“I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back.” – John 14:18

Okay, I’ll be honest.  This post isn’t about songwriting.  It’s personal.  If you want to bail out now, go right ahead.  My next post will be back to songwriting.  Thanks.

Well… my wife and I are adopting!

And, boy is it expensive!  So I’ll just cut to the chase.  For the whole month of “Adoption August,” ALL proceeds from the Songwriting Pro online store will go toward bringing our new children home.

If you’ve been on the fence about trying out one of the ebooks or courses, just know that your purchase will be used to help bring some precious orphans home.  I didn’t raise prices on anything- everything is at regular price.  So you’re not paying anything extra during this month.  I’m just setting that money aside specifically for our adoption expenses.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ONLINE STORE.

Let me introduce you to my two new sons.  Yes, I said two.

When God started us on this journey, we assumed that if we ever adopted (a big “if,” by the way), that it would be one baby. Possibly a girl. Now, here we are, adopting two sons, neither one of them a baby.

Meet Wren.

We first “met” him when he arrived in an email of children available for adoption. To be honest, he didn’t catch our eye at first. After all, we weren’t looking for a 12-year-old. It wasn’t until several days later, when someone at the adoption agency told Emily that Wren really wanted a family, that Em started thinking about him. And then she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

God broke Emily’s heart for Wren.

He moved my wife with compassion for this boy whom she’d only met through one picture and a few scraps of information. Emily asked me what I thought about adopting an older child. She was surprised that I didn’t run screaming from the room. Though it wasn’t something that I had “wanted” or expected, I was strangely at peace with the thought. But I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise. We’d been praying that God would bind our hearts to the heart of our new child. And that’s just what He was doing.

Face to face.

Emily recently went to China as part of a “Face To Face Journey” with our adoption agency. Their mission was to share love with the kids at two orphanages. To add to the amazing time she had there, taking children swimming (for the first time in their lives), shopping, and other activities, she actually got to spend time with Wren. He’s a sweet, shy boy. Being one of the older children in the orphanage, he helps out a lot with some of the younger ones.

The question.

Emily called me from China. She wanted to ask Wren if he wanted to be part of our family. She told me that children “age out” of the orphanage at 14 years old. Wren’s 12, about to turn 13. Soon, he’ll be too old to be adopted. We decided to invite him into our family.

Emily had the translator ask Wren if he wanted to be part of our family, if he wanted to come to America. Shyly, he smiled and nodded, “yes.” Then he got excited and didn’t know what to do, so he ran off.

Emily still felt that God has two children for our family (that’s a story in itself), but she needed discernment. She felt she should talk to Wren about it. If he could bring anyone with him to America, who would it be? The answer was no surprise.

Meet our other son, Quill.

Quill is Wren’s best friend. This special little boy has been in the orphanage his whole life. He’s six years old. Quill has cerebral palsy and lacks the use of his right arm. Wren is kind and always looking out for him. Quill doesn’t seem to let his challenges get him down. From the time Emily spent with him, he seems like a pretty inspiring kid.

Wren and Quill are like brothers. Soon, by the grace of God, they really will be brothers.

Please pray that the Lord will watch over our boys until we can be with them. It broke Emily’s heart to leave them- to feel like these are our sons, but then to fly away, not knowing how long it will be before we can bring them home.

Here’s how you can help.

You can help us bring our boys home by purchasing one or more items from the Songwriting Pro online store.  All proceeds will be going to pay for adoption expenses (we’re still about $20,000 away- yikes!).

If you would like to make a donation, follow our adoption journey, or see more pictures of the boys, CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR ADOPTION PAGE.

God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,

The Baxter Family (Brent, Emily, Ozzy & Ruby Jean)