Confession Time

We have been quiet here lately. One of the reasons is because we have had a secret. For those of you who have spoken to us in the last few years we have not been quiet about the fact that we have wanted another child. In fact we have been in the paperwork process for the last 4.5 yrs. It started when we lived in Saskatchewan. We wanted to adopt again from the States and it took us a year to convince the government there that an adoption from the States was possible. After that year we were finally able to do our paperwork and homestudy. We signed on with a agency in the States that told us that it would probably be 9-12 months until we received a referral. After sitting on the wait list for a year we decided to renew because we were sure it would happen soon. After two years on the list we were a little discouraged, but still renewed. We still felt like there was another child for our family out there somewhere.

As we approached year 3 of sitting on a wait list - and year 4 of being in process we really began to pray about what God wanted for us. We explored options and felt lead to something we have said we wouldn't consider before. At first it was because the process in that country looked simple - straightforward and easy. As we did more research our eyes became very opened as to the need of the country. We began to feel pulled to that country because the kids there needed family - and we felt like we could do that. We also made the decision that we would open up what age of kids we were open to. With Judah turning 6 this year and going into grade 1 in the fall we really felt like we were open to consider the idea of adopting an older child. When we renewed our homestudy we opened it up to consider a child up to the age of four, and we also felt like we should be open to bringing siblings home if there was a need for that.

So we renewed paperwork AGAIN. After sitting on lists for 4 yrs though we really felt like we wanted to wait to talk about it until after we had received a referral for specific kids.

Now let's understand some process here. Anything could still happen. Even though we have accepted a referral there is still a process to go through. We have court to pass, and there will be a more in depth investigation for birth family. Then we will have immigration paperwork and we will have to travel to get our kids. The country we are working with in also in the middle of changing some of their process right now as they seek to make it more ethical. This is a good thing - but it means that things may still continue changing in the next few months.

Please keep us in your prayers. We desire to bring these kids home - but want to do it in the right way. Pray that the court process will go well and that the in country government will make decisions wisely so that we can travel.

Coming up - referral story!