We're the Fleenors!
Josh and I started dating in high school. We talked often about having a family and what that would look like for us. We both had the blessing of growing up in families that we loved being a part of. To this day, our families (parents and siblings especially) are our closest friends, our greatest support system. Both the oldest in families of three and four children, we knew we wanted more than your traditional "2.5 kids." We talked about adoption some, but it was in pre-marital counseling that we realized how serious we both were about it. We looked at each other and nodded: we knew we wanted to walk that road one day.
We got married a year before I graduated from college. We spent the first few years of our marriage learning to do grown-up things like doing the laundry when no one asks you to, trapping the mice that hung out under the kitchen of the old house we were renting, and how to make and stick to a budget. Andrew was born while we lived in that tiny little house. It was a sweet time, just two big kids and a little baby. We rearranged our lives to prioritize this new captivating person and discovered we liked parenting just as much as we thought we would (most of the time).
All that budgeting practice came in handy when we decided to buy a house so we could have more kids. We spent 6 months of hard work (and lots of help from the aforementioned support system) remodeling a perfect-for-us house close to the center of the town we live in. We moved in April 2013. In May, I found out I was pregnant with Anna.
We had one of our biggest adventures during Anna's pregnancy. In October when I was about 6 months pregnant, Andrew fell in our hallway as he had a thousand times before, only this time he broke his femur. We didn't even realize that was what had happened until we got to the emergency room, it was so outside of what we expected. Anna's last trimester was spent learning to navigate a small slice of the world of pediatric medicine. Andrew had surgery that day, an overnight hospital stay, then eight weeks of keeping a two year old boy on the couch (you try it sometime), all ending with another surgery ten days before sweet Anna joined the family. Unexpected medical bills, lots of medical professionals to work with, a kid with new fears and anxieties, we experienced it all in a small and short way during that time. We were very thankful Andrew's issue was correctable, and that we learned something important about ourselves: with the Lord, and with each other, we can do hard things.
Anna added glitter, ruffles, lots of pink and lots of feelings to our lives. She is a one-in-a-million sparkle, the cream in the middle of the cookie. And it wasn't long after she got here that Samuel came right behind her. They are almost exactly two years apart. The year Sam was born, Josh and I both turned 30. Three kids before the big 3-0. We felt pretty good about that.
After Sam was born we got asked the question over and over: "Are you guys done having kids now?" (Does anyone else with more than 2 kids get asked this?) It was a hard question for us to answer because the dream of adoption was still hidden in our hearts. Were we done having biological children? Probably. But our family isn't finished yet...
Just after Samuel's first birthday, we started asking ourselves if this was the time. We looked at our finances, our job situations, the spacing of our children. We considered the orphan crisis around the world, domestically, and in specific countries we were interested in. But mostly we took our question to the Lord. "Is now the time, Lord? Is this what you have for us next?" His answer was clear:
Of course it is.
Adoption will require some sacrifice for each of us in our little family. It will mean embracing another person's heartache and loss as our own. There are parts of the process (finances, ahem) that seem crazy difficult. And that's just the stuff we know about! But in light of what the Lord does for us (“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come for you.” John 14:18), how can we not! (“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27) We want to run straight in to the challenge, the pain, the hard, because we know that Jesus did it for us, and he will never leave us. We can't wait to be part of his wonderful, redemptive work in our family, through adoption.
We got married a year before I graduated from college. We spent the first few years of our marriage learning to do grown-up things like doing the laundry when no one asks you to, trapping the mice that hung out under the kitchen of the old house we were renting, and how to make and stick to a budget. Andrew was born while we lived in that tiny little house. It was a sweet time, just two big kids and a little baby. We rearranged our lives to prioritize this new captivating person and discovered we liked parenting just as much as we thought we would (most of the time).
All that budgeting practice came in handy when we decided to buy a house so we could have more kids. We spent 6 months of hard work (and lots of help from the aforementioned support system) remodeling a perfect-for-us house close to the center of the town we live in. We moved in April 2013. In May, I found out I was pregnant with Anna.
We had one of our biggest adventures during Anna's pregnancy. In October when I was about 6 months pregnant, Andrew fell in our hallway as he had a thousand times before, only this time he broke his femur. We didn't even realize that was what had happened until we got to the emergency room, it was so outside of what we expected. Anna's last trimester was spent learning to navigate a small slice of the world of pediatric medicine. Andrew had surgery that day, an overnight hospital stay, then eight weeks of keeping a two year old boy on the couch (you try it sometime), all ending with another surgery ten days before sweet Anna joined the family. Unexpected medical bills, lots of medical professionals to work with, a kid with new fears and anxieties, we experienced it all in a small and short way during that time. We were very thankful Andrew's issue was correctable, and that we learned something important about ourselves: with the Lord, and with each other, we can do hard things.
Anna added glitter, ruffles, lots of pink and lots of feelings to our lives. She is a one-in-a-million sparkle, the cream in the middle of the cookie. And it wasn't long after she got here that Samuel came right behind her. They are almost exactly two years apart. The year Sam was born, Josh and I both turned 30. Three kids before the big 3-0. We felt pretty good about that.
After Sam was born we got asked the question over and over: "Are you guys done having kids now?" (Does anyone else with more than 2 kids get asked this?) It was a hard question for us to answer because the dream of adoption was still hidden in our hearts. Were we done having biological children? Probably. But our family isn't finished yet...
Just after Samuel's first birthday, we started asking ourselves if this was the time. We looked at our finances, our job situations, the spacing of our children. We considered the orphan crisis around the world, domestically, and in specific countries we were interested in. But mostly we took our question to the Lord. "Is now the time, Lord? Is this what you have for us next?" His answer was clear:
Of course it is.
Adoption will require some sacrifice for each of us in our little family. It will mean embracing another person's heartache and loss as our own. There are parts of the process (finances, ahem) that seem crazy difficult. And that's just the stuff we know about! But in light of what the Lord does for us (“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come for you.” John 14:18), how can we not! (“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27) We want to run straight in to the challenge, the pain, the hard, because we know that Jesus did it for us, and he will never leave us. We can't wait to be part of his wonderful, redemptive work in our family, through adoption.