The journey begins.

Every life is significant. Intended to impact. Engineered for purpose.

Long before my wife Julie and I shared last names we shared a passion. A passion to touch lives, a zeal to influence, an infatuation to give of ourselves. God has instructed us that our time is NOW and this blog is designed to glorify his name through documentation of our journey.

Our passion is manifested in our decision to adopt. Julie and I have spent many hours in the first year of our marriage discussing the option and seemed to have an unspoken understanding that we would have our biological children first and adopt our last. God had other plans. After much prayer and supplication we are excited to inform the world that the Simpson household will grow by one in 2010. We will welcome a son, a son of Africa. His origin the Democratic Republic of Congo, his home here with us in America. His name will be Malachi which translated in Hebrew means "God's Messenger". Words cannot express our joy, but there too is pain.

Ravaged by a bloody civil war that continues in parts of the country to this day, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a country of 5,000,000 orphans and functions as what most analysts would deem a "failing state". 45,000 people die each month in the DRC, the government is ineffective, and sectarian violence / tribal clashes have led to the death of 5.4 million people since 1998. It is a portrait of instability. Disease, erosion of infrastructure, sexual violence, civilian casualties, child soldiers, wounded refugees and malnutrition — there is no shortage of suffering in DRC. Some reports indicate that almost half of the individuals killed are children under the age of 5. The need is immense.

We will respond to that need. The adoption process, baring any major setbacks will take between 6-9 months. We know God has a special plan for us and we understand that it will not be easy, in fact anything but. International adoptions are laced with pitfalls, delays, and governmental red tape; not to mention the arduous task of raising $25-$30,000 to fund the adoption.

All that being said, we know that God is our refuge and strength, he is power and he is protection. This is an exciting time for our family and we are privileged to have the honor of sharing it with all of you. We have so much to tell. And so the journey begins.

Leviticus 19:34

"The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God."