Our adoption story began about nine years ago when we first started trying to grow our family. We desperately wanted children, and after one miscarriage and three grueling years of infertility, we starting exploring the idea of adoption. Todd has two adopted siblings, so he was immediately on board. I, too, had always wanted to adopt an orphan child.

As soon as we began seeking information on adoption, I became pregnant. God blessed us with a wonderful son, Jonathan David (JD), who was born on May 16, 2001. Two years and two months later on July 16, Benjamin was born – another incredible gift from God! We love our boys more than we could have ever imagined, and yet we knew that our family was not yet complete. The seed that the Lord had planted years before had taken root, and our desire to adopt a child remained steadfast.

We began praying fervently for God’s will, and it didn’t take long before we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was calling us to adopt a little girl. We first applied to adopt from China, but we were immediately told by our agency that the process would take over two years. They asked us if we would consider adopting from South Korea. At first, we weren’t sure. We had had our hearts set on China. But, we told them we would pray and ask God to direct and guide us. We knew that He would make it clear to us. And He did!

That same week, I met one of my neighbors for the first time while she was out on a walk with her two-year old daughter. I was flabbergasted when I found out they were a Christian family from South Korea! We instantly became friends with Kyoung and her husband, Jae. In fact, we started meeting with them regularly so that I could tutor them in English, and they could teach us Korean! God made it abundantly clear that day that He wanted us to adopt from Korea, and what a beautiful connection we now have to our daughter’s homeland and culture.

So far, our process has been very smooth. We received and accepted a referral for a healthy baby girl from South Korea on December 8th. She was almost two months old at the time, born on October 16. (Note that all three of our children were born on the 16th!) And, we almost fell over when we saw her birth name – Jae Kyoung! Unbelievable!

We are in the final stages of the process now, waiting to bring our baby daughter, Kaya Jae, home. Our arms are aching to hold her, and our hearts are full of so much love. We are so thankful to God for His incredible blessings and for His awesome provisions. A HUGE thank you to Hadassah’s Hope for helping us make this dream come true! Your grant has been such an amazing source of encouragement to us and a wonderful reminder of how God always provides! Thank you so much!!!!