The Beginning

Wow! I can't believe I'm actually blogging about the adoption of our 4th child! I guess I need to go back to the beginning and tell you how all of this started. It's hard to put into words but it was a feeling I started having about 2 years ago. Yes, Caroline was about 3 yrs old and Stuart looked at me like I was Crazy. All I can say is that God put it on my heart and it simmered there for about a year. Sometimes I would leave church and my heart would be a mess. I mean I had 3 beautiful, healthy children and a wonderful marriage. Why would God tell me I needed more? I struggled with this feeling and finally told Stuart " I think we need to adopt a child" another look of craziness. So I waited. Then, the disaster in Haiti hit. I was a total wreck. I told Stuart once again "we have to help those children". I heard on CNN that a plane was arriving in Pennsylvania with about 80 orphans. I called the Governors office in Pennsylvania and left a message about how we would adopt/foster a child or sibling group. Then I called Stuart " Hey honey, I just signed us up to help some children from Haiti. My, how he loves me! Now, I can't believe that the governors office didn't call the crazy lady from Tennessee, without her husbands approval, back but they didn't. So, Again I waited! Then one day Clayton got in the car from school and said " Mom , we need to adopt one of those children in Haiti" I said really? Why do you say that? he said "because they need help". Then I heard that he had even told the children in his class that he was getting a new brother or sister from Haiti. Tears filled my eyes and I waited. Soon after that, Haiti closed adoptions. Fast forward to May 8th 2010, we were in the kitchen surrounded by the chaos of 3 children and Stuart was standing in front of the TV mesmerized. He was watching a documentary about the orphan crisis in Africa. He wasn't relaxing in front of the TV, I mean he was literally standing in front of the TV. I stood behind him trying to control the children so he could hear and SMILED! The Lord was changing his heart in our kitchen in front of a 20 inch TV screen. It was amazing. That night I couldn't sleep, I woke up and it was Mother's Day. We went to church and I prayed! That night Stuart asked me where do you want to go for dinner. Those of you who know me well, know I'm always craving Mexican food so off we went to Mazatlan in Brentwood. Halfway thru our meal a sweet family arrived with a daughter,2 sons and a beautiful daughter from Ethiopia. Oh my! I said " It's a sign"! This time Stuart didn't look at me like I was crazy he just smiled. On our way home I said "Do you think we need to adopt a boy or a girl"? He replied "a girl"!!!!!!! So here we are after lots of prayer and a ton of research we have narrowed it down to an Ethiopian Princess to join our family of 5. As many of you know the process will take over a year to complete. It will be riddled with complications, paperwork, anxiety, and more paperwork. So pray with us during this process so we may bring our child home quickly and that she is protected and safe until she joins her forever family.

Lovingly,
Leigh Anne