WEBVTT - Mid-Week Mom Chat: Wynne Elder 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:05.120 I really actually, this is a really important podcast that 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:06.880 I've been wanting to do for a long time. And 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.879 when Tripe elders you real name Trippet legally, I guess yeah, 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:16.079 maiden name, maiden name um Been is the reason I 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.560 have a podcast, just just a little piece. No, you 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.479 were the reason that I started my podcast, because I 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.720 don't know. Was it like four years ago. I was 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.680 having breakdown and I was like, I don't know what 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:30.680 to do with my life, and You're like, oh my god, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.680 you have got to start a podcast because you know 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:35.800 all these people and podcasts are about to be the 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:37.400 next big thing and blow up, and you've got to 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.040 start one. And I literally started one like the next day. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.240 You were like, what is a podcast? I don't even 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:49.720 know exactly. I love it. We were like, I remember 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.880 we were driving I think home from West Texas and 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.040 we were like stopped to get like, I remember where 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.040 we were when you and I were having the conversation 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.480 on the phone. I think you were asking me about 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.320 blogging and I was like, you really should do a 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:09.280 podcast instead. That's exactly. I was talking to my sister Catherine, 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.399 and I was like I always call her when I'm 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:13.280 having a breakdown and she's like, you need to call Win. 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.759 She's the most famous blogger that we know, and she'll 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.240 tell you how to do it. Hilarious. Okay, So I 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:21.320 kind of want to give a backstory about you. We 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.640 grew up together. I've known you my entire life, and 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:32.319 you have just blossomed into this beautiful mother woman advocate 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.080 um and your story of becoming a mother. I just 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.280 got fake glashes put on for the first time since quarantine, 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.959 So I hope I don't cry, but your your story 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.280 of becoming a mother is one of the most beautiful 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.680 stories that already fe like I'm gonna cry. Talk to 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.840 me about your journey because I just think it is 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.840 so it's so special and unique, and I mean, I 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.440 just think it's such a cool story. Well, it's so funny. 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.720 I was working on my Instagram bio recent and I 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:02.600 was telling my friend. I was like, you know, the 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.760 thing that people message me about the most is fertility 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.200 or adoption or i VA and like, you know, my 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:12.360 story to becoming a mother is really unique and it's 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.760 not normal. It's not typical, and so I mean it's 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.600 so true, Like I feel like this is just the 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.079 crazy story that God has written in our life over 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.120 the past, what you're in since like twenty two thousand 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.560 and nine. Um. I mean I always wanted to be 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.359 a mom, but we Stephen and I got married young, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.000 and we wanted to wait five to seven years, and 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.880 then a couple of years into it, I was like, 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.680 I really, like literally almost overnight, I had the desire 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.320 to become a mom. And I just felt like it 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.560 was totally from God, Like why do I Why did 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.480 I just change my mind overnight? And you know when 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.160 you all of a sudden want something new, you see 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.320 it everywhere, like you want to buy a new black car, 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.040 and then you see black cars, You're like, everybody has 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.360 a black car and I don't. It was sort of 0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:00.280 like that, and um, I was so excited. I remember 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:01.880 I had like a little lunch group with a couple 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.480 of friends, remember telling them a lunch that week and 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.200 just thinking like because God game desire, like it's just 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.760 gonna happen. And backstory, my mom struggled to get pregnant 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.800 with me for like four or five years. UM, and 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.120 I guess I always sort of maybe thought that that 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.440 would be my story, but I had no idea. So 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.200 we started trying, and that first year of infertility and 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.840 trying was like the hardest fear of my life. Um, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.040 I didn't tell a ton of people that we were 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:36.800 trying to get pregnant, Like I didn't tell my mom 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.760 or my sisters. I don't think even, And so it 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.840 was really lonely and isolating. And we lived in a 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:44.880 small town where there was really nothing to do, so 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.000 everybody was having babies. I remember I was in a 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.760 Bunco group and prom Bunco no, but I want to 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.040 It's like that dice game. Anyway, the Bunco group was 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.080 over one night and there a group of us were 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.280 staying staying afterwards, and we made a list all the 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.360 people we knew that were pregnant that we were friends 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.360 with in our town, and it was like twenty five people. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.360 And so it just was like it was so hard 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.040 to walk through month after month after month of wanted 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.480 to get pregnant and its not happening and not knowing 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.240 why and watching every Like I remember leaving. I was 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.800 at like a triple baby shower dinner one night for 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.839 three friends and I was just all happy and great 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.200 at the shower and then I left and just like 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.679 ugly cried, like had to pull over at a park 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.599 and like cry by myself. I just was so lonely 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.680 and sad and devastated it why this thing that can 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.600 so easily happen for so many people was not happening 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.000 for us. And when I relate to on that because 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.960 Michael and I struggled for a year and had two miscarriages. 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:52.600 And it's the like you said, when the switch flips 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.640 and you want to become a mother more than anything 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:56.960 in the world. You see it everywhere and all these 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.799 people start complaining about all their pregnancy she's they're having 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.960 and they can't handle all this stuff, and it's and 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.359 you're like die on the inside because you're like, do 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.640 you know how much I want to feel nauseous right now? 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.000 Like even though sex like you and once you actually 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.479 do get blessed to be pregnant, like you do, realize 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.360 pregnancy issues are for real and like they can knock 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.640 you down to your knees. But it's just like, oh 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.760 my god, it is so devastating, And you said it 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.359 perfectly isolating and lonely, and you are like why not me? 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.880 Like what have I why not met? Why can I 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.839 not pregnant. Yeah, it feels like I did something wrong, 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.080 which is not true, I mean, but it just it 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.880 can feel that way. So we tried for a year, 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.919 and most of our doctors like wouldn't even talk to 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.679 you about infertility or reasons or climate or anything until 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.800 you've been trying for a year. So I was working 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.040 for this nonprofit to put on summer camp free summer 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.040 camps for at risk youth, and it was like an 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.520 all consuming job when we were like out at this 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.600 camp for a couple of weeks in the summer. So 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.720 I sort of like put trying to get pregnant on 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:01.640 the show for the summer, Like I just can't even 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.960 think about it, deal with it. I had an employment 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.320 with my doctor. Like the week after camp was over, 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:11.520 and the last day of camp, this girl named Katie, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.239 she was she was a Kappa and Baylor at the time. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.880 She was a senior and her mom was my mentor 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.840 at the time, and I remember we were sitting just 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.200 me and her, and she was like, Okay, when shoot 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.320 it to me straight, like, you're twenty five, you've been 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.159 married for a couple of years, why don't you have 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.000 kids yet, Which sounds ridiculous. But like in the culture 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.960 in Texas, in the culture we live in, like everyone 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.000 was getting pregnant, and normally I would have just like 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.240 made up some you know, I've been like, oh, we 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:39.159 we don't, We're fine. But for some reason I felt 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.080 compelled to really open up and tell her. And she 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.080 looked at me and she was like, have ever considered adoption? 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:47.840 And I really had never had. I mean, I don't 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:49.479 know if you could say the same thing, but like, 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.400 we didn't grow up with like a ton of adoptive 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:54.440 people around us. We didn't. I mean, there were people 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.320 who were adopted, but we didn't know that they were 0:06:56.360 --> 0:07:00.600 adopted because they looked like their parents. Uh. It wasn't 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.640 a part of how we grew up in the people 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.320 that we spent time around. And so I was like nope, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:07.520 and she just looked me straight in me, I was like, well, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.960 I think you should print it. I was like, pray 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:15.240 about it. I was like, okay, okay, fine, I'll pray 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.480 about it. And I did, and like within a week, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:21.960 I just knew in my heart that we were supposed 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.000 to adopt. I can't explain it. And it was the 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.480 same as the privacyAt So then we went to Cabo 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.680 right after with my parents and my doctor. Something happened 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:34.960 and he had to push back my appointment. So just 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:36.680 the timing of it all was so crazy, but it 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.559 was just like the pregnancy thing, all of a sudden. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.920 Adoption was everywhere. Like I went to in a bachelrette 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.160 party and the bride's future sister in law was like, 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.480 I always wanted to adopt and was telling me all 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.680 about it. And we went to one of Stephen's best 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:52.880 friend's weddings and Stephen was in the wedding and at 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.720 the rehearsal, I'll never forget. It was a camp Lucy 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.520 outside of Austin, and they were doing the rehearsal and 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.960 there was a little blonde girl about six or seven, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.679 and a little boy that was dark skin and I've 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.240 never been in Africa, but I just knew that he 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.360 didn't look he looked like he was maybe from Africa, 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.520 I don't know why. And I'm talking to this little girl, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.600 her name is Ella. I'm like, Ella, who is that Bennett? 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.880 Is that your brother? Like trying to figure out who 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.600 belonged to who? And she goes, yeah, yeah, that's my brother, 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.720 and like that was it. She didn't say he's adopted, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.040 he's from Africa. She was like, yeah, he's my brother, 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.200 and I was like, dang. And I remember other people 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.040 at the wedding had ties to adoption and orphanages over 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.440 it just was crazy. It was like, what what is 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:40.160 happening here? Um? There? It was everywhere, and it had 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.200 been nowhere, and it was just like, Okay, I get 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.520 the picture. And there have been a few times in 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.800 my life where God has spoken so loudly and I 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.959 just feel like He's given me the gift of faith 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:53.920 to be like all right, Like when we moved to 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:55.960 the town we live in now. I knew it for 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.000 a year before Steven knew, and I was like, we're 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.920 supposed to move there. We're just like there's several we 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.439 when we live. We lived in Midland and we moved 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.079 to brian College Station in Texas about five years ago. 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.000 That's another crazy God story. Yeah, it's great, well, it's 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.400 it's home now. But it was just one of those things. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.840 But Stephen was not on board. I don't know if 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.960 you remember this. He why not? What made you want 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.599 to move to Briant College Station? Oh? You want to 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.840 talk about that story? That's a whole different story. I 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.120 want to talk about all the stories. I don't know 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.040 we can what story you gonna talk about first? We 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:31.680 can keep going with the other one. Then get let's 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.000 get on with the adoption story, because I'll get off track. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.640 So he even did not want to adopt because he 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.640 just kept saying, I want to have our own kids. Yeah. Um, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.280 and we've been trying, you know, to have biological kids 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.120 and to get pregnant. So he just was so set 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.280 on that. And the more I started to know and 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.880 learn about adoption is like we were all adopted, like 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.800 Christ adopted us into his family, and so sort of 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.559 this picture of like this cross like we were adopted, 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.160 and so out of that overflow of love we adopt. 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:04.960 Like you don't just adopt because you can have kids. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.280 You don't just adopt, like people adopt for all different reasons. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.320 But it's because we've been given so much. It's not like, oh, 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.600 we rescue these poor kids. Like when people say that 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.880 to me, I'm like, no, this is not what that was. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.120 So I was frustrated knowing that if if he knew 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.320 what I knew about adoption, there's no way he would 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.240 say now. But it just wasn't his time. Um, it 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.360 took not only really three months, but you know, like 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.000 when you really want something, three months is like a 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.720 long time. Well, I mean, and you do want him 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.400 to come on board because it is a whole human 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.080 life that you both are agreeing to take on, you know. Yeah, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.720 it's a big, huge deal. Yeah, clearly I wasn't gonna 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.520 do it without wanting to do it. Um, but you know, 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.200 I used to be a photographer and I followed this girl, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.199 Esther Havens, and I you know know she is, she's 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.000 like a humanitarian photographer. I saw she was speaking at 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.000 this conference in Austin, and we were already gonna be 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.600 in Austin for my niece's first birthday, and I was like, oh, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.360 I'm gonna go to this conference. You here Esther. Well, 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.520 it was an adoption conference and there were all these 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.800 people from our town that we're going that I didn't 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.720 I like, was connected to through that job at the camp. 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.280 And so it ended up going to this conference. Stephen 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.080 did not want to go, So the first night he 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.920 dropped me off and actually we had dinner with Katherine 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.000 and Willie that night to celebrate. You're yeah, I think 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:30.920 we were celebrating Katherine's thirtieth birthday. We went to Matt's 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.040 and we were having Margarita's and like having a great time. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.800 And Catherine was one of the friends that I had 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.199 entrusted with what we were going there, so she knew 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.440 all about it. Was like, tell me all about the conference, like, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.079 tell me everything, and I was like, but stop by 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.520 we literally, man, Stephen got in the biggest fight of 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.360 our whole marriage that night and um, like, why are 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.880 you not gonna be able about this? Yeah, he was like, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:56.760 We're not doing this. I'm not going like, this is 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.240 not what we're doing. Like he just was so mad 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.959 and um he said that he went like we both 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.240 sort of on our own, were like Chris James that 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.040 says to basically care for the widow and the orphan. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.120 And he was like, I'll go with you today. Fine, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:13.800 Like I'll just go, I'll just check it out. And 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.800 just the coolest thing, Um got like really used that 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.160 conference to speak to him and basically the Holy Spirit 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.120 allowed him to feel what an orphan feels like, their 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.760 loneliness and their hurt. Um. He said he felt it 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.560 for a second in worship, but he was like, we 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.439 have to do this, like we can't not do it, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.040 and that's like what I just was praying for and knew, 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.679 like if he knew the heart of this, he would 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.439 absolutely want to do it. So we decided that day 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.319 that we were going to adopt, and we decided pretty soon, 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:47.760 I think that we were going to adopt from Africa. 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.680 And again I don't know why. We had never been 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.800 our mutual really good friend we grew up with always 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:54.480 had a heart for Africa, and I was like, I'm 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.600 not like that. I'm not like this big Africa person. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.600 Like I just thought that Africa and adoption or international 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:05.000 adoption was for like super special Christians, which is so 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.079 not true, Like it is not true at all. So 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.760 it's just crazy two years later, I mean, there's like 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.360 a whole thing, but is it a long process? And 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.560 how did you know that these were your kids? Asher 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.200 and Camp, Like how did you know? Like how do 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.839 you get your kids? Yeah, So we started working with 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.200 At that conference, they had like a ministry fair and 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.360 so they had a bunch of different adoption agencies there 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.319 and we just started talking to people and found our 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.480 adoption agency. We actually ended up switching agencies in the 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.240 middle of the process. But you yeah, you go through 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:45.360 a rigorous process of like if every person had to 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.560 like go through this process to have a child, there 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.480 would probably be no kids in foster care. I mean 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:53.760 it's just like it's so intense, like like stacks of 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.240 paperwork and home studies and just so much stuff. Um. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.320 So we were actually matched with a little boy, and 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.000 we told everybody we had his picture. We named him Camp, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.720 um all this stuff because you've always loved camps, like summer. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.400 I always wanted to run my own summer camp. And 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.080 it was crazy that God spoke adoption to us at 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.760 a camp that I was working for, and so it 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:20.800 just sort of the symbolism of he might not have 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.040 an actual camp for us, but he has a sign 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.440 nive camp. So I love that. Yeah. So we were 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.600 matched with this little boy and then, um, crazy story. 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.800 His biological grandmother didn't know that he existed, and she 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.240 fought found out and she fought for him, which is awesome, 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.280 Like that's what you want, is like reunification of families. 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.880 And so we lost. They called a referral. We lost, 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.320 so we weren't we weren't going to adopt him anymore. 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.560 And in the middle of the whole process. We had said, hey, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.280 we're actually approved to adopt two kids. It was never 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.680 our intention. We always wanted one little boy. But could 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.840 we is up the all school for us and still 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.280 adopt siblings and before or not siblings, but a boy 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.600 and a girl. And they were like no. But then 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.480 when we lost a referral, they were like, we're going 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.560 to see what we can do. So they gave us 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.960 Camp and Asher referrals we had. They were three, they're 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.880 three weeks apart in age, and we had twenty four 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.240 hours to say yes or no to it's to Camp 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.000 and Asher, just to Asher, to Camp and Asher, which 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.240 we were always going to adopt a boy, but I 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:31.760 thought Camp was taken away. Yeah, well we still named 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.480 Camp Camp. It was just a different, different child. Oh 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:40.120 so the original original went back with his grandmother. So 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:44.840 then okay, sorry, not a new anything. Yes, then they 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.840 match us with these two kids who were not biologically related, 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.400 so they don't have the same moms or dads or anything. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.360 They've just been together since they were a month old 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.440 in this orphanage, which is very rare to get kids 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.680 they're not related, they're that young. I just think it 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.440 was a total God thing, and so of course we 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.560 were going to say yes to camp because that's what 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.560 we've been waiting for. But like basically going from zero 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:14.160 to two kids and having twins basically was like pretty terrifying. Wow. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:19.720 And you probably just have so much faith involved because literally, 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.840 like even your first your first pair that you're matched 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.400 with then being taken away and now you have another 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.640 sen It's like you just have to trust that God 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.960 is bringing you the kids that are meant for you 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.240 in the situation that He's presenting because you can't control 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.440 any of this. You can't you don't know how any 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.240 of it's gonna play out. Yeah, you know, like did 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:43.920 you just have to have so much faith in this 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.160 whole process. So we had I had recently been on 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.760 my first like international mission trip to El Salvador with 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.400 our church and we had I remember one day we 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.320 were doing like home visits and we had walked for 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:58.440 like an hour out in the middle of nowhere to 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.840 this village and they were telling us a story about 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.080 this little kid in their village who had fallen into 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.000 the river and gotten a really bad air infection. There 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.560 was no doctor, there was no medicine, there was no money, 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.359 for any of that. They just had to pray and 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.800 believe that God was going to heal this little kid. 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:19.119 And I remember coming home and being have access to everything, 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.040 how like asking God, like, how can I have faith 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.560 to trust you when I literally have everything at my fingertips? 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.680 I don't don't have to stay up all my praying 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.680 that You're gonna heal my kid from an air infection. 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.960 Like we could do things. And so it was about 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.760 that time that we got camp in Ash like, Okay, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.240 I definitely cannot do this on my own. I I 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.440 it takes faith and trust for sure. And so that 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:47.080 that definitely felt like the answer. So then what happened? 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.280 So you get camp and Asher, Now you have two 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.480 kids and how so I actually lived in Ethiopia for 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.720 three months, um and they were not in my possession yet. 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.359 They were saying it like a foster home. It was 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.080 basically like a home with all kids were being adopted 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.240 in a bunch of nannies and nurses. And so we 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:11.359 brought them home in October of twenty twelve. Oh my gosh, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.119 I'm like totally lives yewelve. They were seven and eight 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.960 months when they came home. So what was that like, 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.119 what was it like living in Ethiopia? And then what 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.280 was it like bringing him home and adjusting to life 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:25.280 now here you go from nothing to twins. Oh my gosh. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.120 So we had been on a couple of mission trips 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.679 to Ethiopia and fall in love with this one area 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.480 in Addis Ababa, the capitol it was. It's called Cora. 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.560 It's in the city trash to area, and it sounds weird, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.720 but like I we fall in love with. We fell 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:41.880 in love with that place. We have like teenagers there 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:43.560 that call us mom and Dad that we've developed a 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.880 relationship with over so many years, kids that we still 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.560 sponsored to go to school there. And so I lived 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.640 with the family who ran the ministry and we spent 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.080 money through Friday in the trashta doing ministry and camps 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.240 and all sorts of stuff. And then on the weekends, 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:58.879 I mean it was sort of like we went to 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.439 internet cafe and got our nails done and went to 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.520 the movies and just went to church, like had a 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.320 sort of a normal life on the weekend. But I 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.480 loved it. It It was such a cool experience, like one else. 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.440 Am I gonna live in another country by myself? Yeah? 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.120 But they came home that I wrote a blogmost about 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.439 this the trip home. So we ended up I end 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.440 up having to come back to Texas for a couple 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.959 of weeks before we went back to get them. And 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:27.879 so it was me and Steven. We literally went to 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.160 Ethiopia for the weekend and we're like wearing they're little, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.240 so we're like wearing them in the carriers, Caroline. No 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.440 one told me to bring baby food, like all I 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.920 had was formula. No one was like, oh, babies are 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.600 like eating you know, baby food out of jars or 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.720 like pouches, no food. So on the plane ride home, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.879 they will both a they both had double ear infections 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.080 and we had no idea. So that is terrible and miserable, 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:59.240 especially flying that obviously never been on an airplane before. Um, 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.320 Steven and I didn't I get to sit together because 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.119 we sat like in the front where they have like 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:08.320 a little bassinet. So not joking you, I've sat in 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.640 the middle in between a blind man and a nine 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:16.040 month pregnant lady, Oh my goodness is and screaming seven 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:18.639