Meet the Fraleys

“I don’t want kids”

“I never want to go to India”

“I don’t want to work with teenagers”

That’s how our adoption journey started. Three absolute statements made in the confidence of youth about how we expected our life as a couple to unfold.  Looking back, we wish we would have said something like, “I never want to be independently wealthy” or “I don’t want a beach house” cause absolute statements like that seem to make God want to prove He has a sense of humor…

Aaron and Julie (that’s us!) met at Bible Collage and were married soon after graduation.  While they had hoped to find work in a local church, a strong attachment to living in a house with the associated comforts forced them to settle into boring adult jobs.  After four years of this, Aaron was begging God for any job doing what he actually went to school for.  And lo and behold, a church position opened up…as a youth pastor.  Desperate to escape another day of data entry, Aaron had a change of heart about that whole “working with teens” thing and took the job.  Surprise, surprise, he loved it!  

After a few years of working with other people’s kids, the idea of having one of their own began to grow on them.  After five years of marriage, they welcomed their daughter, Winter, into the family.  It didn’t take long to realize that they loved being parents!  Two years later, Noah came along, adding a son to the party.  Being a mom and dad turned out to be the most rewarding thing they had ever done.  Soon they were thinking about adding some more kids to the fam.  But some health problems for Julie prevented them from growing their family.

But then, an idea!  A stoke of genius!  Why not adopt?  Julie’s dad had been adopted, so it was something that the family had been aware of.  Why not grow our family that way?  After a ton of research, we decided that adoption was the plan for us!  Now the question was, where should we adopt from?  I’m pretty sure you have guessed the answer.  Coincidently, Aaron’s best friend was Indian and we had the opportunity to learn about the country, the culture, and the need that so many children had for a mom and a dad.  We could fill that need!  We are really good at being a mom and dad!  

So we went from “never going to India” to “I cannot wait another minute to go to India!”  Why the change?  Because there are two beautiful little girls over there that are Fraleys even if they don’t know it yet.  After going through the application process and a forest worth of paper work charmingly known as a dossier, we were matched with two sisters, Abigail (6) and Autumn (3).  Now we are playing the waiting game as governments move oh so very slowly in finalizing the adoption and getting our girls home to us.  While we wait, we are working hard to raise the remaining $5000 we need to travel.  Hopefully we will receive news soon from India that we have a court date and can bring our cuties home!

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