Lance and Malisa
Adoption had been something that Lance and I had talked about over the years and something that had been on my heart for as long as I can remember. However, we never really knew how it would play out in our lives. We already had 3 young children and life was full. After experiencing a miscarriage and a difficult pregnancy and delivery with our third child, we thought that maybe our family was complete. God had other plans and used this to begin our journey into adoption.
Beginning in 2009, I felt God stirring in my heart that He wanted to use our family for His purposes in a big way. I did not know what it was but had a consistent desire to seek Him for this answer. I was open to what God had, but what was it? Was He calling us to missions or a particular new ministry? After several months, God began to reveal that He might be calling our family to adoption. I looked at our life and what I saw was a family that has been given so much and had so much to give. I went to Lance and shared with him what I felt God was putting on my heart. Lance had reservations. Our children were still young, life was busy, and there were risks and unknowns. I trust Lance’s judgment and obviously we both had to make this huge decision together. Needless to say, he was not on board. Maybe I was wrong, maybe God wasn’t telling me this. However, I could not shake the excitement about this and felt that God had placed it there. Why was Lance not on board if this is what God wanted us to do? I went back to Lance and asked if he would be willing to pray about adoption. Through this, we could allow God to unite our hearts in this vision or lead us in a different direction. He agreed and started praying.
Over the next several weeks, God began uniting our hearts in this vision and showed us in so many ways that this is what He wanted for our family. Through this journey, God allowed me the joy of listening and surrendering my heart to His purposes. God gave Lance the ability to let go even through fears, many unknowns, and not knowing the end of the story. We both learned that even through the unknowns, God gives peace and a freedom in following His lead and His calling.
In the end, God called our hearts to adoption and then to Ethiopia. After a long 2 years, we brought our beautiful daughter home from Ethiopia. She has brought such joy to our kids and to our family. She is a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness and a picture of how we are also adopted into His family. We are humbled and blessed that we can be a small part of His story.