A New Season

It's been year since our last post. Let me give a quick catch up...

Last year at this time, we were waiting on God to provide direction for our next step. We were living in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and I (Meaghan) was working for SEMO, while Chris worked from home doing curriculum development for a university out West. In June of last year, Chris accepted a job as a full-time Professor of Business and Leadership at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina. We spent the summer packing up and moved in August. As I reflect on our year in Missouri, it was exactly what we needed after spending 4 years overseas. I needed to be near family. We were able to adjust to life in U.S. culture living near family, who understood our transition. The nice part about this move was that when Hunter and I arrived at our new home, Chris already had all the furniture in place. My parents came with me to help unpack boxes and get Hunter settled in school, which started 3 days after our arrival.

We found a church and got plugged in right away. Hunter was doing great in school. Chris loved teaching. And I began to ask the Lord, what He had for me in this season. I tried several outlets, but nothing seemed like a good fit for this season; God seemed to close doors on several work options. One thing we began to notice about our new city: everywhere we turned people were talking about adoption. We were open to the idea about adoption, but unsure of where to start. So, in January, Chris and I began praying and seeking God's direction for our family in regards to adoption. We sat down with a friend, Jennifer who had told us our options regarding adoption. We felt God asking to be "a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path", and to take little steps of faith into the process, and wait for HIM to light the rest of the way.

So, at the end of January we enrolled with Luther Family Services, MAPP classes. These classes are meant to be a decision making process for families interested in foster care or adoption. For the last 6 weeks Chris and I have been attending classes 2 nights a week, with the intent of God directing us. We are very at peace as we begin to pursue adoption. Over the last month, we have had several conversations with family and friends who have experienced the blessing of adoption. We have made some new friends in the process. We have been thinking about the prayer of Jabez that we began praying back in 1999, asking God to increase our "borders". Clearly HE did that with our ministry in Germany and perhaps again as we begin a new season of expanding our family. We hope to keep you posted through our journey. We finish our classes this week and then begin our home study. We are thankful for the process, for God to shape us and slowly reveal HIS plan for this season of our life. We ask you to be apart of the process by keeping us in your prayers.

P.S. In January Hunter lost his first tooth! It was a very memorable day.