I'm Back!!! {Adoption Families Update}

I am officially back from my holiday blog hiatus and am SO ready to get back into the swing of things!

I have a few announcements that I am SO happy to share!

1. 2 of our adoption families are no longer fundraising with us...

-The McLambs are our 1st family to bring their sweet baby home!!!

-The Robinsons are pregnant and have put their adoption on hold!!!

Congratulations to both of these families, we will continue to pray for you!

2. We have gained 2 new adoption families...

Brian and Chris Anne Massengale

Hi! We are Brian and Chris Anne Massengale from Birmingham, Alabama. Chris Anne is a teacher and Brian works in customer service. We started dating in July of 2001 and married in July of 2003. The road to having the family that we dream of has been a long and difficult one. We have always had a heart for adoption and decided last spring to take the leap of faith. We were introduced to Family Adoption Services by a good friend and were immediately welcomed with open arms. They have held our hands and encouraged us through this process. We know that God has the perfect child picked out for our family and we can’t wait to meet him or her! We are grateful to all of our friends and family for their support and especially thankful for Worthy of the Prize for their help. What an amazing gift they are giving all of us!

James and Toni Swanson

We are the Swanson family. James is an Associate Pastor and Toni is a stay-at-home mom who keeps busy managing a home of three teenagers and one teenage-wanna-be. We have seen first hand the beauty of adoption and how adoption manifests God's sovereignty over lives, governments, cultures, finances and circumstances. Our adoption experience with extended family has put adoption close to our hearts for the past 18 years. Over the last four or five years, the desire to adopt pressed in. We have room in our home and even more room in our hearts for more children...so why wouldn't we? Many reasons presented themselves but when those reasons were weighed in they all came back as 'selfish' or of 'worldly wisdom'.

In the fall of 2009, God showed Himself to be relentless in presenting adoption as a practical outgrowth of the Gospel. We were filthy in our sin and without hope, yet He chose to make us His own at an extreme cost to Himself. Likewise, adoption is seeing a fatherless child and making him/her our own...at a price that yes, is costly by the world's standards, yet pales in light of the sacrifice our Heavenly Father made in His only Son to provide for our spiritual adoption in His eternal family. Following God’s leading, our family stepped into the exciting adventure of adoption in March of 2010. Currently, we are on the waiting list with All God’s Children International for a child or sibling set from Ethiopia. We are beyond excited to see God’s hand as we grow our family through adoption….and we can’t wait to love on our little one(s).

Follow our story here: www.sdswansons.blogspot.com