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The desire to adopt was planted in Brittany's heart way back over twenty years ago in the early '90's in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her family went over there as missionaries during a short window of opportunity when the government allowed foreigners to come into schools and orphanages and share the Jesus film. Although she was only six at the time, she still remembers the smells of mucky fish soup and sounds of a little boy sobbing they left the orphanage after playing with him. She couldn't understand why they didn't bring him home. It seemed so simple: he needed a family and they had space for him in their tiny three-room flat. Although her family moved back to America, she never forgot his sad eyes, as well as all the other children who clambered for love at each orphanage they visited. 

A few years later, Darren separately experienced the hopelessness of orphanages when he went on a short term missions trip with his youth group to Romania. He was a part of a group that visited an orphanage where they were able to play with the children, who were so desperate for attention and love. One boy in particular clung to Darren's leg sobbing when it was time to go and had to be pried off. Darren remembers thinking about his own loving family and all that he had compared to these precious children. 

Fast forward a few years to college, where we met each other while studying at Moody Bible Institute. Although we met each other the first week of Brittany's freshman year, it took over two years before we started dating. One interest that drew us together was missions and particularly international adoption, since we both saw the desperate need for children all over the world to have forever families. We decided early on in our dating that when the Lord showed us His perfect timing, we would seek out international adoption. 

After getting married and Darren studying at seminary, we moved to Wuhan, China to teach at an international school. We absolutely loved experiencing the culture, customs, and especially the amazing Chinese food! We also learned first hand of the extreme difficulties of orphans through our sweet friend who runs a foster home, caring, educating, and loving precious children with special needs. We also learned of the desperate need to adopt boys, as girls are usually favored for adoption, and were so blessed to walk along side some friends who adopted their sweet children while living in China. Then, the Lord moved us to Hong Kong as teachers, totaling five years of living and learning about this land that at first seemed so foreign to us, but quickly felt like home. We moved back to the States almost two years ago, however still try to incorporate aspects of Asian culture into our family life with our two year old, who was born in Hong Kong and loves all Asian food, with tofu and Kim Chi being her favorite! (Although she won't touch pizza, Mac n' Cheese, or spaghetti!) Due to China's new changes in rules, we have had to wait longer than we wanted to begin the journey to bring "Little Mann" home, however God has taught us so much about His faithfulness during the waiting time. 

We are thrilled to already be matched to Titus, an adorable two year old boy who has been living in a government orphanage in a city near Wuhan since he was found. He has been diagnosed with developmental delays and anemia, as well as possible other special needs that we will look into once we bring him home. From the moment we saw his sweet face to the day we said "YES!" to his file, God has clearly showed us that this is our "Little Mann" who we have been praying for years to bring home. We can't wait to finally meet him and tell him about his Heavenly Father who loves him so much too!

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