One of the things I have looked forward to since we married was to own our own home. Dreams of a large home on a large parcel of acreage was something I shared with my husband often. We also talked and chatted about and made plans for “when we own our own home.”

Over the years we moved around quite a bit due to new employment. We signed a new lease for a rental home year after year. It started to get old, this moving around. Eventually the excitement I usually had when telling our children we were moving again gave way to dread. The kids got older – let’s face it, Mommy got older – and the boxes and starting over just plain stunk.

Last year we moved closer to where both sets of parents and family live. We had moved away from them in 2006 but quickly realized how much our growing family needed the support of moms and dads, and aunts and uncles. We realized the blessing of having grandparents in our childrens’ lives. And frankly, we just plain missed them.

We left a wonderful church and moved. We settled into a rental home, yet again. And frankly this rental home was in terrible condition. Cleaning and fixing and repairing was done simultaneously as unpacking and settling in. (Huge props to my Mother-in-law who cleaned for two days the mess that was our new kitchen) I told Mr. Incredible: “Never again. If we move one more time, it will be into our own home.”

So as the New Year rolled around and we had half a year left on our lease we started perusing the area around us. Where did we want to live? How much acreage did we want? What kind of house was in our price range?

Eventually we realized that moving to the country and acreage we wanted would move us farther away from Daddy’s work and from the grandparents. And since moving closer to the families was the whole point of this move, a decision that we may need to settle for living in the suburbs was in order.

We began looking. I searched and googled and realtor dot com-ed into the wee hours of the morning.

Still. Something wasn’t quite right.

Maybe we should have realized we were not headed in the right direction when we couldn’t find the acreage we had dreamed of. Why was it that despite lowered housing prices, everything still seemed out of our reach. Perhaps settling for HOAs was not part of the story God had for our lives.

We were going nowhere on finding our home and we were getting there fast.

Until, one day, as I was reading Lora Lynn’s blog, the Holy Spirit spoke to me like never before. Perhaps what Lora Lynn and her family did was what my family was called to do. The thought wouldn’t leave me. I prayed – constantly – and thought and prayed some more.

I brought it to the attention of my husband that I felt we may be called to adopt. I continued to speak about it quite a bit with him. He continued to pray, to ask questions, to learn more. The drive and desire to own a home and a place to call our own was replaced with the desire to obedient to God in what He has for our family. And it seemed that owning a home just wasn’t in His plan; it was being put on hold, so to speak.

A few weeks ago we decided that after praying and reading the Bible and discussing many hours about this that this was a process we needed to start. We thought first about adopting domestically but realized quickly that Africa was where our next child was.

So, dear friends and family, we are excited to announce that we are expecting baby #6. While this child will not be ours biologically and I will not have to go through pregnancy to be blessed by him or her, we are just as thrilled and tingly-happy as the others.

Obviously I will be blogging a lot about this. Also, we really need your prayers as we start this journey. As of now I am looking for a reputable and affordable home study agency. We will be adopting independently so there is a lot of work that I will be putting into this.

So next year will not be focused on signing a mortgage and packing boxes. It will not involve the sigh of relief I always looked forward to experience when we were all moved in. Instead, next year will be focused on a country that I never have even thought of visiting and home buying will remain on the back burner.

But, truthfully? I. would. not. have. it. any. other. way.

Thank you for sharing in our joy with us.