It's been about three years since we started this journey toward having a family.  I was thinking about this time last year, Westin and I were trying the IUI procedure one last time to see if we could get pregnant.  The procedure didn't work so we started praying and thinking of other options.

For the last year God has been molding and shaping us.  We have learned so much about adoption and what God is calling us to.

When we started researching about adoption, we quickly discovered how expensive it was to adopt.  The more I learned about adoption the more I didn't want to go through with it.  We felt especially convicted about paying so much for a child.  While attending several informational sessions, I was shocked to learn that adopting a white child is extremely more expensive than any other race.  This information grieved us both.

A couple of people from our church mentioned they went through Antioch Adoption (http://www.antiochadoptions.org/) when adopting their children.  They also told us about the foster to adopt program.  We attended the informational session at Antioch Bible Church and learned even more about adoption and specifically about the Washington state foster care system.  Being from Romania where foster care doesn't exists, I was unfamiliar with the concept.  Here is more information about it: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/fosterparents/index.asp.  Westin and I both agreed this is what God was calling us to.  Our desire has always been to love kids so what better way to do that than the kids that don't have a home right here in our state.

This began a year long process of training, applications, home studies and much more.  Originally going into it, we both said we would go with the Foster to Adopt program only.  After finishing one of the longest required training, P.R.I.D.E, the Lord really convicted both Westin and I.  We asked each other if we felt wrong about saying no to kids that only needed a temporary home.  Should it matter to us if the child was adoptable or not?  God was showing us our heart's desire was for comfort and control.  Deep inside we still wanted to control the situation.  We were placing our hope in that child's percentage of being adopted.  It would be easier for us if we didn't have to give the child back.

Well, God didn't want that for us.  He began to show us how to look at this from His perspective.  God was showing us that we all need a Savior and someone to love us, even the parents that make mistakes and get their child taken away by the state.  I can't tell you how much the Lord has softened my heart towards the mothers and fathers that have kids in foster care.  God was calling us to love not only the children that would be in our house but also the parents.

Since then we have been praying for all the children that will be in our home.  Whether we will be able to adopt them or give them back to their parents, we know that God has a plan.  We can trust the child or children that stay in our home forever, are those that He has planned for us.  Our ministry is to love kids and the brokenhearted.  If we were parents and made mistakes, we would want a chance to get our children back.  We are all broken and a sinful people that needed a second chance and that's what Jesus did for us.

Through God's grace, Westin and I are at the end of the process awaiting our foster license.  There are a couple things out of our control but our hope is to have a placement in 2013.

If you are following our story, thank you.  We are so honored to be part of God's bigger and better plan for our lives.  Westin and I ask for your prayers more than anything.  Our desire is that God would be made much of through our story.