Well, we have arrived in Honduras for trip 1 of 2!  After a midnight drive up to Memphis, we caught a flight to Atlanta and then boarded a plane to Tegucigalpa.  We arrived to our hotel shortly after noon and immediately crashed for a short nap since we skipped last night’s sleep entirely.  When we awoke, we joined a fellow adoptive couple in the hotel restaurant.  We truly enjoyed having their company and conversation.  We were able to share adoption details and life stories - it’s really cool to get to meet some of the people you “know” on FB in real life and establish a real connection.  Praying for the rest of their process.  They even surprised us by buying our meal…so thoughtful and generous!

Our week will be filled with appointments, interviews, and visits with our sweet child (who we will call “Little H” for little Hatch, until we are able to share more details).  Tuesday is our big day - its the day of our first meeting with Little H!!!  We can hardly contain our excitement over meeting this child, who God had selected for us long before we even knew it and who we have loved before we ever met.  We can’t wait to tell Little H that “tu madre y padre estan aqui", “te amamos", and “tu eres nuestro nino" (your mommy and daddy are here, we love you, and you are our child)!  We can’t wait to show God’s love to Little H the way God has shown it to us.  

We would love to share something so that God will be glorified through it.  In September 28, 2015, we were assigned the number 9 on the waitlist to adopt from Honduras.  Approaching the 1-year mark of no movement and hardly word at all, on September 25, 2016, we were to the point of hopelessness and doubting that this adoption would really actually ever happen; but God.  But God, on the very next day after we’d vocalized these feelings to some friends showed up in a big way; and we received the phone call of a lifetime.  Not sure if it was all of you prayer warriors, or that we had come to the point of acceptance that God was gonna do HIs thing (whatever that was), His timing that He had planned all along, or everything working together; because we had honestly began praying The Hillary Scott song “Thy Will Be Done”:

I'm so confused

I know I heard you loud and clear

So, I followed through

Somehow I ended up here

I don't wanna think

I may never understand

That my broken heart is a part of your plan

When I try to pray

All I've got is hurt and these four words

Thy will be done…

I know you're good

But this don't feel good right now

And I know you think

Of things I could never think about

It's hard to count it all joy

Distracted by the noise

Just trying to make sense

Of all your promises

Sometimes I gotta stop

Remember that you're God

And I am not

So, Thy will be done…

I know you see me

I know you hear me, Lord

Your plans are for me

Goodness you have in store

I know you hear me

I know you see me, Lord

Your plans are for me

Good news you have in store

So, Thy will be done…

God once again met us right where we were and showed us how He loves, who He is, and that He is good. Glory to God, forever!

We would like to mention that we are so grateful for everyone at home who has prayed/is praying over us, have supported us financially, donated sky miles to cover our flights, are taking care of our pets, and are covering for us while we miss work.  Not going to mention names because we don’t want to forget anyone, but you know who you are and without you, this wouldn’t even be possible; so we are so truly thankful! 

Referral!

Well….It’s been just a little while since our last post (only about four and a half years, but who’s counting).  During that time, we have experienced one huge roller coaster of emotions, but we have finally arrived at number ZERO!!!  On September 26, we received a referral of a child from Honduras.  We accepted it the next day and are waiting to hear back from our agency on when we will travel to Honduras to meet our child!  It’s surreal to be able to say that, but we are so thankful that God has brought to this point and know he will continue to be faithful to see this adoption through.  We would like to thank everyone for praying over our family and we ask for your continued prayers over the next several months.  

The first trip will consist of intense and lengthy interviews with the Honduran governmental body that is facilitating the adoption, but, more importantly, it will also be a time of visits with our child!

After spending about a week in Honduras, we will have to come home for a few months while paperwork is being processed.  During this time, there will be a court hearing in our absence that will declare the child ours.  We will be informed of when that happens, and at that point we will be able to release all of the information about our child.  Until then we have to keep the details to ourselves due to legal reasons.  We can’t wait to reveal everything to you all!  We’re so excited!  God truly is a good good Father and His timing is always perfect!  In a few months after our first trip, we will travel back to Honduras to complete the adoption and bring home our little blessing!

To give you a snapshot of how the last four and a half years progressed, we will list all of our waiting list numbers along with the dates that we received them.  There were times when we regularly received a new number on the waiting list; and then there were long periods of time in which we didn’t hear anything.

#70 5-15-12

#65 6-20-12

#59 8-3-12

#56 9-4-12

#52 1-8-13

#50 2-15-13

#45 4-4-13

#42 6-11-13

#41 6-26-13

#39 8-15-13

#37 11-8-13

#35 1-24-14

#34 3-10-14

#33 4-24-14

#29 5-27-14

#28 6-23-14

#24 9-25-14

#19 11-18-14

#14 4-28-15

#12 7-22-15

#9 9-28-15

Received referral  9-26-16