About 2 years ago, God began to work very strongly on my heart about the possibility of adoption for our family. He crossed my path with that of our neighbor who had already adopted a little boy from Siberia. He spoke to me through a sermon at our church regarding international adoption. Over time, the urge to adopt became even stronger and clear that it was God's will for our family.

During that time, my husband Daren was involved in a plane crash. On September 19, 2007, at 8:00 in the evening, a small plane my husband, his father and uncle were aboard, fell from the Chatanooga sky. After skimming a parking lot and crushing three cars, the plane came to rest on the edge of a busy highway. All three passengers and the pilot survived the crash with Daren suffering from three cracked vertebrae.

For the moment, ideas about adoption took a backseat to recovery.

Fast forward four months to January, 2008. Christmas had passed and the New Year was just beginning . That's when Daren came to me to say he too was ready to adopt! He had been given a second chance and truly desired to extend that grace to someone else!

Without delay, that evening we registered online with our adoption agency. In just a few short months, we've completed our fingerprinting, Home Study and dossier and have received a referral for a three-year-old boy!

Our family is so excited and axiously awaiting travel dates to Russia, which we've been told will probably come some time within the next 9 weeks or so. Of course we're hoping it's very soon! We'd love to travel this summer and meet our little boy for the first time!

Our two biological children are thrilled as well. They can't wait for the day our family is finally complete.

Since January, I've been following a few adoption blogs and found that it's a great way to follow the process, know what to expect and keep others updated as well. That's why I've started my own. I'm new to this whole process so I'm learning as I go, but hopefully this will serve as a way to connect and stay in touch with those of you who are interested!

Stay tuned - there is so much more to come!