Here we go again....

As I sat down to write about our journey to Luke I’m looking back at the insanity of the timing in this decision.  Life goes so fast with four kids that I often don’t take the time to sit down and reflect on how God’s at work.  When God impressed upon us to start this journey again, I was quite hesitant.  We wrestled with this decision… maybe even more so than last time.  Without going into too many details, at the time God said start, our finances were not in a place to take on the heavy cost of adoption.  For those unfamiliar with the process, adopting a child costs about $35,000.  Also, with the type of health coverage we have, it will not cover major pre -existing conditions so why one  EARTH would we adopt a child from a country where all the children have special needs?!  Yea, only God has the answer to that one. 

So here we are, surrendering to what God’s doing and we are buckling our seat belts and along for the ride.  Really, I’m excited (and slightly terrified) because only God could have orchestrated all of this. 

I get a lot of questions about how Rachel feels about another child.  She was the catalyst to start this journey again with a conversation we had over lunch one day.  Without revealing more than she might want the world to learn, she wondered why there weren’t more people in the family that looked like her.  We had some raw conversations that started Russ and I to really begin praying about whether the timing was right to start this journey again.  When we started the adoption process the first time, we both told the social worker we wanted to adopt two kids and when we left those precious orphans behind the last time we were in China, we knew we would be back at some point…. But the time never felt right.  Well, when we started this journey…. I really couldn’t think of a WORSE time to start from a financial perspective so clearly, God was asking us to step out in faith because we weren’t going to be doing this one on our own. 

So with that, while it doesn’t seem logical or maybe some might say wise, we are being obedient to the timing and to the journey God has for us.  Every time we’ve taken the risk to do what God wanted for us over what we thought was right… the reward was amazing.  Rachel is just one of many of those rewards for stepping out in faith.  That girl is such a doll.  Such a light.  I cringe to think I could have missed a life with that precious girl had I succumbed to the fear.  She is my beautiful daily reminder that God’s holding our hands and will walk us every step of the way. 

We are excited to introduce our adorable son Luke Eric Highton to the world.  This precious boy will be two years old in June.  We are expecting to be able to travel in July to pick him up.  We are awaiting immigration's approval at this point and starting to fund raise.  Would you consider being part of bringing Luke home?  Here's a link to order Superman Was Adopted tee shirts. All the proceeds go towards adoption related expenses.   https://www.hightonfamily.org/products/

Don't want a tee shirt but want to still help... we are trying to raise funds to meet a matching grant from Life Song for Orphans.  Here's the link: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/journey-to-luke/