It’s a Boy

You may have seen over the past 2 blogs that I have hinted at a major announcement that was coming soon, and today is announcement day…

The Bush family will be adding a baby boy due in February!

I want to tell you the story (click here to read more about our journey), but I want to start with the fact that this is just incredible news!  I cannot wait to have a son.  I cannot wait to meet him, learn about him, help him become a man, and most importantly point him to His Savior.  I cannot wait to see Jess become a Mom to our son and Sophie to become a big sister.  There are going to be long nights, challenging situations, and a lot of stress, but I cannot wait to meet the person who GOD chose to be my son.  Now that I have said that, let me tell you the story.

Back in August, prior to going back down to Haiti for a couple of months, we did a new homestudy to prepare for an adoption with Bundle of Hope (our adoption agency here in Jacksonville).  At the time we really thought we were going to be in Haiti a lot more this Fall and Winter so we wanted to get a new homestudy completed before we left.  For some reason, we did not think we would hear anything about a birth mom choosing us until April or May at the earliest (and we even thought this timeframe was on the quick end) but we also thought that if we did not finish it in August we would not be able to do it until the Spring.  Our plan, in fact, was to come home for about a month around Thanksgiving and then get back to the kids in Haiti until our next fundraiser in March or April.  I am learning more and more that, when you try to live your life by faith, your plans usually do not work out the way you expected…

Here are the things that happened that led us to be chosen to adopt our son:

• We completed our homestudy in August because we thought it was our only chance.
• We came back home early in October to do some very much-needed fundraising for All Things New.
• We got a call saying that there was a birth mom deciding between us and one other family.
• We panicked a little bit.
• Rather than being in Haiti when we got the call, we were driving up to a Spirit Night at the Jim Bob’s (chicken finger restaurant) in LaGrange and found out we were having a son.
• We accepted the match.
• We looked at each other, got super excited, and then walked into the Spirit Night not really even believing what was happening.
• We promptly moved into a 3 bedroom apartment in our same complex.
• We started fundraising for our adoption along with fundraising for ATN.
• We panicked a little bit more.
• And now we are trying to get completely ready for our son prior to going back down to Haiti, still doing some different fundraising activities, getting ready for Christmas with our kids in Haiti, and trying to take care of some board/business matters for ATN here in the states.

I think about some of the different situations GOD has given us over the past few years, and it is just hard to believe that all of these things have happened just since 2014:

1. We moved to Haiti.
2. We rescued our 34 children from terrible living conditions.
3. We fought against 2 people who threatened to put me in jail, tried to sue us for $50,000, tried to turn our kids against us, stole from us, etc.
4. We began employing over 30 Haitians.
5. We had a daughter.
6. We rented and outfitted 2 rental homes in Haiti.
7. We are having a son.

GOD is good.  He has prepared us and led us every single step of the way.  It is so fun to look back and see His hand and His leadership in everything that has happened.  In fact, if you missed our last blog, please click here and read it because it explains how we have been able to be in the states so much over the past few months (our desire was to be in Haiti, but we have needed to be here more).  GOD was even preparing our organization for us to be home for extended periods of time while still knowing our kids were being loved, protected, and cared for.  The truth is, sometimes I get overwhelmed with everything that is going on.  I’m not proud of it, but the pressure and stress of these things can get to me.  But then I look back at how well orchestrated all of these events have been and it is almost like someone else is in control…I am increasingly glad that GOD does not leave me to my own devices and my own plans because His are so much greater, so much more loving, and so wiser than mine could ever be.  I cannot wait to see where He leads us next!

If you would like to learn more about our adoption journey just click here.