10 YEARS OF BLISS

In June of 2000 I was 16 years old and it was the summer before my senior year of high school. I was headed to Ponce Inlet, FL with my family and one of my best friends for our yearly beach vacation. The very last full day we were there it was rainy so we decided to head out to spend some time shopping and ate out for dinner that night. When we returned from dinner my mom looked out at the pool and said, "There are some boys in the pool." As a young teen who was crazy about boys (Lord help me if Alexa takes after me) I was ready to get out there and check them out.
Those boys turned out to be David and his younger brother, Jonathan along with their little sister, Amy who were at the beach for the weekend but lived in Orlando. David's opening line to me was...... " Where are you all from?" (My southern accent paid off big that day!) We spent the next few hours swimming in the pool with David and his siblings. The next morning he even got up early to watch the sunrise with us before we left to travel back to Tennessee. With a simple hug and exchange of email addresses....... we parted ways.
For 2 1/2 years we kept in touch through email, dated other people, and went on with our lives. At about this time 11 years ago, David sent me an instant message on the computer and asked if he could call me. That was when our friendship turned to romance and we planned a trip for him to come to Tennessee 2 days after Christmas. My heart skipped a beat as he got off that plane and as he was walking towards me at the airport my first thought was that this was who I was meant to marry.
For the next 5 months we dated long distance.... traveling back and forth once a month and spending every dollar we could gather on plane tickets. David began working to save money so he could move to be near me and in June of 2003 my Mom, Dad, & I made the 11 hour drive to Orlando, FL to move my love to Tennessee.
David moved into this little tiny studio apartment off of Memorial Blvd. and we began making plans to get married. On October 5th, 2003 at the Allendale Mansion in Kingsport, I said "I do" to my best friend and made a commitment to one another that we would spend our lives together.
The last 10 years has been so amazing and everything that happened to bring us together all those years ago is nothing short of a miracle. I am so proud and honored that God selected David to be mine.
David is the definition of prince charming....... thoughtful, loving, honest, hardworking, romantic, fun loving, an amazing father, selfless, and not to mention easy on the eyes! He gives without expecting anything in return, he loves with all his heart, and most importantly he loves the Lord. He takes his role as the head of our house very seriously and I can lay my head on the pillow at night with complete peace at where he leads us because he is seeking the Lord first in everything he does. It is the most amazing feeling to know that my husband is praying for me and our marriage on a daily basis. He is my love and even though I don't always feel like I deserve him, I know that God created him with me in mind and our divine meeting was in the plans way before our time.
So Happy 10th Anniversary to my prince charming, David!! I love you more now than ever before and I thank God for you everyday!

"I found the one my heart loves" Song of Solomon 3:4

MY 30TH BIRTHDAY IN AFRICA

We began our LONG journey to Africa at about 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday, July 30th. Roughly 36 hours later we finally arrived at the lodge where we stayed for the week. So our first full day in Africa was ironically on my 30th birthday, August 1st.

I began my morning with my blow dryer blowing up.  I obviously didn't realize the plug adaptor can only handle so much. Normally something like that would have quite possibly ruined my day but I laughed about it and considered it a blessing to not have to worry about my hair and the long process of styling it for a week.

David surprised me with birthday video messages from those closest to me. Wow.... that was really incredible! The hubs got big brownie points for that. Thank you to all of you who sent videos and tried to send videos. I know some of them didn't come through but it meant the world to me!! I believe I cried through most of them!

After breakfast we walked to Makwati school (I am not sure that is spelled correctly but it looks right so I'll go with it). Let me just say, that in itself was worth the 36 hours of traveling and leaving my kids for a week! I have never felt so much love from complete strangers before! They literally tackled us and surrounded us with beautiful, joyful smiles! If I ever doubted that I could love a child not biologically mine before that doubt was completely gone.....never to return. I instantly loved all those kids and soaked up their affection!

I have never been around kids that were so joyful & genuinely happy! They have nothing as far as possessions go yet they know a peace and contentment that I can only dream my kids would know. They wear mismatched, dirty clothes and many of them didn't even have shoes on. They didn't seem to care about any of that though. Their smiles were contagious and their affection made my heart swell! To say David was on cloud 9 is an understatement! He was totally in his element and it was obvious that children are definitely his calling!

The whole day I kept thinking about the child God has picked out for us to adopt! I am more excited and anxious now than ever before to dive into this process. The day before we left for Africa our adoption application was approved. Our next step is the home study but we have to come up with $2,100 before we can move forward. So far we have about $800 and I must admit I am stressing a little about the rest. Normally we would have that money tucked away but in our quest to completely rid our lives of car debt we used our savings to pay cash for David's car. I know God did that on purpose though because he wants to show us that he can and will provide for what he has called us to do. As soon as our home study is done we can apply for adoption grants. Hopefully we will be able to get some grants to help pay for the rest.

We have some things planned for fundraising but those are going to take some time to get together. I have some events this fall & winter that I am going to set up at and sell jewelry made by women in Africa.  My car is up for sale and if we can get it sold we plan to buy something cheaper and use as much of the money from that as we can toward our adoption. David is going to try to find some side jobs like painting to help us raise money.  We will do whatever it takes..... so everything at the Wallace's is for sale (with the exception of our kids...haha)! The life of a child is worth more to us than our "stuff." We trust God that everything will happen in his timing. So pray that God will give us patience! 

For now I leave you with this verse that God showed me the morning after we visited the school.....
"Listen, my beloved brother, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?" James 2:5

Acutally all of James 2 is good stuff! I encourage you to read it! 

THE NEXT MEMBER OF THE WALLACE FAMILY

In my last post I announced that we are ready and feel led to begin our journey with adoption. At the time we were pretty certain we knew what route we were called to take we just wanted to make certain that was where God was truly leading us.

Well over the past few days I have spent a lot of time researching and watching adoption videos and my heart has been broken over and over again. The need is so large that I have been overwhelmed by it. Honestly, I have felt inadequate...... Like just adopting one isn't going to be enough.

There are many estimates out there (its really hard to get an exact number), but there is approximately 153 million orphans world wide. Just take a minute to wrap your head around that and by the way that number doesn't even include the kids who are orphaned and living on the streets as opposed to an orphanage or foster home. Could you imagine your own kids not having a mommy & daddy to love on them, tuck them in at night, care for them while they are sick, and comfort them when they have a bad dream? Could you imagine being abandoned by the people who are supposed to love you the most on this Earth?  Could you imagine both of your parents suddenly dieing and having no one else to care for you?

For a long time (even 6 years ago when we first felt called to adopt), we have always been drawn to Africa. We went into our meeting with our adoption counselor with the countries narrowed down to 4 and after that meeting we felt stronger than ever that God was calling us to Ethiopia.

  So what is it about Ethiopia that stirs our hearts so much....... Of the 153 million orphans world wide, 4.3 million of those reside in Ethiopia alone. It is one of the largest orphan populations in the world. One in 6 children die before their 5th birthday and 1 in 4 girls are raped. Ethiopia is one of Africa's poorest countries: over 80% of the 77 million people that reside there live below the poverty line, with 10 million of those facing starvation. Preventable diseases count for 60% of health problems. One of the top killers in Ethiopia is diarrhea. Those statistics are hard to swallow and understand when compared to the United States and the privileges that we have here. We are on a rescue mission to bring the child home that God has already picked out for us. 

I would be lying if I said David & I have not had conversations about the effects of interracial adoption and what we need to expect as far as racism is concerned. It is so sad to me that this is still apart of our culture. The other day on facebook, Pastor Rick Warren's post said, "Racism is stupid. It's an insult to God, arrogantly implying that God goofed-up when he chose to make us all different." I love that! If you believe God created everything and everyone do you think he appreciates us having such hatred toward some of his creation just because their shade of skin is different than yours? There is only one race and that is the human race and we are all beautiful in the eyes of God.

So pray for us if you will as I know that we have some struggles ahead and pray for our child that God has reserved for us. We plan to raise every single penny needed to make this adoption happen. Our immediate need is for $550 for the formal application. We need this money as soon as possible. Currently there are only 10 spots left in the Ethiopia program (they only take so many at a time). We know God is in control and if one of those spots are meant for us then the money will come in. Immediately after the formal application is approved we need $2,100 to get our home study done. Then within a few more months we will owe $3,500. We won't owe anything more until we are referred a child which on average takes 3 years. So we will have some time to bring in about $30,850 more.

I have some fundraising ideas that I am excited to get started working on when we return from our mission trip. But I do wonder if we could possibly raise it all with facebook. What if 6,150 (or 37,000 for that matter) people on facebook donated just $1 to our cause? It will be nothing short of a miracle how God brings this money in. I have set up a fundraising website that people can go to and donate using paypal. Just follow this link..... www.youcaring.com/wallaceadoption

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."  James 1:27 (NLT)

LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN

In the past several months God has surrounded me with adoption. I hear about it everywhere..... no joke! Some may say that is just coincidence and it was all there before I just didn't notice it. But I KNOW that is not the case. It is God telling David & I to move forward and put our words into action.

We met with our adoption counselor on Wednesday and that night I prayed for God to send me confirmation that now is the time. When I woke up Thursday morning and read my devotional for the day tears filled my eyes. 

My devotion was titled 'Saying Yes To God.' Lysa TerKeurst writes, "You may be thinking, my yes can't affect others like this. I don't have that kind of influence. But we cannot even begin to understand the plans God has for us. There is always a far-reaching ripple effect when a woman says yes to God. We don't have to see the spread of the influence to know it's there. The power of saying yes to God is beyond anything we could ever imagine."

Up until now I have always seen us adopting as being a forever family for ONE child but when I read that devotion I realized that more than just one child could be united with their forever families because of our yes. The testimonies of others who have adopted has greatly influenced us and encouraged us to move forward and our testimony could very well do the same for others. God's plans are always greater than we could ever imagine.

 We are pretty certain we know the exact path God has chosen for us. We will make that public knowledge as soon as we have confirmed it with God and have revealed that information to our closest family members. We know that God has already chosen our next child and we cannot wait to see what the future holds!

So another fundraising journey will begin! We definitely do not have the funds for an adoption but we know that nothing is too great or too big for God and if he has called us to do it then he will provide the way. So pray for us as we begin this next chapter of our lives. 

Hopefully in my next post I will be able to unveil the country God has chosen for us! Until then I remind you that as christians we have been adopted into the family of God.

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

 

PREPARING FOR AFRICA

IT IS OFFICIAL...... Our plane tickets have been purchased & I will be turning 30 in Zambia, Africa! We depart on July 30th at 5:25 am (Yikes.... That's early) for our loooong journey across the world!

Since on August 1st I will officially say goodbye to my 20's, my license expires that day. I didn't think it would be a good idea to let it expire while in Africa (they may not let me come back home),  so we went today to renew it. It was surprisingly the easiest process I have ever encountered at the DMV & we were in & out in 15 minutes. Wow.... I am still amazed AND I actually got a decent picture! That's a miracle all in itself! See... Miracles do still happen. :)

We also had to go to the Health Dept. today and get our yellow fever vaccine. Poor David hates shots and I threw him under the bus and told them he hadn't had a tetanus shot in more than 10 years so he had to get that too. Oops!! He has such a fear of shots. Not of the actual shot itself but of the possible side effects. We both survived though and it was a fairly easy process as well. Those shots costs over $350.... So thank you soooo much to those of you that have donated to us and has helped us raise the money!

This weekend we will be turning in the rest of the money we have raised to pay for our plane tickets, room, & food expenses while we are there. This has so far been an awesome journey and I have actually really enjoyed the fundraising part. I got to sit down with several people and share with them what we will be doing in Africa and why we felt led there. But the best part was witnessing as people stepped up to God's call and assisted us financially and prayerfully.

I leave you for now with this picture of David and I going into the Health Dept to get our shots. I just love this man! He is so much fun and truly makes my life enjoyable!

AFRICA UPDATE: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

I have had a couple people ask me for an update on our fundraising efforts for Africa. As of right now we do not have an exact final dollar amount. We have a pretty good estimate of what we need and I am happy to report that based on that estimate we are AT THE MOST $300 away from being completely fundraised for the trip. We have a meeting to attend next Sunday evening and I am hoping we can narrow that down to a more exact amount so we know where to go from there.

When David and I began this journey we talked about how awesome it would be to be able to completely raise the money without having to send out support letters. There is nothing wrong with that (we will most likely have to do it when the time comes to raise the money for adoption)  but I am very prideful and I like to work for it. We agreed that we would try to raise what we could on our own and if we still needed more we would send out support letters. I never imagined that people would start stepping up and giving us money without us having to ask and for the most part it came from people I would have never expected it from. In one case we even had a sweet lady we had never met before give us money for the trip. We are so grateful that people have answered God's call to support our trip.

The way that God provided for us financially to go on this trip, for me, is the greatest confirmation of all! I am ashamed to say, I doubted Him and lacked faith that it would come in. But in those moments of doubt He came through in big ways. He showed me that all I have to do is say yes and He will provide the rest of the way with what I need to walk in His will.

For now I leave you with this scripture....
"For nothing will be impossible with God." Luke 1:37 (ESV)

THE CHILD WISPERER

While David & I were dating, I became an aunt for the first time. My brothers little girl was born on April 22, 2003. David came in from Florida to see me and met my precious little neice, Abby when she was about a month old.

Most 21 year old guys would shy away from holding a baby so small much less feeding her a bottle. But David went right to her and picked her up and fed her a bottle. While everyone else in the room looked at him like an alien from another planet they were so shocked, I looked at him and thought "I have found the one!" I knew he was a natural and would make one awesome Daddy one day.

About 5 years later I watched as David became a Dad. He was so nervous and anxious! But when he laid his eyes on our baby boy I saw him in an instant fall in love. He was so excited he rushed out of the surgery room leaving Austin behind  just to tell everyone he was here. The nurse had to go looking for him to give Austin to him to carry to the nursery. It was funny yet so sweet! He was so excited he couldn't wait another second to tell our families he was born.

Those first several months were rough with a very colicky and fussy baby and honestly I wouldn't have made it through without David. He never shied away from a dirty diaper, a sleepless night, or endless rocking and bouncing trying to get our fussy baby content. He gave me my time and allowed me to cry when I needed to, take naps when I was worn out or step out to have some peace and quiet. David truly kept me grounded and encouraged me the whole way that it wasn't me and I wasn't a horrible mom because my baby wouldn't stop crying.

Three and a half years later I got the privelage of witnessing David fall in love with our little girl and it was just as magical as the first time. He was a little more relaxed (although not by much) and this time he never left Alexa's side except to come check on me after she was already in the nursery.  He waited on me hand and foot while I recovered from surgery and was sensitive to my every need. All the while helping care for our children without complaining one time!

David truly is an amazing Daddy! He has endless energy and always steps in to help me with them. I hear so many other women complain because their husbands won't get up in the middle of the night with their children, won't give their kids baths, won't cook and clean to give them a break, won't change a #2 diaper, or wipe a snotty nose. David has stepped up to help in every way he possibly can and even beyond that. Our kids absolutely adore him and I can definitely see why!

I started telling people he was the child whisperer. Kids everywhere just gravitate toward him. We were at the beach last week and several kids that we didn't know just came over and sat with him playing in the sand. We go to parks and he always ends up with extra kids around him. We go to family gatherings and all the kids in the family end up on David's lap or all around him playing. My neighbors granddaughter comes over and immediately asks where David is if he isn't home. When we volunteer in the nursery at church all the kids follow him around. He has this way with them that is really hard to put into words. You have to experience it in action to truly understand it. They all love him!

So Happy Fathers Day to the most amazing, funny, energy filled Daddy in the whole world! You are loved and appreciated more than you will ever know!!!!