We’re Adopting!

The Pattillo family has some big news to share…

We are so excited about this… and maybe just a little nervous… but mostly, so very excited!  Adoption is something that Jack and I have always had tucked away in the back of our hearts from the get-go, but we’ve really spent the last year or so intentionally praying about and researching adoption.  The fact that we are “in process” is kind of surreal, and so wonderful!  I wanted to kick off our adoption journey by sharing with you a little of our heart behind this and to answer some of the common questions that that we may encounter.

WHY adoption?  Yes, we could have more biological kids (and maybe one day we will; whatever the Lord wants!), but simply put, we believe that adoption is a beautiful picture of the Gospel.  Both Galatians 4:4-6 (ESV), “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons, and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba!  Father!'”, and Ephesians 1:5 (ESV), “He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,” are Scriptures that beautifully point to this.  You see, before our salvation, Jack and I were spiritually orphans, but because of the great love of Christ, He died on the cross for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins.  When He died for us, He died for all, no matter the gender, race, etc., and when we accepted Christ as our Savior, the Father adopted us into His forever family.  We went from spiritual orphans to co-heirs with Christ who can boldly approach the throne of grace and cry, “Father!” to our perfect heavenly Father.  The Father looks at us and calls us “daughter” and “son”, and He has a place for us at His table.  Therefore, because we are adopted by the Father, we want to do that for a child, in hopes that one day, that child might not only be adopted into the Pattillo family, but the family of God.

Where will we be adopting from?  This is something that we have truly wrestled with and prayed so much about as we have done our adoption research.  The issue is that there is a real need everywhere.  There are babies here in the states that need families, and there are children around the world that need them too.  As we prayed and discussed, the Lord was pulling our hearts toward international adoption, and ultimately, He has given us a heart for the country of India.

Is it expensive?  YES!  Adoption is costly, but we are trusting the Lord to provide.  We will have to fundraise, and while Jack and I were kind of wary of this at first, we are seeing our fundraising as a way to have people partner with us in this huge thing that the Lord is doing.  But please, do as the Lord leads.  If you don’t feel Him leading you to help us financially, that is okay!  We trust that He will provide!  We have a GoFundMe that you can find by clicking this link.  Also, our first fundraiser is to sell these t-shirts!

They’re super soft, but my favorite part is the message that is on them.  We chose “Great is Thy Faithfulness” because we have seen the Lord be so faithful to us throughout our lives- as we weathered the storm of my mom’s cancer and death, as we have served in the local church, and so much more.  We know that we will experience the Lord’s great faithfulness through the adoption process as well (and we already have!).  Also, inside the “1’s” you’ll find that it says “1 less orphan” and “1 more loved”.  Because of your prayers and support, you’ll be playing a part in there being one less orphan in the world, and that child becoming one of the most loved kids there could be!  You can click here to find the link to our t-shirt store.

How long does it take?  We’ve heard that the process could be anywhere from 12 months to 24 months.

I cannot wait to see the Lord’s hand at work throughout this adoption process.  Is there going to be some hard times?  Probably.  But I keep being reminded of the fact that Jesus intentionally came to this earth and stepped into “the hard” for me by dying on the cross.  We are so thankful that you’re joining with our family on this journey.  We have already learned that it takes a village to raise children, and we firmly believe that we have one of the best villages around!  My heart is to keep people updated as much as possible on how things are going, praises, and prayer requests.  I will be using the blog and my Facebook page to keep everyone up to date.  I’ll end by sharing a few specific prayer requests as we begin this journey:

• Pray for us as we fill out our initial paperwork and continue to learn exactly what this process will look like.

• Pray that we will be able to prepare our boys well for this exciting time.  Hunter is already asking the funniest questions!

• Pray that the Lord would provide the money that we need for our initial payment to the agency.
• Pray that this adoption process would give us opportunities to share the Gospel, and that we would be bold and take those opportunities.

Again, thanks for being praying and supporting friends.  We are so blessed with the body of Christ that is around us!

Also… shout out to Emily Anne Photography for these incredible pictures!