12 months paper pregnant

12 Months!!!

Its been one whole year since we got the phone call from our agency that all of our paper work went through and we were officially wait listed. It took 6 months to get all the paper work done before that. We have done 2 home study updates, numerous background checks and fingerprints, and 8 doctor visits for our whole family to prove we are healthy enough to adopt. ANNNNND we are only half way there. The estimated time right now to adopt from Ethiopia is 2 years until you receive a match (unless your Madonna of course).  So after people ask me how my adoption is going, the next most common question is why does it take so long?
Good Question! The answer is not, that there are a lack of orphans, (i wish that were true).

It all seems to boil down to government. If you are adopting from a 3rd world country you can guess that their government processes are not going to be very organized. 

The first step is to prove that a child is an orphan. 

Just because a child appears to have been abandoned, or one or both parents have relinquished that child to an orphanage, does not mean that child can or should be adopted.

In order to ascertain what is in the best interest of a child, a government must determine that:

• the child is a true orphan

• there are no other relatives able or willing to care for the child on a permanent basis

• family reunification through sponsorship, mentoring, etc. is impossible

• no indigenous families are willing to adopt the child

• Lengthy interviews must take place between government workers, living relatives and attorneys to answer these questions. Relatives can be difficult to locate and lawyers and government officers are often overworked. As a result, this process can be painfully slow. But, it is vital to ensure that every child who is adopted is a true orphan, and not the victim of child trafficking, etc.

The Country becomes "popular". Many people don't realize all the restrictions on international adoption. If you have always thought you would adopt from a specific country that you like, check out the requirements on that country and you might be surprised! Ethiopia is the only African country you can adopt from if you have 3 or more biological children. If you want to adopt from Haiti, both you and your spouse have to be 35 and older and be married for 10 years or more. If you want to adopt from China you must make a minimum income of 80,000 annually.  The list goes on.

I'm sure some of you have heard of countries shutting down international adoptions, the most recent country in the news is Russia. I couldn't begin to tell you all the reasons why that happens, I don't think any of us know for sure.

But often, a country opens to adoption and is then  swamped with parents hoping to adopt available children. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on a government still in the infant stages of building its program. Logistics, legal concerns, coordination with Western Embassies,  can pose an incredible challenge.

As more and more Westerners pursue inter-country adoption, corruption or the fear of corruption can make those in power quite nervous, causing them to slow the process down in order to ensure ethics are maintained.

Countries open to adoption often have periods of political instability. Wars break out, government elections go wrong and tensions build. When these things occur, adoption programs can be disrupted for reasons that have nothing to do with adoption itself.

There is not a black and white answer, but I will say from a spiritual standpoint. The enemy is at work. The bible tells us that Jesus loves children, we know from scripture that His heart is with the needy and the helpless. He wants nothing more than for these children who are uncared for and unloved to be joined with loving families. 

5 years ago adoption was not even on our radar, we just never really thought about it. Times are changing, more and more families are adopting, more families are supporting families who want to adopt. There is a movement across our nation to love these orphans and to fight for them. I am so thankful for this, at the same time the more we fight for these lost children the more roadblocks are going to come our way. The enemy wants you to be overwhelmed with the cost of adoption, the extremely long wait times, the horror stories. 

But I am here to tell you, that there is no greater joy than the joy that comes from obeying God's calling on your life. We have already been so extremely blessed by this process, and we still have a long way to go. I am overwhelmed by how God has shown himself through our adoption.

God knows exactly what we needed for our adoption and He has provided every step of the way. There is a comfort in knowing that we don't have to worry, God laid it on our hearts to do this and he will make a way. And He has! God's timing is always perfect and I know we will bring our baby home at the most perfect time. 

Financially God has provided, it's still amazing to me. The $30,000 price tag on international adoption is probably the number one deterrent to people pursuing international adoption. I am thrilled to say that after, our adoption garage sale, which was so much more than a garage sale, it was our friends, family, neighbors, church members and other adoption families coming together to support us, so much that it brings tears to my eyes to think about.  Jarrod and I prayed over that garage sale and hoped to make at least $500. You can read about it here Garage Sale Day! Our grand total for that wonderful Saturday after the sale, donations, a cupcake stand, and a photo session with an amazing friend was over $5700!  Uh-Maz-ing!!!
I have also been blessed with an wonderful job that has been exactly what I needed to help us save money. My job has been a real God send, it's a job He knew I would love and is flexible enough to where I can take care of my kids AND save for our adoption. He is so good. (: 
Through an organization called Lifesong for Orphans we have been able to open an account that allows people to give to our families adoption and receive tax benefits. Jarrod has a childhood friend who was able to make tshirts for our families adoption and sell them to raise money. 


 I am happy to announce that God has provided over and above what we could imagine. In this past year we have raised and saved $27,839! We have one year left and we are only $2161 away from being fully funded. REALLY GOD!??  Even just writing that down and seeing it, still shocks me. God has changed our heart to be passionate about adoption and he has provided everything we need every step of the way.