How big...

...of a family do you want?

When you are first married you frequently get asked when you plan to start a family. Then after your firstborn arrives you are then asked so when will the next arrive OR how many do you want.

So, here's the answer to how many kids do we want...

(And if you think this is my way of making announcement...guess again! I've been mulling a post like this since I was pregnant with Avi-Kate. I just decided to write it out tonight for whatever reason.)

The long answer is this:

When I was 8 my parents adopted my older sister, Misty. It was amazing and it continues to be amazing. I can't put in to words how grateful and richly blessed I am because of my older sister. Misty came to live with us when she was in college and I believe because of her  my passion for ministering to college students was born. So, just like some girls grow up dreaming and planning out every inch of their wedding from when they were little I have grown up planning out my family. My dreams have always included adoption.

Andy comes from a home with two older sisters. The thought of adoption had never really crossed his mind till we met. As we dated and fell in love he began to warm up to the idea. We knew from the beginning we wanted a large family. His only stipulation in the adoption equation was that we have our biologicals first.

Well, we now have two biological children...so how many more do we want?!? We see ourselves with three biological children and then adopting our other child(ren). Yes, I'm not sure what our grand total will be. I do believe it'll be at least four but I'm open to more. Now, some people reading this are thinking we may have lost a few marbles. The real reason I'm not sure is because we are open to the possibility of a sibling set. The reality is that sibling sets are so much harder to place because most people only want one child at a time. So, when we get to that point, if we are presented with a sibling set we will take them. If we can keep a set of siblings together and give them a loving home it's a win-win. At this point we don't know where we want to adopt from. I think when the time is right we'll know. However, I do pray for our future kids already. With my last pregnancy I thought a lot about being pregnant. I asked myself if God doesn't see fit to bless us with anymore biologicals would I be content with that? And the answer is, yes. Because in the deepest places of my heart I have always known that I would not bare all of the children I would raise.

In addition to all of this we have our college students. We recognize that the opportunity to do what we do may not always be around and we are content with God's plan for us and them. I think that for right now it gives us the best of both worlds...we get to start our family and we get to adopt a whole crew of college students. This school year I have been reminded on a weekly basis how much we need our students and God has humbled me in showing me what an amazing ministry this is to our students. Last week one of our girls and I were chatting. With tears in her eyes she told me how grateful she was to be a part of all this and how she was looking forward to what we have planned for the holidays. When this all started several years ago I don't think we ever imagined how deep these roots would grow.

The short answer is...

We want at least three, plus an adoption of some sort, and a house full of college students.

I'm humbled and amazed at the ways our 'family' continues to grow and multiply.