3 Years.

3 years ago, Mr. B and I were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in Kenya.

3 years ago, a trip to Africa meant a luxury, no-expense-spared trip, complete with five-star lodging, private drivers, land rovers, chartered planes and hot air balloons (ahh . . . life before the real estate crash!)

3 years ago, we talked about how blessed we were to have our 2 little girls. We daydreamed about having a bigger family and talked about how we'd always pictured ourselves adopting several children also.

 

Over the course of that trip, we began to realize that Africa would be more than just another push-pin in our map of world travels. While we were aware of poverty the need for partnership and assistance, our love was rooted not in pity but in our awe of Africa's beauty and our appreciation of culture. We were inspired by the pride of our Kenyan friends in their land and its people and their optimism for the future of their country. We've been all over the world, but no destination has had as great an impact on our lives as East Africa. Mr. B says we got our "Africa shot" on that trip--by the time we left for home, we knew Africa would forever be a part of us and that we would return.

Over the next 3 years, our love for Africa and passion for its people would grow in us a desire to see and do more. To see not just the beauty, but the hard stuff too. To partner financially with people and organizations making a difference there. And to invest more of our hearts by focusing our trips on bigger purposes than rest and relaxation.

In the next 3 years, the Lord would use our hope for more children and our plan to adopt to lead us to daughter number 3 . . . from Ethiopia.

Mr. B, the most dramatic and unexpected part of our story this far has been the path our lives have begun to take in the last 3 years. So excited to see where it leads. There's no one I'd rather be on this adventure with than YOU!