I used to think that I would never get married.... Sister Mary Margaret Catherine Michelle is the name that my friends and I said I would have to use when I had to become a nun.  And kids? No! I didn't want them...... or at least until I didn't until I held my sleeping niece Sarah in my arms.

So,  finally, after praying SO long, asking God for the same thing that I am sure He was so tired of my request, IT happened.  Along came this boy at a hot air balloon rally, with the prettiest blue eyes who completely did not listen to my introduction of myself (I had just explained I was a social worker) and he asks "So how long have you worked at Penn Stuart (a law firm)?" Where is the eye roll button?!? But I knew he was the one. He is the peanut butter to my jelly, the waves in my ocean, the sweet in my dreams.... you get the picture.

So, 10 years later, here we are. And yes, I have kids! Two boys, ages 6 and 4 (but thinks he is 20). Funny thing, David and I have always had a mutual "thing" for adoption. This has been something that we have talked about so naturally..... talked like we would actually do it. This desire was made even more clear when our dear friend Francis, from Rwanda, showed us some photos after the genocide. An estimated 600,000 children were orphaned from those 100 days of bloodshed that I don't even want to imagine. 600,000 children! I wanted to know what they did, who fed them, who took care of them, what happened? I was in tears as he showed me the homemade, makeshift memorials where the bones had been gathered from the mass graves and placed there, because nobody knew who they were so they could be properly buried.

And again, here we are. We have talked and we have prayed and talked and prayed and we have finally decided to step out in faith to go for it! After much research and talking to others, and even interrupting someone else's lunch to ask about their gorgeous kids who are adopted, we have made some decisions and are going for it. "If not us, then who?"

and I am going to get all Bible on you say, it's our responsibility to do this. I have had all kinds of questions..... Don't you have kids "of your own?" (why yes, I do).Why don't you just have another kid "of your own?"( I am too darn old!) You might have to bring home (enter the whisper here) a black child. (Yes, and I would be okay if they were orange or purple too). Where did you come up with this idea? (You ever read the Bible, cause it's in there, and more than once). Yeah, this is what I have gotten...... but you know what? This has nothing to do with anybody else other than our family, God, and the child that needs a family, our family.

So, we have started fundraising....... why? Because, yes, adoption is expensive, and instead of asking all of my friends to donate money, I would rather make them something that they can see and have, and to give a reminder of all the kids that need a family, a hope, a dream, and love. And I am a Social Worker (this is where working at Penn Stuart would have come in handy) and David is a Probation Officer. No question, we aren't wealthy. But, we want to give a child a home.

Please pray for us. I don't ask that lightly because so many people say they will and they don't and often, I won't even mention it so as not to waste time or breathe, but we need it, our child that is waiting on us needs it.

And if you need a bracelet, I know somebody that has some cool ones! Bracelets that will help give a little girl a family to call her own.