Read, Set, GO!

The time has come! We're adopting again. We've had several situations come up over the past few months that have seemed like they might "be the one" and none of them has been right for one reason or another. Over the past months the Lord has brought the issue of Down Syndrome to the front of our minds. We are aware of the life time commitment that raising a child with Down Syndrome involves and we have felt the YES of the Lord over this for us as a family.

Just this week the Lord brought a little one to our attention. His name is Aiden and he is from the Eastern Europe- he is at the same orphanage where Derek and Renee's boys are. Yes, an international adoption for us this time! Just as Tracie was getting familiar and gaining an strong grasp of domestic adoption, the Lord is stretching us by taking us into a less familiar territory. So here we go! We're so grateful that Derek and Renee are walking this road ahead of us, and that we have them to help us through it.

Aiden was born 3/1/06 (just 6 days before Elia)! He has Down Syndrome, as well as a heart valve defect. The minute we saw Aiden's picture, our hearts were totally drawn in. The kids first response was, "When can we bring him home?" Elia just kept pointing to the screen and saying, "awww, bubo, bubo!!" (her word for baby). There are no real words to describe how we have fallen in love with this wee one in just moments, other than to say the Holy Spirit has planted him in our hearts.

If all goes well and the Lord brings him into our family, we will name him "Aiden Joseph"- Aiden means "little flame" and Joseph means "he will enlarge"- we believe the prophetic destiny over Aiden's life is that he will be a little flame that will grow. We believe that his life will be a light to many and will set the hearts of others ablaze with the true spirit of adoption and a heart to live out James 1:27.

We will begin our home study update process immediately. Please pray for the funds needed for that first step. ($800 for the home study update, and the expense of physicals for John and Tracie, FBI clearances, etc) Our intial need is for about $2000 to get this ball rolling. We anticipate our total expenses over the next few months to be in the neighborhood of $22,000. We have seen the Lord provide for adoptions over and over again and we have no doubt that he can do this for this precious one! If all goes well the facilitator we are using through Reece's Rainbow felt we might be able to bring him home in January.


Please pray for us and pray for Aiden! We will keep you updated with progress as things move along! Much, Much more to come!

Love,
John and Tracie
Nick, Taylor, Isabelle, Elia (and Aiden)