Welcome to the Wright Home!

This is my first blogging attempt, so bear with me. Because I have so much to share, this will be pretty long. Hopefully I'll be diligent about the process and will not have novels to write!

Buddy and I have been married for 10 1/2 years, have 3 children, the youngest will be 5 months on Wednesday. We're both self employed and are enjoying our lives. Our favorite place to get away to is Branson, MO. Good Friends, great church and Silver Dollar City! What more could you ask for? We thought for sure we'd to be moving there, but for the past 2 years, it just hadn't come to be. We were wondering why not and were looking at what we could be doing or should be doing to get ready for a change.

Back up to my childhood. I'm one of 2 children and wished my parents would adopt so I could have someone else to play with. Fast forward to 1990, my first missions trip was to Hong Kong. We went to an orphange and it broke my heart to see these little children there. Little potties all lined up around the edge of the bathroom, all the children with the same hair cuts, all the little bowls of food. On to 1993, my senior year of college, a trip to Bolivia where we went to an orphanage, with much better conditions than Hong Kong, but still so sad for the children to not have a family. On to 1996, my 1st year at Bible College, a trip to Estonia. Again, an orphanage- dark, colorless, cold. The children were so delighted that we were there. I just wanted to scoop them up and take them home! On to one of Buddy's and my anniversaries. We went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. He and his wife had just adopted Shoahanna. What a very moving presentation! Then a year and a half ago, I met a lady with 7 adopted children! Wow! What a calling and what a gift to those children! Last summer, my friend Denise and her husband adopted a newborn boy. 2 of my friends from ORU and I get together every summer for a very noisy reunion! Between the 3 of us, we had 9 kids last time. I was the slacker with 2, but was 8+ months pregnant with Caleb. Charissa told Kristi and I that she and her husband had found a little girl in Ukraine that they were going to adopt. I thought it was such a sweet thing, but kind of put it out of my thoughts with the excitement and busyness of a new baby.

Now it's January 2008 and Charissa was going to get her little girl. Kristi emailed and asked if I'd been following the blog. I hadn't and started reading on January 28th. Only Charissa could say the things she did the way she did that make you laugh and cry all at once. I was captivated. On the 30th, I clicked on a link and saw a little girl with clubbed hands and feet. My first thought- "God can heal that." I read about the rest of the girls and was so moved. I read a portion of the blog to Buddy that night and he was moved to tears. He said, "I'd adopt." (Before this, I thought he was very closed to the idea, but he felt the timing wasn't right.) I started telling him about these girls and couldn't stop crying. I asked him to pray with me for this little girl with clubbed feet, that God would send someone to show her His love. We did and when I was done, I showed him the pictures of the girls and read their stories. I was drawn to this little one with the sweet smile and the eyes that were so full of life. I couldn't stop thinking about her and cried for a long time that night. The next morning, I looked at her again and noticed her birthdate was just 2 weeks after I had been due to have a baby in 2005. After we had Caleb, I thought how perfect the age span between he and Catherine was for an adoption in the future. (Boy, that came fast!)

When I emailed to find out more about her, I got a ton of attachments and pictures. How sweet she was and how overwhelmed I was to see all the paperwork! When Buddy came home that night, we talked about the little girl. He just wanted to know if I thought she was the one. No concerns about the cost, just willing to do what the Lord had put in our hearts. What I didn't know was that when we prayed, he was thinking- if you're praying like we were, maybe you're supposed to do something about it! Then on him way home, he started thinking about her and started crying. He told the Lord he was willing and would be obedient. No wonder he was so ready to hear what I had to say!

The next morning, Samuel (8 years) saw the picture I had printed of this sweet child and asked who she was. I told him she needed a family to love her. His first question was- Could we adopt her? Catherine (6 years) wanted to know, too. I told them we were praying about it. That afternoon, as we were getting ready to go to Branson for a special weekend, Buddy and I started talking about names. We came to Hannah Joy, which means grace. We see the joy in her smile and know that God is working for us and for her. That weekend we came as a family before the Lord to say, "we want to have her in our family and are trusting You to bring this about."

When we got home, we found out another family had inquired about Hannah, did we still want her? Oh my goodness! Of course we did!, please make sure that's very clear to anyone who needs to know!

So, last week was full of getting Buddy's passport done, getting the application, looking for a home study agency, meeting Ava (Charissa's little girl), and trying to keep it all in until we were at least underway. Friday I went to get a copy of our marraige license, and the lady gave it to me FREE! This is the beginning of how the Lord is providing for Hannah. Saturday night, we had my parents over for dinner so we could share. I was soooo excited to share and could hardly wait til we had a moment to do so. Mom asked if it was going to make her cry, I knew it would, but she thought it was a move to Branson. As we told them the story, they were so excited and ready to do what they can to help.

So now we're free to start telling friends and want to keep track of the goodness of God as He guides our steps and makes a way as we bring Hannah Joy to the Wright Home!!!

The kids love her already. Catherine is excited to share a room with her, which, of course will be a pink princess room! She thinks Hannah is cute. Samuel is glad about Hannah, but wishes we would adopt a boy, too. Slow down! One step at a time!