Dinner and good friends

On Friday evening, Mike and I got dressed up and headed out to “Under an Ethiopian Sky” – a fundraising gala to benefit Faith Village in Ethiopia. It was a fun night of great food, great entertainment and inspiring speakers.

This is a picture of us with Paul and Anna at the dinner. She’s the one who got the tickets for us and encouraged us to go. I’m thankful she did because we had a great time.

We’ve gotten to know Paul and Anna over the last few months since they also started their adoption journey. Anna and I went to the same high school and Mike and I even went to the same church as Paul and Anna for a few years but didn’t really have a lot to do with each other. We saw each other a few times when our Victoria and their Nicole were newborns. They were born two days apart and we went to the same clinic for our family doctor so we would run into each other there a few times. Then when Victoria and Nicole were in the same class at school, we saw each other more often and chatted here and there. Victoria and Nicole would have play dates once in a while and go to each other’s birthday parties.

Then last December, Anna called me to tell me that Nicole was able to come to Victoria’s birthday party and we began talking about other things. She asked me if we were adopting again because Nicole had come home and said that Victoria was getting another baby – this time a brother. Anna was confused because she didn’t think it was very common to adopt a boy from China but I informed her that we were adopting from Ethiopia this time. We went on talking and she told me that she and Paul had thought about adopting sometime but that’s really as far as it had gone. I told her that she could call or email me anytime if she wanted to discuss it in more detail (adoption being one of my favourite topics of conversation) and if she had any questions. To be honest, I didn’t think much of it because I often have people tell me that they think about adopting but for whatever reason they just don’t. However, I think it was a few days later she called me again and that lead to more phone calls and emails. After much prayer and a few subtle signs from God, she and Paul were on board. They sped through their home study and our files went to Ethiopia within a month of each other and now we’re both waiting to hear about the precious children God has picked out for our families. They’ve requested a girl and we’ve requested a boy and we’re hoping they end up in the same class at school too.

It's been really neat to see how God has brought our two families together. I’m thankful for our friendship and pray that God will continue to bless us both on our adoption journeys and keep our children safe and healthy until they come home to their forever families.