad, and teach her to trust You! Thank you for Addy's Hope and Greater Love. Bless the ones who have stepped out to care and comfort the orphans of this world. Thank you that YOU will not forget them.

Revelation 7:16-17
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;