So, What's This Journey All About?

After the prompting of some friends, we're starting this new blog.  The title "Adolphs Family Journey" may seem vague, but that's exactly what we've always been on as a family...a journey.  This journey began on our wedding day, May 31, 2003.  We fully believe that a husband and wife are the fulfillment of the definition of a family in God's eyes, and that children are welcome additions.  We're guessing that anyone reading this already knows us, but just for the sake of completeness we'll introduce ourselves.  We're a family that currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Steve is employed at Rockwell Collins, and Heather is a stay-at-home mom.  God has brought two very welcome additions into our lives so far.  Ella Lorraine joined us on September 2, 2007, and Myles Robert came along on October 9, 2009. 

Why a new blog?  At this specific time in our family's journey, we are in the process of bringing a third welcome addition into our home.  Just like the first two times, we don't know anything about this baby.  What will her favorite foods be?  How chubby are her cheeks?  Will she like music as much as her parents?  Is she going to be a good sleeper?  The key difference this time around is that this baby isn't growing inside of Heather's womb.  She is growing somewhere in China. 

God put a desire in each of our hearts for adoption even before we were married.  This passion was confirmed during our two mission trips to Kenya in 2005 and 2006.  When each of our two babies came into the world, we never lost the desire to add a sibling from far away.  We looked into adopting from Kenya because of our obvious ties there, but the country's laws and processes made it pretty infeasible for a family with young children at home (namely a requirement for at least one parent to live in country for many weeks or even months).

So, why China?  The country itself was of secondary importance to us.  Our first priority was giving a forever family to a child out there who has none.  China is a very stable program, and we are partnered with an adoption agency that is very established with the Chinese government.  While the waiting time under the standard adoption process through China is now up to five years (yikes!), we are pursuing a special needs adoption.  This process from start to finish should be more like 12 to 18 months.

So, why now?  We became Dave Ramsey "weirdos" and made a lot of sacrifices to pay off debt.  Between the time we started in June 2009 through the time we finished in January 2011, we paid off about $44,000 of vehicle and student loans.  As we neared the end, we kept wondering "what's next?"  Would we get newer cars?  Should we take a big family vacation?  Having the frugal mindset so ingrained in our heads, we had no desire to start living a more spendy lifestyle.  So, we crunched the numbers and decided to trust God to help us fund an international adoption without going into debt.  We saved our pennies that were previously dedicated to Sallie Mae and her colleagues and submitted our initial application in April 2011. 

We see adoption as such a wonderful picture of God's plan for humanity.  For those that receive the gift of salvation, we are brought into His family.  We hope that as we share our journey through this blog, you will remember us in your prayers.  Who knows, maybe God will plant a passion for adoption into your own heart!