The tug was there in her heart.

It was pulling her to go in a different direction.

So when Chris and Erin Wright decided they wanted to expand their family they both felt pulled towards adoption.

“Adoption has always been in my wife’s heart,” said Chris, who is the lead pastor at South Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth. “We have two biological boys. We were considering a third child but felt called to adopt instead of having a child on our own because there are so many kids out there that need a home and a family.”

The couple turned to prayer and felt the decision was the right course.

Next, they began exploring their options. They thought a local adoption would be possible but roadblocks kept coming up on that path.

“God kind of closed some doors and opened some others,” Chris said.

Then an opportunity came up that the family had never considered, international adoption.

“Once we thought about going international to adopt, we just felt that’s what we were called to do,” Chris said. “We just wanted to provide a child them with a forever family. We wanted to welcome another child into our home.”

Working with Washington-based All God’s Children International, the Wrights began their adoption journey in May of 2016.

Mountains of paperwork later the family is still waiting for the right match from the agency.

Erin Wright said the waiting is tough and at times patience has worn thin but she knows it is all part of God’s plan for her family.

“It’s harder on some days then it is on others,” Erin said. “We’re just keeping faith that God has a plan and that God has a child for us and so we will wait until that time comes.”

The Wright’s have two sons. Cade just turned 10 on Tuesday and is a fourth-grader at The Academy at Nola Dunn, and Connor, a 5-year-old, who is in kindergarten at Nola Dunn.

Erin, a Talented And Gifted specialist at Nola Dunn and Clinkscale Elementary, thinks the lengthy wait to complete the adoption has been toughest on her kids.

“My older one understands it more than my younger one obviously,” Erin said “The older one experienced having a biological sibling added to his life. The younger one doesn’t understand completely what adding a sibling is like but he’s learning and understands more about what adoption is than he did at the beginning. He thought at the beginning that adoption was what everybody did.”

For now, the family is in the same waiting phase they have been in since they completed about six months of paperwork with the agency and the Colombian government in November 2016.

“We have been approved by Colombia,” Chris said. “We are just waiting to be matched with the right child.”

Once they were approved by Colombia, the Wrights were told that within six to 12 months they would be matched with a child.

That hasn’t happened yet.

“We are one of the very rare cases and we have no idea why we haven’t gotten matched yet,” Chris said.

The adoption agency the family is working through deals mostly with special needs children.

When the Wright’s learned this, they felt this was the right direction to go as far as adoption.

“There were different levels of need that we felt we were willing to accept,” Chris said. “It may just be a matter of the right need being matched with the right age.”

The Wright’s ideal age would be from a newborn to two-years-old. But due to Colombian rules they could end up adopting a child that is up to four years old.

“We discovered that the agency we felt led to go with only dealt with special needs children," Chris said.

While the journey has been long, it has also been rewarding for the family.

As more people learned that they were adopting a child, over-and-over they have gained support for their mission and heard wonderful stories about adoptions.

“This adoption process had opened up so many conversations and relationships,” Chris said. “We have met people in our church, or at my wife’s work or people we play youth sports with who have been affected by adoption. Either they were adopted or have a relative that was adopted. This means a lot to me and I want to be able to support something that changed my life.”

One day, Chris and a friend were discussing adoption process during lunch.

After they were through eating, a woman approached Chris and said she had heard their conversation and was so inspired by his story that she had written him a check for $200 to help with the adoption fees.

“It’s been really cool to see all the different ways that God is connecting us to people,” Chris said. “People are always asking how can we help. We are just trusting God will provide in His time. We are just grateful for the chance to share our story because we want to inspire and encourage others to consider adoption.”

The cost of adopting a child is steep at around $40,000. The Wrights, through grants, donations, and various fundraisers, have raised just over $30,000.

“We are in the home stretch financially,” Chris said. “Most of the remaining money we need will be for travel and legal expenses while we are in Colombia. When we go we will be there about three weeks doing the final paperwork then the child will be officially ours.”

The family began fundraising as soon as they made the decision to adopt. They have a website set up where people can make tax-deductible donations.

The Wrights said this process wouldn’t have been possible without the support of family, friends and the community.

“We have done four massive garage sales where friends and family bring things,” Chris said. “Co-workers, family, and friends have hosted fundraisers like the recent one at Dwell. It’s been cool to see the whole community support us.”

The fundraising has been a blessing according to Erin.

“We are so blessed by all the help and truly appreciate it,” Erin said. “It’s always come at the right time. When bills were due to the agency or Colombia God provided what was necessary. We’ve never had to worry about our other basic expenses so that just kind of confirms this is what we need to be doing.”

For now, the family will continue to play the waiting game.

“It has been a little frustrating,” Chris said. “There have been times where we have thought we could have had a baby or two by now. It has been challenging but we have seen

God provide for us in His time and in this way many times in our lives. We are trying to maintain faith.”

For now, the Wright’s are just waiting for the phone to ring with good news.

To donate to the Wright’s adoption visit is: www.adopttogether.org/thewrights.

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