I never believed that I would ever be a blogger, and the jury may still be out on whether or not I truly am. Many know that our family is in the process of adopting a baby girl from Russia. While we are not even close to seeing her, we have begun the process, the long process and wanted a way to share it with everyone. I will not be blogging everyday, until the day we go to Russia to get her (watch out blog world!). I can hardly wait for that day.
First, I wanted to share why we are adopting and how God has shown himself to us starting from the very beginng. I believe that God has a plan for our family and we are so anxious to see what he has in store for it.
The day after Christmas this year, my grandmother became very ill. She was in and out of the hospital for 4 months. Praise God that she is doing great today. But during that time the women in our family came together to care for her; in the hospital and at home. Selfishly, I kept thinking of wanting a girl! I knew my three boys loved me, but there is something to be said about the bond between a mother and daughter, or just being women! However, I KNEW I didn't want anymore kids. I was done! I was happy with my 3 wild boys! We started casually joking about another one, but I was done (get the picture!)! Oh, but God had a different plan! He revealed it to me through 2 of my closest friends who told me they were going through international adoption with Ethiopia. Wow! I was so thrilled for them! Tears of joy were streaming down my face. Slowly, we felt the tug on our hearts that international adoption was something that God wanted us to do. Yes, we were still playing with the "idea" of it all (Scott had secretly been wanting and praying that I would want another child...funny). So, a few months ago, after putting kids to bed, I felt compelled to drop what I was doing, get on my knees and pray. I asked God to show me through His word what it was He wanted me to learn (this NEVER happens to me:) ). I closed my eyes (sounds so cliche) and flipped the bible open to James 1. As I started reading, it kept talking about trials we go through and how that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (I kept reading...I was intrigued, He had my attention). Asking how much longer I was to read, I kept on!. Verse 17 is a verse I hold close to my heart, "Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shifting shadow." My precious children (most of the time:) ), are His "precious gifts" to us. Now I was asking for another precious gift. As I came to the last verse, 1:27, it says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." WOW!!!!!!!!! I have never felt God's presence more than at that moment. I KNEW this is what God had planned for our family!! ( I think I cried for about an hour!)
Through a ton of prayer and just asking for God to show us what country to pursue, He "closed" the doors to every country except Russia. Sounds crazy, huh? Especially because this was the time when the Tennessee woman sent her 7 yr old adopted child back to Russia on a one way ticket alone! Russia, at the time, was on the fence with allowing US to adopt their children. However, it really wasn't as bad as it appeared in the media. If anything, it helped with follow ups and the actual process of adopting...making it quicker and hopefully more safe!
We know we want one as young as we can get. They have to be on the international registry for 9 months before they are able to be adopted. Then, when we get a referral, we will go to Russia for 7-10 days to meet her and do more paperwork. They hard part is we have to come back, without her, for possibly 2-3 or more months in order to get a court date. Then we can head back to Russia for a longer trip (possibly 4 wks) to bring her home!
We have already gone through SO much paper work it's unreal! We keep thinking of the "end product" and persevere! We have our home study appointment scheduled for August 10-12. Once she completes her report, we can send it to Russia with our dossier (along with a lot more paperwork and fingerprinting done in between). From the time our dossier is sent, it could be anywhere from 9-15 months before we get a referral. So who know, in another year (maybe 1 1/2 yrs) we will have a little girl toddling around. We keep saying she has to be tough!
Please pray for our whole process, that God's hand will be upon every small inch of it. Pray for this little girl, who might already be born, to stay protected and kept sayf and to have God's arms wrapped around her. Pray for the birthmother, that she will make wise choices during her pregnancy. So many more prayers to be had. This is only the beginning!
