12/16/11
Adoption has been in the DNA of our marriage since before our courtship. While Heather lived in South Africa as a missionary she had been in the process of trying to adopt a little girl named Rose. When she was forced to come home due to an illness I took the opportunity to pursue Heather and a year or so later we became Mr. and Mrs. Shannon Compton! During our courtship while Heather was home she continued to work trying to adopt Rose but God had other plans. Heather was informed that she would have to live as a resident of South Africa for two years to be eligible to adopt. This was impossible due to her health at the time. Heather was forced to step out of the adoption process with Rose. Soon after the door was closed for her a family from Switzerland became her new mom and dad. Heather and I both struggled a bit at first feeling a sense of loss and at the same time overjoyed that Rose had a family that loved and cared for her. As a brand new married couple we sought for understanding from God and He was so gracious and gave us a peace to just trust him and wait. Soon after our wedding we were given a big surprise when Heather became pregnant with our first son Will only a month into being married! Surprise number two came when we became pregnant with Miles only nine months after Will was born! The desire to adopt has never left our heart though. Looking back we are so thankful for the plans the Lord had for us and how He directed our path those first two years of our marriage.

This year God has again been moving adoption to the forefront of our heart. He used a variety of ways to open our heart to the possibility again, the greatest of which was the loss of our third child Naomi. Heather became pregnant again not long after Miles was born but soon into the pregnancy we knew something was not right. We lost the baby (whom we named Naomi) at 13 weeks. It was the hardest trial we had been through yet as a couple. God used Naomi's life to strengthen our faith in Him and to instill in us an even deeper sense of the holiness of life no matter how small or short it maybe. Her life is cherished as a priceless gift at the deepest level of our heart.

Soon after experiencing the loss of Naomi we had the privilege of hosting His Little Feet children's ministry. His Little Feet works with orphanages in Honduras and Ethiopia to bring children to the States to travel as a musical group to raise awareness for the urgent needs of children all over the world. They were amazing and as we spent time with these beautiful children God impressed on our heart (as well as several other families in our church!) that we needed to take a step of faith by opening our heart up to the possibility of adopting again.

In November of this year we took that step of faith and started the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. We filled out the application, sent in the $250 and waited.

As of a few days ago we have now been accepted by American World Adoption Agency into their Ethiopian adoption program! We have a long way to go, a lot of forms to fill out, a whole lot of money to raise, and a lot to learn, but we are excited and committed to following the Lord on this journey. The one thing we are absolutely sure about is that God's heart is for adoption. We can be sure because he is our adoptive father who paid a high price and suffered more than we could ever imagine choosing us as his own children and giving us an eternal home with him. We are also excited because we are not the only ones he has been moving in this direction. We are honored to share life with a small group of faithful Christ followers many of which have also began the process of adoption as well and all of which support us whole completely.
So that is how this story has begun. Now we are looking at the road ahead of us excited to see how the Lord continues to faithfully direct our steps. We trust Him and love him and know that he is with us. What more do you need than that?


*If you are interesting in adoption check out www.awaa.org for more information.
*If you would like to know more about His Little Feet check out www.hislittlefeet.org for more     information.


*If you are willing to join us on this journey through prayer please contact us via email at thecomptonsjourney@gmail.com or a leave a comment on this blog


*If you would like to donate to our adoption fund (we need to raise about $35,500.00) please click on the paypal donation button on the right hand side of the screen. Thank you so much! 


More on our Adoption Journey to come!!!