Adoption Update

Adoption Update

So, since my last update nearly two months ago, many things have happened. As you know, we accepted our referral for our two boys and we have had such joy looking at their wonderful faces on a daily basis! We pray for them with Kellan, Ella and Elias. We talk about Ethiopia, a lot! We study Ethiopian culture and meet with other families that have also adopted from Ethiopia. We pray for Ethiopia. We look at websites that show current events in Ethiopia. The only thing we haven’t done, but plan to do within the next week or so, is eat Ethiopian food! I’m super excited about this. I thought about making my own first, but then I’d have nothing authentic to compare it too. So we are venturing out for this step.

Our boys are still in their orphanage simply because there is not room for them at the transition home provided by our adoption agency. I started to pray that spaces would open quickly for them and then realized, maybe it is for the best that the boys are still in their orphanage. After all, it is their home. They have grown there and been loved there and made friends there. I just grieve for them when I think about how hard this transition will be for them. I pray daily that their hearts would be protected and comforted in this time of great change. Although the change is good and something they and we want, it is still change. We all know change is hard. Would you join me in praying for our boys as they face the transitions that lie ahead?

We sent our care packages with a family that is travelling to Ethiopia for their embassy appointment this week. We are so excited to hear about their reaction and to maybe even see some pictures. We are so blessed to have connections with other adoptive families around the country. Our adoption agency has a chat group where we can all stay connected and when we see that another family is travelling to Ethiopia, we just send our care packages to them and they graciously take the packages to our children. I just can’t wait to do the same for other families when we travel! We sent the boys photo books, screen-printed t-shirts and some other small goodies.

From my last update, I mentioned that our caseworker was connected with our lead pastor and she also mentioned that our church was putting on some sort of event in the coming weeks focusing on adoption. We decided to email the pastoral intern that was facilitating this event so that we could learn more about it.

When we stared attending Solid Rock in October, we really felt that we were supposed to be there. Both Brian and I had little desire to go anywhere else after our first visit. So we kept going back and praying for wisdom as to why we were in “this church.” We corresponded on email with a guy named Jeff and he asked us to come down to the church to meet with him. Jeff sat down across from us and said, “tell me your story.” We talked about our heart for the orphaned and how we started our adoption journey over 10 years ago through a simple conversation. We talked about the last four months and all of the changes we have been through. We talked about finding Solid Rock and about our case worker and the connections we’ve started to make in the church. We said that we found Solid Rock and from what we had seen, we loved it and we also mentioned the fact that although we were new here, “we are here, we don’t know why, and we need support.”

It’s hard admitting that; that we need support. That’s our reality. We had support (and still do in many ways) in Colorado. We had a small group of friends that we did life with. We had a church that we loved. We had family a few miles away. We had a comfy house and a great school. We moved in the middle of our adoption, to a place where we know two people and where we have had to rely on gps to go to the grocery store. I often wondered, “why now, why would we move now, why would God uproot us now?”

Jeff looked right at us after we spilled the summary of our lives on him and he said, “I know why you are here, just wait until you hear what we are about to embark on at this church.” He proceeded to talk to us about the heart of Solid Rock. About the Fatherless and the fact that this church wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing. This church was moving, in a big way. Solid Rock started a local “Hear the Cry” ministry focusing on the fatherless right here in Portland. We heard all about the fact that Solid Rock aims to equip the church to be the hands and feet of Christ in Portland. To open their homes to the fatherless, to mentor children, to serve and bless the DHS offices and case workers, to adopt orphans, to throw camps for foster kids, to provide respite care for foster parents, to give foster parents nights out, to provide welcome boxes for children that are removed from their homes, to give of their finances and gifts in ways they may not have considered and to love the unloved and care for the uncared for.

We were in tears, both of us. Shocked and amazed that we were here, listening to this guy speak our hearts. He was on the same page as us and we were in the same church. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a blessing it was for us to hear from him that day and to have him look at us and say, “you are here now, and this is your church, we are your family and we will support you.” He asked if we would be willing to share our story, to encourage others in the church that may have questions or concerns about adoption. It’s the best place to be when you are able to give glory to the Father through the simple step of telling your story.

The following month nearly 500 people came to the kick off event Solid Rock held and we were apart of one of the break out sessions. We were able to answer questions and speak freely about the hurdles and set backs that people face when adopting. We were able to encourage and build up those that were considering adoption in their future. We were honored and humbled to sit in that position of vulnerability and tell our story knowing God was going to use it in some way. What was most exciting that day, was listening to all of the other people share ways in which we can get involved with the fatherless in our community now. I love that Brian and I share this same passion and that our adoption is just the beginning of a life long mission God has placed on our hearts.

I can honestly say I’ve had a rear view mirror perspective ever since we left Colorado. I was looking back A LOT, and hoping, praying for a way for us to get back as soon as possible. I didn’t want to fathom putting roots down here. I didn’t even want to install bookshelves, and I love bookshelves! However, now I can honestly say, I’m not just ok with being here in Oregon, I’m happy to be here. I am blessed to be in the perfect will of my Heavenly Father, knowing I am right where He wants me to be. I will stay here with a joyful heart until He moves me elsewhere and I will serve Him here because here is where He wants my family to be; there’s simply no better place.

So here we are now. Before the event at the church we sat down with a great man named Scott and he listened to us and then shed some wisdom on all we have coming in the next few months. He’s raised three children and travelled around the world doing missions, so he had much wisdom to impart. He also attends our church and he interviewed us in front of the audience at the kick off event. He was another little blessing we’ve been given. His support and prayers for our family are cherished.

We were connected with a wonderful family that has also adopted from Ethiopia through Jeff. They emailed us for the first time to connect and within one day we were at their house having dinner. They shared so much with us in the way of adoption advice and travel wisdom and we look forward to many more conversations with them in the future. I would love to adopt them as friends!

So that’s our adoption update for now. We ask that you pray for a few specific things:

1.     Pray for funding. We have submitted several grant applications to agencies that do not start awarding grants until April of next year. This will be well beyond the point in which we need funds. We do ask that you pray for our family to receive grants in order to offset some of the costs we have and will continue to incur.

2.     Pray specifically for $7,050 so that we can submit our documents to Ethiopia. Our Dossier is complete and ready to send to our adoption agency, but we need to submit our final payments in order to do this, so please pray for wisdom on how to move forward and for provision over this need.

3.     Pray that we would be able to secure beds and clothing for our boys over the next few months. They will need everything from jackets and hats, to socks and shoes.

4.     Pray for safety and protection over our boys and their sweet hearts with all that is about to change in their lives.

5.     Pray that our Dossier is couriered safely to Ethiopia, translated and given favor there.

Thank you so much for your support and your faithfulness! We could not do this without you!