"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you"
John 14:18
In 2011 a dear friend Emily Fox challenged us to throw our fancy Easter duds to the side and dress for a purpose for Easter. She called it "Forget the Frock". She asked us to purchase a t-shirt to raise orphan awareness, each t-shirt would feed an orphan for one month. My first thought was "that's great that she can do that, but I could never do that". That Easter my family walked through the doors of our church in clothing that was perfectly coordinated and not at all in our budget. I had dressed for me, for self, for approval of man. OUCH. That morning during worship, God broke my heart, I remember trying to hold back tears thinking that I chose to fill up someone's wallet instead of filling up a child's belly. I was devastated by my selfishness. I promised to stop living for me and start really living for Him. To get out of my comfort zone and serve. The seed of orphan care was planted then and began growing.
God had blessed us with a healthy daughter and son, why were we so lucky?! Our family seemed complete. Life was great but I had a feeling that our family wasn't complete. Even though we had the picture perfect family, something was missing. I began talking with Derick about it and told him I felt led to adopt and that my heart was breaking thinking of the millions of children who had never felt loved. Anytime I talked about it, I ended up nearly sobbing. He was somewhat quiet on the topic but in true "Lacey fashion", I decided to continue
In January of 2014 Derick traveled to Uganda for a video shoot involving our global mission partner U.C.S.S. During his trip he encountered two families who had adopted and each shared their story with him. He brought back several different souvenirs for us but this one was the best.
It is a small statue of a mother, father and three children. This was his way of telling me that he agreed with my feeling that God wasn't finished with our family.
We researched, attended seminars, researched, met with an agency (where we only qualified for one program), researched some more, (have I mentioned how MUCH information there is on adoption?!) and then we gave it up to God. We began praying that if this was going to happen, then I wanted God to ordain it, to orchestrate it, to control it. You see, when I try to take control of things I have a way of rushing them. I want things to happen quickly but God is patient. He knows the plans and he knows what is ultimately best for us. I too wanted what was best.
Insert GOD story:
Valentine's Day was approaching and Derick told me that he had tried to surprise me with concert tickets to see Casting Crowns but decided it was not in our "budget" (Thanks Dave Ramsey!). Nice gesture babe... We went on with life, unaware of what God was up to. Two days before the concert a friend of ours called Derick and asked if we would take their Casting Crowns tickets (for FREE!). Their exact words were "consider this a Jesus Kiss". We were humbled and looking forward to a night of worship with Callie. That night videos played in regards to orphan care, World Vision was there (with whom we sponsor a child) and then Marc Hall began talking about his family's own adoption and told us that the agency they used was present that night ready to provide information. In all of my research of agency's in Kentucky their name had NEVER came up. Weird. I went to the table and got the information and threw it in my purse. A few days later I got it out and start browsing their website. The word "ETHIOPIA" stuck out. I clicked on it began reading. I felt peace, I felt at ease. It seemed like the perfect fit for our family. I didn't want to rush it or dismiss any other program, so I sat and read through each program they offered. I showed it to Derick and he felt the same way.
We submitted our Pre-Application and were told we would hear back within three business days. 14 hours later we got an email that said "based on the preliminary information your family is a good fit for our Ethiopia program." We were approved! It was what we had prayed for. It was right. It was in God's perfect timing. Our next step is to submit the full application and begin what is called "the paper chase" where we will compile our entire life history in documents.
So hear we are...Easter 2014 is slowly approaching and we are once again challenged to "Forget the Frock". But this year is different, this year it is more than just putting away the fancy clothes and buying a t-shirt to raise orphan awareness...this year our family is taking a step of faith to provide an orphan with a family - just like our Heavenly Father did for us. We ask that you walk alongside us on this journey but more than anything we ask that you lift us up in prayer that we can remain faithful in the process and continue to allow God's timing in this journey. We also ask you to lift up the nearly 5 million orphans who are in Ethiopia. That number is staggering and hard to wrap my mind around. The gut wrenching reality is that I alone can not change the lives of the 5 million, but I can change the life of one. What can you do?
-Derick, Lacey, Callie & Collin
