We are Adopting

After much prayer, Wade and I really started to believe that God was calling us to adopt.

Our selfish sides struggled with what a true call form God looks like.  Maybe we just thought He was calling us. After all, we already have 4 kids. We are a military family who move often and endure long stretches of time apart.  How could we be sure?
Would there be a miraculous sign? Will we hear His voice? Would there be writing on the wall?

In the end... we read His word; we listened to His cry for us, as His people, to care for the orphan, and in the small still voices in our hearts, we knew.

I felt like I had started all of this, and I wanted to make sure Wade could see what I did before we made our final decision.
After all, I had seen the children, the desolation, the poverty, and I wanted Wade to be on board with that same experience in mind... so,  we planned a trip to the Philippines that December.
We took all of our children and spent Christmas with "the least of these", and if I had any doubts that adopting was what we were supposed to do, they were gone by the time we made it back to Japan. Wade agreed, and our children's love for others there was so beautiful, and they too were on board.

It was time get serious, and find an agency... before we chickened out :)
Being overseas, and a very transient military family shut the door to so many agencies, but there was one, Adopt Abroad, Inc., that was willing to take us on, and they had a social worker in Okinawa that was available to do our home study.
We started the process in January, and in true Nordberg form, we charged forward, full speed ahead!

A process that takes a log time, under the best circumstances, would not deter us, and we did it!

We were home study complete, with a complete package to submit to the US government in May.
A week before we were to leave the island.
and report for our next duty station.
in Tampa, Florida.
where we would have to start the process
All.
Over.
Again!