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Tonight I am feeling reflective
of our journey to this point. I have not actually used this
blog to journal many of my emotions regarding our story. I
guess I was mostly just tracking dates and keeping in touch
with my new friends in the blog-world! However, tonight, I
just feel like I need to lay it all out there. So, here
goes...
The Road
Begins - International Adoption
Everything began when my sister
and brother-in-law gave us some land (2 acres adjacent to
their farm) so that we could build a house. Around that same
time, our hearts were stirred for international adoption.
Through a series of circumstances and much research, we
decided in the spring of 2006, jointly, that we would all go
together to bring home our new sons. We applied at
Children’s Hope International into their Vietnam program and
hoped to actually travel together.
My brother-in-law had the idea
of selling the land to finance the bulk of both of our
adoptions. We were totally on board, feeling like it was a
huge gift, either way; and as we believed God was calling us
to international adoption, it seemed like an answer to
prayer. I felt so strongly God was going to have to finance
this thing He was calling us to do, since we were already
struggling to make ends meet due to lack of funds in my
husband's ministry. With no savings and too much debt, we
started down this road and downloaded the application from
Children’s Hope.
The day I had to send off our
$100 application fee, my husband ran into a local pastor
friend at the gas station, both on their way to work. Our
friend handed him a $100 bill and said he felt like God
wanted to bless us with that. It was exactly what I needed
that day and I had to worship, knowing that God was assuring
me He would be there for whatever I needed each step of the
way. So, after a bit, we sold the land (my brother and his
wife actually ended up purchasing it!) and it was just in
time for all our initial home study and government paperwork
fees. So far, so good!
A Fork in the
Road – Which Country?
When my sister and her husband
decided to accept a referral for a baby from Guatemala, we
were overjoyed for them and fell in love immediately with
our new nephew. However, that left us wondering what we
should do next. We looked into Guatemala a bit, but didn't
feel that was the right door for us to walk through. I
became increasingly uncomfortable with Vietnam, unsure I had
heard the Lord on from which country we should adopt. We put
our home study on hold. It was completely ready, just
awaiting the country.
 Throughout
November and December I felt nothing. I was really praying,
too! Finally, as January 2007 rolled around, I decided I had
to put a deadline on things. I told the Lord that by the end
of the month I would put something down and just send it in,
regardless. The third weekend of that month I had a
revelation as I was talking with my sister. She asked if I
had noticed Children’s Hope was opening a new program for
Ethiopia. I looked into it and immediately felt this was
right. The needs of the country, the beauty of the children,
the cost, the timelines, the short length of stay in country
(since I had 3 children at home, this was important to me),
and the excitement of being one of the pioneer families for
the program were all perfect! We switched programs, sent off
our home study and within one month had our 171-H form (INS
clearance) - the same weekend of my birthday and the same
weekend Children’s Hope received their licensing for
Ethiopia!!!
I got to work on our dossier and
made sure to submit it before we left on vacation in June.
We were the 3rd or 4th family to submit a dossier. The first
2 families, requesting infant boys, and another family,
requesting siblings, actually traveled before the courts
closed in August. So, we were sure we were next on the list
and would be receiving our referral any time and traveling
by October at the latest. Well, that didn't happen. Several
other referrals came through, but all for older children or
siblings or infant girls. I was excited for all these
families. However, I kept waiting for the call.
A Change in
Direction
Finally, it came in October. We
received a referral for an infant boy and were thrilled.
However, we immediately realized we were going to struggle
to get the necessary funds together for the country/referral
fee.
 Several
of our friends gave generously to us and one long-time
friend of our family gave us a loan so that we could go
ahead and process the referral to get on the list for a
court date. God was good, once again!
I believed He would come through
on the funds we owed to them, as well as the money it would
take to travel. However, we had one setback in the plan.
When our court date came the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we
found out the court had not ruled in our favor. For reasons
I will not go into here, the court could not separate the
baby from the birth family. We felt some loss with this
news, obviously; but also felt that it was an answered
prayer. We believe the court had ruled righteously in their
decision and we tried to be at peace in that.
We were on hold again.
Children’s Hope told us there was another infant, but could
not give us any specific news yet until they finished the
medicals and paperwork for him. We waited one month with no
more information. Finally, on Christmas Day, the director of
the program called and gave us the news! She emailed all the
medicals, photos and background info on Ashenafi and we were
overjoyed she would take time out of her holiday to do that
for us. God gave us a beautiful Christmas gift! The baby was
perfect!
The Guide
Steps in With a Helping Hand
Now, we awaited a January 23
court date. This time everything went beautifully the first
time through. Again, the hurdle of the finances came to
weigh on us as we contemplated the cost of travel. As we
were waiting for our official travel dates, we received a
notice from Shaohannah's Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's
adoption-assistance organization). We were awarded a $3,000
grant!! (This is something we applied for in the early
fall!) God is soooo good!!! Plus, my husband had a friend
give us some money for our trip and a side job he was
working was going to pay exactly what we needed for the
hotel/food cost with enough to take some cash with us!
So, now, we are ready to go! I'm
going to totally enjoy this experience and immerse myself
into the culture of Ethiopia and loving on my baby!
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