Because we are crap. And God is so not. The story of Godfrey - Part 1.

(yes, i know this picture is kind of weird. i like it. leave me alone.)

This is as close to a scrapbook as my kids will ever get, so I realized that I really needed to write out the story of Godfrey before I forget all the details - which will happen about 5 seconds after he walks in the door. Because seriously? There is no easing in to a 4 1/2 year old boy.

So I think this all started with Kate. In Kindergarten. Who came home from school and said, "I think you should have a baby boy. A brown one." (and don't even go all p.c. on me. she was 5 and she knew her colors.) My response, "mama doesn't make them brown. aaaand we're pretty much done with babies." We blew it off, but the seed was planted and she wasn't backing down. Funny thing how the Holy Spirit can use a 5 year old girl to prepare you for something you never would have seen coming.

Fast forward about a yearish. Our church was going through the book of James. And there it was. James 1:27

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

And it just sort of hit me like a truck. That pit-of-your-stomach, knock-your-breath-out realization that, crap - We totally have to do this. And not in a works-based, lose your salvation if you don't sort of way - but a you have totally been called to do this, so just try and stop it kind of way. So go. Do it.

Or, in our case, shuffle slowly towards something that might look like adoption in a few years. Talking about it in that well-meaning, "oh, we're really thinking about it" way, and just kind of pray that it fades away.

Well about 2 seconds after we mention it, along come Gene and Loren (yeah, I'm calling you out) - who met every one of our excuses with, "really?", "hmmmm", or "why?" - followed by dead silence and questioning glances. And suddenly all of our excuses were embarrassingly lame and shallow. Because WE are lame and shallow. But God is not.

(There are an abundance of ways to care for orphans, and that may not mean adoption for you. But it may. And if you have ever felt that tug to adopt - I'm sending Gene and Loren over.)

So August 1st 2010 we jumped in. With both feet. And submitted our application with Good Shepherd's Fold Orphanage in Uganda.