I will never get tired of watching families be united for the first time with their adoptive children. The emotions are so compelling, raw, and genuine. I know many of you who follow my blog may not make claims to faith, but for me, seeing these families experience what it means to love an adoptive child is so powerful. It is a first hand glimpse of God’s love for us. This is something I never fully understood until I became a mother. I can only imagine how emotional that moment will be for Nate and me, when we hold our baby in our arms for the first time. It will be different than when we had Oliver, but an instant just as momentous all the same. A moment filled with amazement, relief, contentment, and praise.
As I eagerly anticipate that moment, I have seen my heart change, grow, and stretch in ways I never imagined possible. I have experienced flashes of panic in the beginning of this adoption process….wondering if we were doing the right thing, doubting our decision, feeling the cost is too great, fearful of all of the unknowns. But the truth is I believe our child is perfectly made to fit into our family. Just like every other child, hand picked by God to be forever ours. I believe we have a CALLING to bring a child into our home. I believe I now have a responsibility to look beyond myself and our selfishness, and SEE the world outside of our American viewpoint.
People who serve on mission trips say that their eyes have been opened. That there hearts will never be the same. I have not served in a third-world country, but I believe that this adoption process is filled with so much of that same type of personal growth. And most of it will take place in my heart before I have a child in my arms.
When I remind myself of all these things, the panic over adoption dissolves. I find myself hopeful to encourage others to consider adoption. I am eager to share my sense of peace over this decision, and I know after seeing the faces of these orphaned children I will be returning to them....hopefully as an adoptive parent once again.
I want to share a coming home video by a recent adoptive mother. I have been touched by her eloquent writing and especially this post.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Summer life.
Are you wondering where I have been?
This summer has been filled with some of the best things:
Family.
A Silly Second Cowboy Birthday Party.
Moving and grooving.
Berries from the garden.
It has also been filled with paperwork. We are on the way to completing our home study! Thanks to all of your financial donations, garage sale items, and prayers we have been able to pay for nearly 1/3 of this adoption! We are so excited to finally be starting the "paper chase" but it has been taking up most of my free time. I will still put an effort in to blog more though :)
Here is a picture of Oliver ready to submit our orientation packet. He can't wait to be a big brother!
And a little pic of the mulah after our garage sale fundraiser.
Hope your summer is filled with some of the best things too.
This summer has been filled with some of the best things:
Family.
A Silly Second Cowboy Birthday Party.
Moving and grooving.
Berries from the garden.
It has also been filled with paperwork. We are on the way to completing our home study! Thanks to all of your financial donations, garage sale items, and prayers we have been able to pay for nearly 1/3 of this adoption! We are so excited to finally be starting the "paper chase" but it has been taking up most of my free time. I will still put an effort in to blog more though :)
Here is a picture of Oliver ready to submit our orientation packet. He can't wait to be a big brother!
And a little pic of the mulah after our garage sale fundraiser.
Hope your summer is filled with some of the best things too.
Friday, July 2, 2010
If you have questions...
We have been asked many of the same questions over and over so I thought it would be best to address them all here. Hope this helps answer some of the questions and concerns people have.
Why Adoption?
Please read “our story” to see where this adoption process began. We now couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to adopt and feel a whole new world has opened up to us, as well as given the potential to love and advocate for orphans worldwide.
Why international adoption vs. domestic adoption?
We support any type of adoption whether domestic or international. For us, our hearts have been pulled to Africa for some time now. When we met, Kerri had an “Africa fund” jar which she used to save for a mission trip there one day. Little did we know that our lives would venture down the road of adopting from Africa.
Why Ethiopia?
When we applied for adoption we narrowed down our search criteria by length of stay in country, timetable for adoption, and opportunity to adopt a younger child. After looking at these factors, and the countries our adoption agency had available we narrowed our search to Rwanda and Ethiopia. We chose Ethiopia because it is an established adoptive country with a more predictable government. We have a potential to meet with the birth mother, which we find as a valuable opportunity. We have also heard amazing things about Hannah’s Hope, the orphanage where our child will be.
Why are so many children available in Ethiopia?
There are approximately 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone. Civil war, famine and disease have left the country with millions of orphans. Many families feel they are unable to feed and care for one more child so they place their child in an orphanage. Many of these children are placed up for adoption simply because their birth families want a better life for the child. I can’t image making a harder sacrifice out of love for my child.
Will your child be healthy? What about HIV/AIDS?
Our child may have minor, treatable health conditions such as rickets, parasites, ear/eye infections, etc. when they arrive home. Most of these problems are due to malnutrition. All children in the orphanage are screened several times for HIV/AIDS along with many other illnesses before they are placed for adoption.
What about raising a black child in a white family?
It would be ignorant of us to say that racism isn’t prevalent in today’s society. It concerns us deeply how people will react to our child. We have already experienced some careless remarks, or individuals not acknowledging our adoption and it leaves us to ponder how to react. I suppose we will learn in time. Our only hope is that people will accept and love this child the way we do already.
We want our child to have a link to their heritage and honor the country in which they were born. Portland has a large Ethiopian-adoptive community where meetings, camps, etc. are held to bring Ethiopian children together. We look forward to participating!
Can you request a specific child?
We can’t request a specific child, but can specify age range and gender (if over 12 months). We are considering an infant (0-12 months) of either gender, or a girl (0-18months).
What is a referral?
Our agency notifies us of a child that matches our parameters and that they feel would be a good fit for our family. The referral includes all information the agency has about this child. There may be many pieces missing, but the information should include all biographical information on the child. We will receive a picture of the child. We will then take all of the information we have to an International Pediatrician who specializes in caring for the special needs of an internationally adopted child. After reviewing the health information provided and praying we will make an informed decision on whether or not to accept the referral and move forward with adopting this specific child.
When will you get your child?
The Ethiopian program determines the wait time for receiving a referral (match of a child with our family). Currently the wait time of an infant of either gender 0-12 months is approximately 8 months. Once we receive a referral we will travel to Ethiopia to appear in court and testify that we would like to adopt this specific child. Once the adoption is finalized we will have to travel to Ethiopia again (in approximately 12 weeks) to pick up our child!
Why Adoption?
Please read “our story” to see where this adoption process began. We now couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to adopt and feel a whole new world has opened up to us, as well as given the potential to love and advocate for orphans worldwide.
Why international adoption vs. domestic adoption?
We support any type of adoption whether domestic or international. For us, our hearts have been pulled to Africa for some time now. When we met, Kerri had an “Africa fund” jar which she used to save for a mission trip there one day. Little did we know that our lives would venture down the road of adopting from Africa.
Why Ethiopia?
When we applied for adoption we narrowed down our search criteria by length of stay in country, timetable for adoption, and opportunity to adopt a younger child. After looking at these factors, and the countries our adoption agency had available we narrowed our search to Rwanda and Ethiopia. We chose Ethiopia because it is an established adoptive country with a more predictable government. We have a potential to meet with the birth mother, which we find as a valuable opportunity. We have also heard amazing things about Hannah’s Hope, the orphanage where our child will be.
Why are so many children available in Ethiopia?
There are approximately 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone. Civil war, famine and disease have left the country with millions of orphans. Many families feel they are unable to feed and care for one more child so they place their child in an orphanage. Many of these children are placed up for adoption simply because their birth families want a better life for the child. I can’t image making a harder sacrifice out of love for my child.
Will your child be healthy? What about HIV/AIDS?
Our child may have minor, treatable health conditions such as rickets, parasites, ear/eye infections, etc. when they arrive home. Most of these problems are due to malnutrition. All children in the orphanage are screened several times for HIV/AIDS along with many other illnesses before they are placed for adoption.
What about raising a black child in a white family?
It would be ignorant of us to say that racism isn’t prevalent in today’s society. It concerns us deeply how people will react to our child. We have already experienced some careless remarks, or individuals not acknowledging our adoption and it leaves us to ponder how to react. I suppose we will learn in time. Our only hope is that people will accept and love this child the way we do already.
We want our child to have a link to their heritage and honor the country in which they were born. Portland has a large Ethiopian-adoptive community where meetings, camps, etc. are held to bring Ethiopian children together. We look forward to participating!
Can you request a specific child?
We can’t request a specific child, but can specify age range and gender (if over 12 months). We are considering an infant (0-12 months) of either gender, or a girl (0-18months).
What is a referral?
Our agency notifies us of a child that matches our parameters and that they feel would be a good fit for our family. The referral includes all information the agency has about this child. There may be many pieces missing, but the information should include all biographical information on the child. We will receive a picture of the child. We will then take all of the information we have to an International Pediatrician who specializes in caring for the special needs of an internationally adopted child. After reviewing the health information provided and praying we will make an informed decision on whether or not to accept the referral and move forward with adopting this specific child.
When will you get your child?
The Ethiopian program determines the wait time for receiving a referral (match of a child with our family). Currently the wait time of an infant of either gender 0-12 months is approximately 8 months. Once we receive a referral we will travel to Ethiopia to appear in court and testify that we would like to adopt this specific child. Once the adoption is finalized we will have to travel to Ethiopia again (in approximately 12 weeks) to pick up our child!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
There are no coincidences
As I've mentioned before there are so many blogs out there that have helped me throughout this adoption experience. Many well meaning friends and family have been supportive, but nobody really knows the obstacles or first hand experiences like people who have gone down this adoption road before me, or are experiencing it first hand now.
I wanted to share with everyone something I think is very exciting. A friend from high school is entering into this adoption process at the exact same time as our family. We reconnected a couple years ago at church and our adoptive child will be able to grow up seeing another Ethiopian face every week at church. Yup, they are adopting from ETHIOPIA as well! Erin and I both agree that "there are no coincidences in life" and I feel that having her family follow us on this journey side by side is a huge blessing. Please visit her family's blog HERE. They are fundraising as well, so if you can open your hearts up to donating to another family I would strongly urge you to do so.
Another family who is getting close to receiving a referral is this family. They live in Oregon, and although I have never met them, I just ordered a t-shirt from them to support their fundraising efforts. At $12 each, you can't beat the price! Stop by and order one for yourself.
A Washington family who is starting the paperwork process now too is adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. She has some awesome shirts on her blog so swing by and order one to help them fundraise for the next part of their adoption.
There are so many families out there in the adoption world who need help fundraising to bring another orphan home. Will you help? The next time you go through a Starbucks line, get a pedicure, go out to eat, or see a movie, consider what that money could do in the lives of families trying desperately to bring a child home. It may not seem like much, but it truly adds up. I know I second guess myself whenever I hand over my debit card....and I find 9 times out of 10, that it isn't worth spending the money.
And lastly, I wanted to share a video with you. This little girl has inspired so many people to adopt! Lucy Lane has been home for 1 year now (visit her mom's blog to see the 1 year home video). Her family lives in Tennessee and has an enormous group of African adopted children within the community. I would LOVE to see that on the other side of the states.....so far there is our family and Erin's family....anybody else feel the pull to adopt??!!
I wanted to share with everyone something I think is very exciting. A friend from high school is entering into this adoption process at the exact same time as our family. We reconnected a couple years ago at church and our adoptive child will be able to grow up seeing another Ethiopian face every week at church. Yup, they are adopting from ETHIOPIA as well! Erin and I both agree that "there are no coincidences in life" and I feel that having her family follow us on this journey side by side is a huge blessing. Please visit her family's blog HERE. They are fundraising as well, so if you can open your hearts up to donating to another family I would strongly urge you to do so.
Another family who is getting close to receiving a referral is this family. They live in Oregon, and although I have never met them, I just ordered a t-shirt from them to support their fundraising efforts. At $12 each, you can't beat the price! Stop by and order one for yourself.
A Washington family who is starting the paperwork process now too is adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. She has some awesome shirts on her blog so swing by and order one to help them fundraise for the next part of their adoption.
There are so many families out there in the adoption world who need help fundraising to bring another orphan home. Will you help? The next time you go through a Starbucks line, get a pedicure, go out to eat, or see a movie, consider what that money could do in the lives of families trying desperately to bring a child home. It may not seem like much, but it truly adds up. I know I second guess myself whenever I hand over my debit card....and I find 9 times out of 10, that it isn't worth spending the money.
And lastly, I wanted to share a video with you. This little girl has inspired so many people to adopt! Lucy Lane has been home for 1 year now (visit her mom's blog to see the 1 year home video). Her family lives in Tennessee and has an enormous group of African adopted children within the community. I would LOVE to see that on the other side of the states.....so far there is our family and Erin's family....anybody else feel the pull to adopt??!!
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