An Adoption Story

Sacred Selections,
Our journey towards adoption actually began almost ten years ago. From the day we became husband and wife, we have always wanted to raise godly children in a Christian home. Our plan was to have two children naturally and then adopt a child one day from Korea. However, after seven years of marriage and then two years of trying to conceive, we quickly realized what most of us forget, is that our plan is not always God’s plan. After a lot of praying and placing matters into His magnificent hands, His plan became very clear to us. From this moment, it was obvious that our dream to adopt a child was no longer in the future, but in the present. With the persistent threats to the safety of Koreans and the steady reduction in the Korean international adoption program, we knew that God was leading us down a definitive path. Our Korean adoption process had officially begun.

Once we started down this path, we never looked back except to reflect and to thank God for showing us the way. When we started the process, we had a lot of unanswered questions, such as paperwork, financing the process and the usual mysteries of adoption. With unanswered questions and mysteries comes faith. With faith enters God with the answers. With our biggest concern being finances, Amanda took a job as a nanny and we saved as much money as we possibly could. We also tried to raise as much money as possible with yard sales, cookie sales, etc. Even knowing that God was in control, there was still an obvious shortcoming in our financial need.

Through His marvelous guidance, God brought another Christian couple with a passion for adoption to our local church. This couple, Chad and Becca Ford, provided us with encouragement, understanding hearts, listening ears, plus an awareness and connection to a great organization called Sacred Selections. A few months after applying for a grant, we received a phone call one night from Dana Carrozza. God had answered our prayers and concerns with a grant in the exact amount that filled our ultimate adoption financial need. God is great and without his providence and the Sacred Selections organization, we would not have been able to continue our adoption story any further.

 As the story continues, one day in late October of 2010, Amanda received a phone call from our adoption agency. It was the call that we had been long awaiting. As Amanda was filled with tears of joy, she struggled to breathe as she told me the news. In a rush, we left work and headed to the agency office to find out the details of our baby boy. We could hardly imagine another happier moment as we shuffled through the pictures and the reports telling us all about our new son. The next few months were a long and difficult wait. We kept ourselves busy prepping for the arrival of our son. Two days after Valentine’s Day, we finally met our son at the airport in Atlanta. What an anxious and amazing day all wrapped into one! God’s plan for us had finally unfolded and the journey towards raising our son had begun.

There are so many things to be thankful for through this process…
• Our family and friends who supported us in too many ways to count
• Sacred Selections and the generous donors’ encouragement and financial assistance
• Most importantly, God, for his providence, power and love
With love from our Family,
Joshua, Amanda and Phineas Nettles