And so we wait...
It's been quite a while since we posted, but we wanted to wait until we had more to share.
The past several months have been very busy in the adoption realm, getting together loads of paperwork to complete our home study. We ran into a few roadblocks last month, which we thought was going to delay our approval quite a bit, but let me assure you that God and His Almighty plan turned things around much quicker than we could have imagined and we are pleased to say that our home study was officially approved a couple weeks ago!!
This is a HUGE step for us, as many of you know who have gone through this process or know someone who has, it is the step that gives us approval to wait for a child referral. At this point, we get to "wait" for the phone call that will refer us a child to be possibly matched with our family. There are so many details that go into this point of the adoption; so we ask that you pray with us as we wait and as we get that phone call (hopefully very soon...my heart is so full and is about to explode, y'all!). Please pray for wisdom, discernment and great joy as we wait upon the Lord.
We were able to walk in Room For One More 5k a couple weekends ago, as well. It is a local non-profit that provides aide in the form of grants to families adopting. It was a great opportunity to come together with our community to raise more awareness for adoption, but it was also a fundraiser for us, as well! We met so many amazing people along the way through that organization. We were so blessed by the people who raced on behalf of "Team Hensley" to help raise support!
On another fun note, the boys are getting more and more aware of the adoption and learning more each day. They pray for "our baby brother or sister" every night. Aaron has even asked for a map! So we got him a world map to put on his wall and just about every night, he can't wait to point to S. Korea to tell us that's where they live. It melts my heart that they are already opening their hearts to this sweet child that we haven't even met yet. It is only by God's grace and love that I know their little hearts can be so open to something like this. And it's only by His love and grace that we, as parents, have been opened up to this.
We still have so many fears as we get ready to bring another child into our home, but fears that are completely outweighed by the impending joys. We know God is preparing us for this. In Him we have complete confidence that He will see us through each step of the way.
Please continue to pray for us as we wait and also as we plan ahead for the next rounds of paperwork that are to come, as well as the funding needs we still have. We are in the process of applying for grants to help us pay for the adoption costs and planning future fundraising events. These costs can seem so daunting as we look at them on a detailed spreadsheet, but we have already seen the Lord's faithfulness in supplying our needs thus far, so I don't even doubt His next move!
Thank you all for your ongoing support and encouragement through this process! We can't even begin to tell you how much your phone calls, texts, emails and in-person conversations mean to us!
Blessings to you and your family this season - we will update when we have more details to share!
-Josh & Heather
Monday, November 24, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
The beginning...
Our first official blog! And as you can tell from the title, we have some news...
But not the same exact type of news we have shared the past two times. This news does announce that we are excited to become parents again, by way of adoption.
For the past couple of months, we have embarked on the exciting journey of international adoption, and are pursuing Korea as the home of our child. We are beyond excited to share this with you, our family and friends, and keep you updated along the journey with us!
We are in the very early stages of our program, still waiting for documents, visits and evaluations to be completed. Our hearts (and minds) have been challenged greatly over the past several months as we have chosen to pursue this avenue of expanding our family.
Sometime late last year (among the other big decision we made to pack up and move our family to a new ministry endeavor), we began talking about adoption, again. I say 'again' because we have always approached the subject since the beginning of our marriage. It was something we hadn't necessarily said yes to immediately, but was always in the back of our minds. Through various experiences, we learned more and more about the adoption process; about its frustrations and its joys. We were elated for our friends who were in the midst of those adoptions and enjoyed sharing every moment with them! We welcomed their new precious children home, without a thought of what God was doing with those moments.
We continued building our family as God richly blessed us with two wonderfully amazing little boys, who make our life completely chaotic and joyful, all at once. (If you have little boys, you completely understand...chaos is no understatement!) But through the many changes God was bringing about in our lives, we couldn't help but feel this new burden. Sure, we ignored it for a while. (I mean, come on, God...you asked us to move and we did that already. You can't possibly be asking anything else right NOW, can you? I just figured out where the Wal-Mart was yesterday and now you're asking us to bring another child into our home???). Yes, folks, that's totally where my head was.
And then it hit me, in the midst of a Bible study I was doing with a sweet group of ladies from my church: It was all about experiencing a God who goes beyond our imaginations and creates for Himself glory by asking us to step out of our comfort zones to live a life that He has called us into...a life that challenges our comforts, but blesses His name greatly and lives out Scripture. I became broken before him and through much prayer and discussion, we said "Yes, Lord."
Now that we have said "yes," our burdens are that much stronger, but in a good way! We are excited to welcome a child of God into our homes, to teach him/her what an honor it is to serve Jesus and what it means to love and be loved. We pray that as we go through this journey, you, too, will be able to see our hearts, but most of all the power and precious grace of Christ through it all. It is by His plan that He has put this on our hearts and that He is already preparing the way for us to bring this child home.
We do not have a time frame for anything yet, other than we are anxiously hoping to complete our home study very soon and be ready for the call that will change our lives. As we begin this journey, we obviously share this news with you to share the goodness of God and His plan. But we also share with you, asking that you be in prayer for our family as we go through this process, that God will teach us and prepare us for what we are about to experience in not only the adoption, but also in integrating another culture into ours. We look forward to sharing this journey with you all.
In His Love,
The Hensleys
Josh, Heather, Aaron & Benjamin
But not the same exact type of news we have shared the past two times. This news does announce that we are excited to become parents again, by way of adoption.
For the past couple of months, we have embarked on the exciting journey of international adoption, and are pursuing Korea as the home of our child. We are beyond excited to share this with you, our family and friends, and keep you updated along the journey with us!We are in the very early stages of our program, still waiting for documents, visits and evaluations to be completed. Our hearts (and minds) have been challenged greatly over the past several months as we have chosen to pursue this avenue of expanding our family.
Sometime late last year (among the other big decision we made to pack up and move our family to a new ministry endeavor), we began talking about adoption, again. I say 'again' because we have always approached the subject since the beginning of our marriage. It was something we hadn't necessarily said yes to immediately, but was always in the back of our minds. Through various experiences, we learned more and more about the adoption process; about its frustrations and its joys. We were elated for our friends who were in the midst of those adoptions and enjoyed sharing every moment with them! We welcomed their new precious children home, without a thought of what God was doing with those moments.
We continued building our family as God richly blessed us with two wonderfully amazing little boys, who make our life completely chaotic and joyful, all at once. (If you have little boys, you completely understand...chaos is no understatement!) But through the many changes God was bringing about in our lives, we couldn't help but feel this new burden. Sure, we ignored it for a while. (I mean, come on, God...you asked us to move and we did that already. You can't possibly be asking anything else right NOW, can you? I just figured out where the Wal-Mart was yesterday and now you're asking us to bring another child into our home???). Yes, folks, that's totally where my head was.
And then it hit me, in the midst of a Bible study I was doing with a sweet group of ladies from my church: It was all about experiencing a God who goes beyond our imaginations and creates for Himself glory by asking us to step out of our comfort zones to live a life that He has called us into...a life that challenges our comforts, but blesses His name greatly and lives out Scripture. I became broken before him and through much prayer and discussion, we said "Yes, Lord."
Now that we have said "yes," our burdens are that much stronger, but in a good way! We are excited to welcome a child of God into our homes, to teach him/her what an honor it is to serve Jesus and what it means to love and be loved. We pray that as we go through this journey, you, too, will be able to see our hearts, but most of all the power and precious grace of Christ through it all. It is by His plan that He has put this on our hearts and that He is already preparing the way for us to bring this child home.
We do not have a time frame for anything yet, other than we are anxiously hoping to complete our home study very soon and be ready for the call that will change our lives. As we begin this journey, we obviously share this news with you to share the goodness of God and His plan. But we also share with you, asking that you be in prayer for our family as we go through this process, that God will teach us and prepare us for what we are about to experience in not only the adoption, but also in integrating another culture into ours. We look forward to sharing this journey with you all.
In His Love,
The Hensleys
Josh, Heather, Aaron & Benjamin
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