Fab 4 seeks to become Fab 5

Okay friends, we're going public with some terrific news. God has given us an amazing opportunity to grow our family through adoption once again. A 3 year old child in India has captured our hearts, and we're beginning the process to bring him HOME.

We know this is big, crazy news, but we are confident this is right for our family. For me, I really hoped that Dosen would not be our only adoption experience, but Jake will tell you that he was quite content with our 2 fantastic boys. I imagined that we would go back to Ethiopia for a waiting child (those above infant age) or a sibling group, but Jake felt that if we adopted again, we should be open to any country. I suppose we were were both right!

I get alerts from Rainbow Kids--this enormous bulletin board of stories about children in need of adoption--and unless you're ready to be consumed with stories of the most precious children, I don't recommend subscribing. Well after telling Jake about 53 different children that we just HAD to consider, I got the memo that he was ready for me to cool it. Until Vismay...

I casually mentioned a recent post about a child with some special needs and left the description up on my computer for Jake to read. To my surprise he did read it, and immediately (but casually, of course) said I should check into it. In fact, an hour later he asked if I had called yet! However, the information did not indicate this child's country, so for several days we had no idea where God was possibly taking us!

That was mid-February, and now at the end of March we're about to tackle another home study and dossier to bring this wonderful treasure into our family. I cannot post pictures since he isn't legally ours yet, but please trust that there is no shortage of flouride or colgate in India! He has the biggest perfect white smile with sparkling brown eyes to match.

We had a special dinner to tell Luke, but we had been putting out feelers for his response for weeks. He responded to the official news with a combination of "Why me?" and "Yippee!" We told him all about Vismay, and we agreed as a family that his name will be Vismay Patton (my maiden name) Stum. The caregivers in India call him Vee, and Luke thought that was great. I think it will stick here, too. Meanwhile Dosen was just concerned with another helping of potatoes. Oh, brother schmother.

My favorite moment of the big announcement came that night as Jake and Luke were praying for Vee before bed. Jake explained that Vismay has no parents to care for him. Without any hesitation Luke responded with, "Well he does now!"

Lord willing, Luke is right.