We have spent the last two weeks doing all kinds of paperwork - doctor's visits for Natalie and I as well as the kids, fingerprints, birth and marriage certificate orders, photos, letters of reference, proof of insurance, proof of employment, financial information, etc. Gladney and KBS Dossiers has helped us a lot which kept it from being really overwhelming.
Now we are waiting for some documents in the mail as well as waiting for Gladney to call us to schedule the homestudy. In the meantime, reading lots of books and praying for our family.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
DECIDED TO PROCEED; CHOSE AGENCY
This week has been a busy week with more reading and visits with a couple agencies.
After prayer, time as a couple, and seeking wisdom from community, we have decided we want to proceed with adoption, so the next step is choosing an agency. There are about 11 US agencies in Ethiopia, so we scanned all of them over the five weeks or so. We chose to dig a little deeper with two agencies, and we had "final round" discussions with both of them yesterday.
We really liked both of the agencies, and we really wish we could merge the best of both of them. Obviously, that isn't an option, so we need to decide which agency we feel would best fit our needs, concerns, skills, etc.
After the meetings, we have decided to partner with Gladney, an agency based in Fort Worth, about 45 minutes from our house.
Now the paper work begins... We had to fill out a basic form at the beginning to get the ball rolling. Today, we needed to submit a form with a little more personal information to allow Gladney to do some background checks as well as receive the more substantive "official Gladney application."
We will then work on two applications concurrently. First, there is a formal federal doc (I-600A) which seems easy enough and requires including copies of birth certificates (or passports), marriage certificate, a cover letter, etc. That will likely take an hour or so, and we can ship it out this week. The other form is the Gladney application, which I am assuming will take more time. We haven't gotten a copy of that yet, so I am not sure what will need to be done. I should know more later this week or early next week.
Very excited!
After prayer, time as a couple, and seeking wisdom from community, we have decided we want to proceed with adoption, so the next step is choosing an agency. There are about 11 US agencies in Ethiopia, so we scanned all of them over the five weeks or so. We chose to dig a little deeper with two agencies, and we had "final round" discussions with both of them yesterday.
We really liked both of the agencies, and we really wish we could merge the best of both of them. Obviously, that isn't an option, so we need to decide which agency we feel would best fit our needs, concerns, skills, etc.
After the meetings, we have decided to partner with Gladney, an agency based in Fort Worth, about 45 minutes from our house.
Now the paper work begins... We had to fill out a basic form at the beginning to get the ball rolling. Today, we needed to submit a form with a little more personal information to allow Gladney to do some background checks as well as receive the more substantive "official Gladney application."
We will then work on two applications concurrently. First, there is a formal federal doc (I-600A) which seems easy enough and requires including copies of birth certificates (or passports), marriage certificate, a cover letter, etc. That will likely take an hour or so, and we can ship it out this week. The other form is the Gladney application, which I am assuming will take more time. We haven't gotten a copy of that yet, so I am not sure what will need to be done. I should know more later this week or early next week.
Very excited!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
WORKSHOP, BOOK, TELLING THE KIDS
Natalie and I went to an Ethiopia workshop yesterday at Gladney. While it didn't really meet our personal objectives for the day, we are still glad we went. The primary focus was on the Ethiopian culture with a heavy emphasis on the challenges families face when adopting older children from Ethiopia due to the stark contrast in the American and Ethiopian cultures. Natalie and I had some great chats in the car, especially on the way back from Fort Worth after the workshop.
We talked a lot about who specifically we would like to adopt. We generally agree on the following. We would like to adopt multiple children at once. As far as the specific number of children, we talk about two or three, but we will leave the final number up to God's sovereignty. We don't really have a preference on gender (though our kids do! more on that later). Due to a combination of personal preferences and adoption agency policies, the oldest child we adopt needs to be at least a year younger than Hannah, so four years old by the time this would happen. The one aspect where Natalie and I diverge somewhat is on the minimum age we want to adopt. Natalie would really like at least one of the children we adopt to be under 12 months old, while I am indifferent to that factor. At the same time, Natalie has more of a heart for adopting multiple children than she does the age of the children, so this is a secondary preference for her.
I am reading a really good book right now. It is called Born in Our Hearts by Filis and Marisa Casey. It is a compilation of stories by people involved with adoptions - birth mothers, adoptive parents, adopted children, birth siblings of adopted children, and grandparents. The stories are really encouraing and, at times, quite emotional for me to read. It has also helped increase my sensitivity to various aspects of adoption.
We told Caleb and Hannah (ages 5 and 4) this morning about our current processing of whether the Lord would have us adopt. We started by asking them if they knew what adoption was, and Caleb quickly responded with a good description. We then asked them what they thought about us adopting, and they were both very excited. Caleb talked about wanting to have more brothers and sisters, and then Hannah quickly said she only wanted sisters :). Hannah is all girl! We then talked about how they would have to share rooms with new siblings if we did this, and they were really excited about that as well, especially Caleb. Hannah was excited too, but only if she still got to sneak into our bed sometimes :).
We have dinner tonight with the Wilkins family who recently adopted from Russia. We look forward to learning from their wisdom.
We talked a lot about who specifically we would like to adopt. We generally agree on the following. We would like to adopt multiple children at once. As far as the specific number of children, we talk about two or three, but we will leave the final number up to God's sovereignty. We don't really have a preference on gender (though our kids do! more on that later). Due to a combination of personal preferences and adoption agency policies, the oldest child we adopt needs to be at least a year younger than Hannah, so four years old by the time this would happen. The one aspect where Natalie and I diverge somewhat is on the minimum age we want to adopt. Natalie would really like at least one of the children we adopt to be under 12 months old, while I am indifferent to that factor. At the same time, Natalie has more of a heart for adopting multiple children than she does the age of the children, so this is a secondary preference for her.
I am reading a really good book right now. It is called Born in Our Hearts by Filis and Marisa Casey. It is a compilation of stories by people involved with adoptions - birth mothers, adoptive parents, adopted children, birth siblings of adopted children, and grandparents. The stories are really encouraing and, at times, quite emotional for me to read. It has also helped increase my sensitivity to various aspects of adoption.
We told Caleb and Hannah (ages 5 and 4) this morning about our current processing of whether the Lord would have us adopt. We started by asking them if they knew what adoption was, and Caleb quickly responded with a good description. We then asked them what they thought about us adopting, and they were both very excited. Caleb talked about wanting to have more brothers and sisters, and then Hannah quickly said she only wanted sisters :). Hannah is all girl! We then talked about how they would have to share rooms with new siblings if we did this, and they were really excited about that as well, especially Caleb. Hannah was excited too, but only if she still got to sneak into our bed sometimes :).
We have dinner tonight with the Wilkins family who recently adopted from Russia. We look forward to learning from their wisdom.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
RESEARCH
I thought I would note what Natalie and I are doing to explore whether the Lord would have us adopt. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are reading, praying, and seeking the counsel of friends. Below are the books and folks we are chatting with.
Books
Books
- Bible
- Born in Our Hearts: Stories of Adoption
- There Is No Me Without You
- Beyond Good Intentions
- In Their Own Voices
- Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew
- The Lost Daughters of China
- Held at a Distance
- Does Anybody Else Look Like Me?
- Cross Cultural Adoption
- Community Group
- David and Missy Leventhal who are in the process of adopting Abigail
- Garth and Tiffany Wilkins who adopted Vladic
- Celestin Musekura who leads ALARM, the ministry I am involved with in Africa
- Gladney Center for Adoption - agency we are considering
- Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services - agency we are considering
- Others planned for the near future
Sunday, May 27, 2007
ADOPTION?
After a family camping trip April 20-22 and a date night Thursday, April 26th, Natalie and I began more seriously exploring what we have been periodically discussing for about 15 years...adoption. I originally had this idea as a teenager and shared this idea with Natalie a couple years later in 1992, and over the last four years, Natalie and I both slowly realized this might be a calling from the Lord. The Lord has blessed us with Caleb and Hannah through birth, and He has taken four more of our children from us before they were born. Through the pain and blessing of these experiences, we have slowly come to realize that the seed in our hearts for adoption 15 years ago were His seeds for His plan today.
At the same time, the Lord has called me to ministry opportunities in East Central Africa (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo) since the summer of 2006. My passion for sharing Christ and His Word in this area of the world has been an incredible blessing through which God has contunually shown me that He is sovereign, Christ is sufficient, and His Word is complete. Each time I go, I have wished I can stay so much longer, missing my family yet not wanting to leave. I am grateful for the partnership my church (Watermark) has developed with ALARM (www.alarm-inc.corg).
Well, God, in His incredible goodness and creativity, seems to be drawing these stories together, as we have come to recognize the Lord could be calling us to adopt children from Africa. We are beginning to study both adoption and the country of Ethiopia, learning more about both. Through prayer, meditation on God's Word, fellowship with great followers of Christ, books on adoption and Ethiopia, and some local seminars, we are seeking the face of God in the midst of our growing passion, hoping our will is consistent with His will.
Friday night was our 11th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated together at a local Ethiopian restaurant, Queen of Sheba. It was fun the celebrate our past together and dream about the future in a reastuarant that is part of a culture we are being drawn to.
At the same time, the Lord has called me to ministry opportunities in East Central Africa (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo) since the summer of 2006. My passion for sharing Christ and His Word in this area of the world has been an incredible blessing through which God has contunually shown me that He is sovereign, Christ is sufficient, and His Word is complete. Each time I go, I have wished I can stay so much longer, missing my family yet not wanting to leave. I am grateful for the partnership my church (Watermark) has developed with ALARM (www.alarm-inc.corg).
Well, God, in His incredible goodness and creativity, seems to be drawing these stories together, as we have come to recognize the Lord could be calling us to adopt children from Africa. We are beginning to study both adoption and the country of Ethiopia, learning more about both. Through prayer, meditation on God's Word, fellowship with great followers of Christ, books on adoption and Ethiopia, and some local seminars, we are seeking the face of God in the midst of our growing passion, hoping our will is consistent with His will.
Friday night was our 11th wedding anniversary, so we celebrated together at a local Ethiopian restaurant, Queen of Sheba. It was fun the celebrate our past together and dream about the future in a reastuarant that is part of a culture we are being drawn to.
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