Orientation Phone Call

Today, we had our first phone call with Christian World Adoption. The Orientation Counselor for the Ethiopian program called to give us a general overview of the program and what we can expect. We are really impressed with CWA so far. Their motto is “We believe that God is in control of this agency AND your adoption.” Can’t say it any better than that! She gave us a clearer picture of the timeline we’re looking at and we discussed the fact that there is only one judge that oversees all potential Ethiopian adoptions. CWA was licensed in Ethiopia two years ago and, at that time, there were only 5 adoption agencies working in the country. Since that time, there are now a total of seventeen American agencies licensed to work there with a total of 50 agencies worldwide. That one judge has to oversee the paperwork for every adoption agency. Due to that fact, the court system shuts down in mid-July and the judge takes a much-needed vacation. The court system reconvenes in October. So, we have a better idea of the system that we will have to navigate.

Christian World Adoption :)

Within moments of hearing the news yesterday, Matthew was on the phone talking to different agencies licensed to adopt from Ethiopia and began asking if they had any experience representing adoptions with insulin-dependent diabetes parents. He found one, Christian World Adoption, that we were drawn to. They’ve been able to successfully place several children in families with a parent who has insulin-dependent diabetes. Also, they have the highest success rate and largest number of completed adoptions with Ethiopia that we’ve found so far with none of them being rejected due to medical reasons. So…Today, we’re back to square one… We filled out all of the paperwork and overnighted it to Christian World Adoption. Hope to hear something very soon.

A Bump In The Road...

Today was a very difficult day in our adoption process. We received word that Children’s Hope International would not represent us in our quest to adopt 2 children from Ethiopia. Due to the fact that they have only been licensed to adopt for 2 weeks, they didn’t feel like they were in a position to work around the “stated guidelines” for potential adopted parents.

While I understand that they must do what is best for their adoption agency efforts, this news devasted me for a few days. I think the hardest part was being rejected solely because I have an illness that is typically stereotyped as a life-threatening illness.

My precious husband reminded me that God created me, with my diabetes, to be exactly who He wants me to be and that this was simply a “bump in the road" that we needed to detour around.

On the Road to Adoption...

April 9, 2007

The first time that we thought about adopting a child was two years ago. At that time, God placed an eleven year old little girl on our hearts and after much prayer, we began the adoption process. That was drastically cut short when I was diagnosed with some health issues that were, potentially, life threatening. Soon after my diagnosis, God began shutting all of the doors to our adoption efforts. Truthfully, though, adoption has ALWAYS been a desire of my heart.

A couple of months ago, God really began urging me to consider adopting again, although, this time it was to be internationally. I really questioned whether or not I was seriously being asked to approach Matthew with this again. However, God wasn’t about to let this go. It just so happened that the week that adoption first entered my mind was the Sanctity of Human Life week. I always read about abortion issues in regard to this week, so I was caught off guard when everything that I heard that week dealt, instead, with adoption. Literally, every magazine, every book, even the podcasts that I downloaded to my iPod dealt with adoption.

I realized quickly that God was very serious! After much prayer, I approached Matthew with the idea and his answer was immediately; “How fast can we get this done and how many can we adopt?” and, by the way, “We should adopt from Africa”. I immediately got choked up, because I felt very strongly that we were supposed to pursue adopting orphan children from Africa. I knew that this was from God and took it as further confirmation that we’re supposed to follow through with this.

After much research, the adoption agency that we’ve decided to use is Children's Hope Adoption (http://www.childrenshopeint.org/). They are licensed to adopt children from China, Russia, Kazahkstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Guatemala and Ethiopia.

So, as of today, we are officially pursuing adopting two children (a brother and a sister) under the age of three from Ethiopia.

We are so excited to begin this journey and believe with all of our hearts that this is what God has called our family to do. That being said, we know that it can ONLY happen with His help and the help of our friends and family. We are committed to sacrificing all that we can to raise the money that we will need, which is estimated to be nearly $30,000 for two children (including travel). We are moving forward in faith that God will faithfully provide the resources that we need.

Thank you to those of you who are willing to help us make this happen. I know that the rewards will be great and I can’t wait to see the testimony that comes from this.

Heather