The "Why" Post - LONG!

Ok, so I've had a few people now ask me a few questions, about the blog & about my adoption. So I decided to clarify a bit.

First of all, the easy one. The reason I decided to title my blog "To Build a Family". No, it isn't that I think I don't have a family already - I have a wonderful, close-knit family. Immediate and extended - we all (for the most part) genuinely enjoy eachother's company & it's great to know there are so many people who are in my corner no matter what. The family I am building is the one that most of us dream of having someday - parents & children. I admit, I'm doing it in a rather unconventional manner (to many people), since there isn't exactly a daddy in the picture yet, but it feels right. After all, I'm not really a "conventional" kind of person in a lot of aspects!

Now the tougher one. Well, it really was the easier decision for me, but it's the tougher one to answer. I've always known that I wanted to adopt - that was a no-brainer for me. See, I'm adopted myself (actually, so was my birth mother) & I have wanted to have at least part of my family come together that way as long as I can remember. I haven't always had the best taste in men, so had told myself that "someday" if I hadn't found Mr. Wonderful yet, I would pursue adoption as a single woman. Honestly I didn't really expect "someday" to be yet, but last year I very strongly felt God leading me to start the process. I have to admit, I wasn't sure why he told me to start it then - I was working part time & living in my parents' basement. Not exactly a suitable situation, as far as I was concerned. But God kept telling me "do the research & be ready". I knew that I had to start looking into things so that when He said "Now" I would be able to follow. Once I started listening to him & taking care of my end of things, everything else started to fall into place. He told me my baby would be waiting for me in Ethiopia, so I started to research the country & agencies. I got a good job that lets me support myself & will also allow me to provide for LB. A few months later I found a large apartment for a very good price - plenty of room for me to bring home my baby. The only roadblock at that point was the fact that things just weren't coming together with the agency I had chosen to work with. I wound up looking at my first-choice agency's website (they hadn't had an Ethiopian program when I had talked to them before so I had gone with my 2nd choice) and discovered that they had just started a pilot program in Ethiopia. That's when things REALLY clicked. So, now here I am. I've been accepted into the program & things are starting to move. Now it's just a matter of doing what I need to do & following God's timing to bring the Lil' Bit home.

This brings me to the 3rd question I am asked. I've been asked lately what people can pray for regarding LB, me, and the journey to make us a family. The biggest thing is for LB's health & safety - or for the health & safety of the birthmother if the Lil' Bit hasn't been born yet. The 2nd thing is that I will be able to get everything together on my end. I am walking in faith big time here folks - trusting that God will provide everything I need to take care of everything involved in this adoption (spiritually & materially). And, of course, strength & patience for me. As I said in earlier posts - I don't do waiting well!

So, I'm sorry about the LONG post - if you made it all the way to the end you have my sincere admiration! Hope this answers some of those questions, but if you have any others or would like more clarification, please feel free to ask!