Adoption Number 2!!!

So I am just going to go ahead and admit that I am the worst blogger EVER!!! But I really would love to journal our life and be able to share our experiences with others, especially our adoptions!

Let me start like I did with our first adoption. So many people, including members of our family think we are crazy for wanting to adopt again! Our only answer is that God has burdened our heart for the orphan. At the end of our last adoption we found out about the forgotten children with disabilities, specifically Down syndrome. Our burden was immediate and overwhelming. When God leads you so clearly how can you say no? We couldn't and we now have our 2 beautiful children from Ukraine. Asher is 2 and Emma is 21 months old and to us they are perfect! We love that they have an extra chromosome and that they are "different". Honestly they are not "different" to us, but to the world they are. They notice their beautiful almond eyes, and their cute little noses. They notice that Asher is 2 and can't walk or talk. They notice that Emma is just starting to get head control and can put her legs in places impossible to anyone else. To us we treasure these things! We see their progress and rejoice!

Soon after we were reunited in May, we started praying about our next adoption. Tyler and I agreed we couldn't start the process until we moved into our house, which was in July. We first thought we would adopt from Foster Care. We even took the classes and started compiling the paperwork for the home study. At the same time I would check the Reece's Rainbow site!! October 2nd we celebrated our first Buddy walk in Charleston, SC. We were so blessed to represent Reece's Rainbow and share with everyone the blessings of adopting a child with Down syndrome! When we left Tyler looked over at me and said "We need to adopt another child with Down syndrome!" Of course I said " OKAY!" The praying began! It didn't take us long and we were back in front of the computer just like we were almost 1 year ago when God led us to Asher and Emma. We wanted to get older children this time since 2 babies not walking can get quite heavy! Hunter wanted us to look at boys because he wanted someone to play cowboys with him out side! And I am a momma who loves her boys! I had seen Juris and Vilis many times on Facebook. We were shocked and amazed to see how many people were advocating for these boys! And they were both 5 which is a great age for our family! Well we now know that Vilis is 7!!! I was surprised that Hunter was even more excited to have a brother the same age! We prayed over these boys and knew that God wanted us to commit to them.

We don't expect this to be easy, but we will not be going through this alone! God is with us and we have faith that when we are tired and weak and overwhelmed, He will carry us! We are fully aware of the boys medical issues, and it doesn't scare us. We know that these boys have not had the love of a family or therapies and that them being older usually makes for a harder transition. Does that mean we leave them there? Do we not even pursue them because it will be difficult? Tyler and I take such comfort in the stories of the Bible on how to look at hard times. Name one person in the bible who had no strife or hardship?? Can you think of any?? Nope!! Life is not easy, and if it were we wouldn't appreciate it. We would not depend on God for our daily bread, our next breath or anything. Tyler and I look forward to the good and bad that come from these boys and any other children we have or may have one day! We rejoice for adopting and being adopted by our Heavenly Father!

So let us introduce to you our new sons:
Gideon Josiah Kirkland ( Vilis, age 7) and
Zechariah Victor Kirkland (Juris, age 5)