The Thornton Family is Growing!

We're following God's call to grow our family 

through international adoption!

Whew! It feels so good to write those words as we continue on the journey God has placed in our hearts for some time now. After much prayer, scripture reading, and research, we have decided to respond in obedience and pursue adoption. Over the past month, we have discussed this in our home, shared with our extended families, and sought wisdom from trusted friends. 

The country God has placed before us and given clear direction toward is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the top of the blog, we give more details about this country and why our hearts are drawn there. 

We are at the beginning of the adoption process. We anticipate many ups and downs and unexpected turns in the road. While we do not know what the future truly holds, we are trusting the Lord for this journey and His timing! 


Without a doubt, we cannot travel this journey alone. We know that we first need the Lord to "supply all [our] needs according to His riches in glory" (Phil. 4:19). These needs will be physical, emotional, and financial. We also look to family and friends for support. 


Some of the ways we need your support:


1) Prayer. For our family, that we will not be consumed or completely overwhelmed with the process before us. Pray that we will seek and trust God's wisdom each step of the way. Pray for our child(ren) who wait for a forever family and for us to come to them. It is sobering to realize that God already knows their name(s) and who they are!


2) Encouragement. We will undoubtably become frustrated or discouraged along the way! We welcome supportive questions, conversation, and your continued friendship throughout this process. 


3) Financial support. There is no way around it: adoption is expensive. Our journey will cost about $30,000. We appreciate any purchases from our site. We are starting with t-shirts (pre-order) and will add cool jewelry, photo cards, coffee, and other fun things soon! You may also make a donation of any amount toward our adoption expense. At this time, financial donations are not tax-deductible. We are looking into possible ways to make this available in the coming months. 


4) Share our story. Post our blog link on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter "tweets," or share the old-fashioned way- face-to-face with your friends at church, office, over coffee, etc. Ultimately, this isn't about us, however; it is about sharing God's story and His love!

5) Subscribe to our blog by email and/or subscribe as a member. We will use the blog as the primary way of sharing about our adoption journey. This will be the easiest way to follow the journey. (If you are local, we are also open to coffee and conversation with you at Starbucks or a local coffee shop!)

Unforgetable Cliches

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Hillsong,  "Hosanna"

In the months and days leading up to the Uganda mission trip, I frequently prayed the words of this song. When my feet walked the red dirt and I came face to face with the beautiful people of Africa, I wanted to do so with a pure heart, ready with open eyes, to learn to love the way the Father sees and loves, to serve with a broken heart, all for His glory.  

These were somewhat easy words to pray in time zones removed from life that is the heartbreaking reality for most of the world. Because I had prayed the words, I travelled with the expectation that these cliches would become real in life changing ways. 

The experience I did not pray for was "gut-wrenching." In fact, this cliche never crossed my mind. It's not a phrase that exactly fits into our Sunday morning worship songs. 

However, on day 3, when we drove into the gates of M3, to the sound of cheering 2-10 year olds, this cliche became a part of my experience.  

We visited M3 with Moses as a part of the ministry of Sixty Feet. We had visited two government "remand" centers and my heart was already broken for the conditions and plight of over 200 children and youth at M1 and M2. We were warned that M3 would be even more difficult. Most of the 200 children at M3 had either been abandoned, sent to the capital city to beg, or lost in the streets. Many were very sick in a place with less than 8 caregivers. I am not sure anything could have prepared us.  

As we waited to sign in with the staff, my eyes fell on a very young boy, around the age of 3. He was sitting in the hot sun on a concrete wall. He stared into nothing, his eyes empty and shell shocked. My numb heart told me that he probably didn't want to be bothered. The Spirit whispered to me to go sit down beside him. I glanced down at him, still unsure of if, or how, I should reach out to him. 

Without looking at him, I silently reached out my hands toward him. He quickly grabbed them and scrambled onto my lap. As we settled in together and he fell asleep on my chest, I realized he was soiled in every way possible and that his sweet, half-dressed body was racked with fever. 

As I held and rocked him, I noticed my stomach was really tight. For a moment, I feared I might be getting sick. However, when I checked in with my emotions, I realized I felt as if my heart had been twisted and pulled into my gut in a way I had never experienced. 

Realizing this little boy was so sick without a mama to hold him was gut-wrenching. Knowing that he probably had malaria or TB, or was possible HIV positive, without adequate comfort or treatment, ripped my heart. As he slept, I cried and prayed for him. 

When he woke, I fed him cookies and juice. I sang "Jesus Loves Me" into his ear and told him how much he is loved. I took him to the nurses who work with Sixty Feet and inquired about his health. They checked with the staff of M3 and assured me he had already received medication for his fever.  A staff member took him to be cooled and cleaned. 

Selfishly, I was thankful when they took him inside. I was not sure how I would manage to walk away onto the van and leave without him. Just before we left, however, I felt a cool, small hand touch mine. Once again he was in my arms and I spoke words of love to him. My tears again flowed as I prayed over him before leaving. The hardest thing I have ever done, only through the grace of Christ.

Opened eyes. 

Learning to love the way God loves. 

A heart broken for what breaks His. 

Everything I am for His kingdom's cause. 

Gut-wrenching. 

Months later, many time zones away, these cliches still echo in my heart, with new meanings. The questions they bring out number the answers. I am still processing as we discern how God is leading us to respond to the things He has shown me. Praying for wisdom and grace as we seek to follow the Lord.