I Will Follow- Chris Tomlin (With Lyrics)

Our Hudson Story.......Our Shooting Star

Our Hudson Story.....

I wanted to share from the very beginning how this adoption has come about. It is truly a miracle of God's grace and an opportunity that we count as a gift from God to take Hudson in as our son.

I must begin by sharing this verse from Isaiah 61:2,3 "to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes". When we started this adoption, my heart and mind was truly broken and grieving the sudden and unexpected loss of my awesome Mom. I wasn't looking to adopt at this time, even though both Kevin and I wanted to for many years. We had spent many years, getting out of debt and living on a small budget. I was so very tired and depleted. I was just trying to keep up with the normal household things, homeschooling and working when my dear friend Cheryl called and mentioned that there was a little boy whose file was about to be returned to China and just to take a look at him. Well, I looked and thought he was precious! He was 6 years old at the time and had the special need of hip dysplasia. We talked more about him and then I told her I'll tell Kevin about him, and that I would leave it God's hands. So I called Kevin at lunch and told him about this little boy and how he needed a home and to pray about it, if he was for us. Later, Kevin told me that when I called and shared about Hudson, he felt God prick his heart and felt like God was saying the time is NOW. We needed to move forward and try to adopt this little boy who needed a family. We prayed and asked God to confirm this for the next 10 days. He did in many ways! Eight hours after I called Kevin about Hudson, we received a call from some friends saying that they wanted to give us $3,000!!! That was just the beginning of God confirming that HE was going to move this adoption and make it possible! That amount was enough to pay off our remaining debt and fill out the application for adoption.

From that first check we received, it has been truly AMAZING to see friends and family help bring our son home! Kevin and I feel in awe and so humbled how we see this provision in so many creative ways!!! So please bear with me as I share with you how God has done this incredible work!

Selling banana bread and salsa (people giving more than the suggested donation!), checks in the mail, friends and family donating to the agency for our fees, beautiful and amazing photo sessions given, Holly giving her allowance money, birthday party donations, 2 vehicles given so we could get out of our driveway last spring ( passing on our toyotas to others who needed them!), granola and advent book money donated, a Southern Living party, more checks received in the mail, Fed Ex account donated, House concert given by very talented friends, teens giving some of their hard earned money from a summer job, garage sale, a miracle grant given and most recently an amazing shower of gift cards to Target(clothes for Hudson) and more money given for our trip to China!!!

I share all the above to say Nothing is impossible for God when He has ordained it! We are so thankful for all the many ways this adoption has come about-it has been a faith walk for us in stepping out and believing God put the call on our hearts for Hudson. I say that for me, especially, it is the "beauty out of the ashes". I believe God has used this very hard year of grieving to also focus on our adoption as a gift. In my loss of my Mom, I felt a deeper sense of the loss that a child has after losing its parents or never having a mom or dad ever. It made my heart ache even more for the orphan in this world. I had an incredible Mom for 42 years, and after My Mom died-I felt such a deep loss! How much more do those children here in the US and around the world experience loss. My Mom would have been overjoyed over our adoption of Hudson! In fact, I know she is rejoicing in heaven! She had such a heart for the fatherless.

I know some people would say this is crazy! Starting an adoption when you don't have the funds! Well, for Kevin and I, we knew that we didn't have a peace about saying no and waiting until we had the money first. We knew we would have to trust God and fundraise a lot of it and pray that we would receive a grant. We also knew that we had to step forward and let God close the door if it wasn't meant to be. We knew that we wanted to step out and live out God's heart for the fatherless. So thanks for coming beside us in so many ways in this journey to get our son. We realize it won't be easy, but we pray for God's grace and hand to knit our family together as He would have it be! We will need your prayers and friendship as we bring Hudson home. We so look forward to having Hudson join our family as Holly did 8 1/2 years ago!

So why a shooting star? Kevin came up with this analogy. All the files of orphaned children around the world are like shooting stars, they are there for just a short time (usually a few months) and if seen by a potential adopting family will be adopted. If you aren't looking and don't see them, you miss out on an opportunity God has ordained and commanded to set the lonely in families. We thank God, that He made visible to us Hudson's file.

I will post more soon-but for now, we are so thankful our tickets are bought and we will be on our way to China, Dec. 3rd!!!!

Learning to post a pic

Holly apple picking in Minnesota-Hudson's Big Sis!!

Learning to do the blog thing!

Thanks to my niece, Kathryn, we have a blog a few weeks before we leave for China! Yeah, I'm so excited that friends and family can now follow along on our adoption journey to adopt our son, Hudson. I will share more of our miracle of adoption story soon. Thank you Kathryn for sharing your techy gift with us! Posted is the latest picture we received of our son, Nov. 3rd.

First Post

Very soon we will be traveling to China to get our precious son, Hudson!