So… it has been a crazy month for Brooke and I. We kept looking at each other and saying we should blog, but it never happened. So now we are here in Utah with some spare anxious time on our hands so I decided I’d get caught up on our blog.

Back in June when we were approved by Bethany Christian Services to be on the waiting list they told us it would take on average two years to have a child placed into our home. Just two days later we received a call that they’d like to show our book to a family in Utah. We said of course and tried not to get overly excited about it. They told us all about the family and even the due date and sex of the little baby. I will admit we were very excited and to be honest I think part of me knew something special was happening.

Brooke and I looked through baby name books and even landed on a name we both really liked. As the days and weeks flew by without hearing anything we assumed it was a no go. Our book was shown to other families and life raced on.

On July 29th I was working at my relatively new job as a teller at a credit union when my wife cam up to the window. She handed me a bag and inside was a cute little outfit of pink and leopard print. The bib said “Wild About Daddy!” I promptly looked at her and said, “Why would you buy this? You don’t know if we’re going to have a boy or a girl.” She replied, “Yes I do!” I stood there with my mouth hanging wide open. (This is the second time in our marriage she has shocked me like this, both for good reasons though.)

From that moment on, the race to prepare for our daughters September 12th arrival was in full swing. We had to get a room together, get clothes ready, stock up on supplies and figured out all of the logistics of getting to Utah as soon as we got the call. It was a mad dash, but now I can confidently say that I can put together baby furniture like a pro!

Another factor to all this was navigating what the relationship would be like with the birth family. One thing

you can’t accurately prepare for is how all of that will transpire. Our first interactions with the birth family happened by phone with the birth grandmother. We were nervous going into it, but confident that God was up to something very cool and unique. We spoke, or more accurately, listened to the birth grandmother tell us all about how they all got to the decision of adoption, and filled us in on their family. It was incredible to hear the story and learn how God ordained this family to come across our book. God is really good at His job!

Over the next month Brooke and the birth grandmother exchanged emails, photos and text messages, keeping us in the loop on how baby and mom were doing. During that we prepared and waited patiently, most of the time, for our baby to arrive. Oh, and we chose her name, the name we in fact fell in love with the night we found out that this mystery family in Utah was looking at our book.

What I find most amazing about all of this is God’s timing. I won’t dwell on this too much because it is not the focus of this blog, but Brooke and I have been in a month of transition. God laid it on our hearts to resign at our current church at the end of August 2013, and that He had something new for us to do starting in September. After meeting with our Pastor and telling him of our plan, I spoke to a great friend who told me that they were very likely coming up to plant a church in the Tacoma area, their starting date, September first. They day after our resignation was announced to the church we got the call that we had been chosen. Following that we solidified plans to help with this church plant, with a starting date of September first.

As God birthed in us into a new season of ministry, He was also birthing a new season into our family. But you’ll have to read more about that later.

To be continued…