Writing Letters Every Day

Guess what? I'm impatient. Knowing that the earliest arrival month for our girl could be August, I'm thinking that's a pretty long wait. But look how far we've come since last August, when we decided to move forward with adoption!

Is it possible that our daughter could come home to us within one year of our decision to pursue her? August seems so far away, and so close a the same time. She will be old enough to start kindergarten when she comes home! I can't wait to teach her everything a kindergartener should know.

I can't wait to tell her about Aslan. I hope she's not afraid of lions. And I really hope she's not afraid of dogs. When we meet her, I will show her videos of our dogs doing friendly doggy things, so maybe she will see that they're nice house dogs, not scary street dogs, before she even meets them. Kyle says she's probably never met a big, fluffy dog like Opus. If she's afraid of him because he's a dog, I suppose we could always tell her he's a lion or a bear. Maybe that would make her feel better?

I wonder what she's doing. I wonder what her life was like before she arrived at the orphanage. My adoption agent's theory is that our girl's biological parents found out they were pregnant with a boy baby, so they abandoned their daughter in favor of supporting a child who could fetch a higher dowry price in the future. Oh, sweet girl. What must she be feeling? I am thankful that our home study is preparing us to care for this wounded little one. God knows everything about her. God knows everything she needs.

My New Year's resolution is to write letters to our daughter every day until she comes home, so she will know that we have prayed for her and worked toward bringing her home, that we want her, that we love her, that we will not abandon her.

Please pray for her, and pray that we will get the resources and preparations we need to bring her home.

All We Want for Christmas

We have our referral! We have a photo of a specific, beautiful little four-year-old girl. Our daughter. We are thrilled. We love her. We want to bring her home. We pray that she will be home by next Christmas.
I knew that seeing her photo would make it difficult to think of anything else, but she's such a lovely thought. Please pray, please pray...

"Buying a Baby"

"Adoption sounds like buying a baby to me," said one of my students this past week.

"It does sound like that, doesn't it?," I replied.

A good conversation ensued. Yes, it does sound like we're buying a child. But consider the wordage.

Jesus "paid the price for our sins." Jesus "bought us with His blood." People can use the verb "buy" in speaking about adoption, because it's used in describing God's means of adopting His children into His family.  So yes, we're following Jesus' example, and paying the price required to bring our child out of danger, into our family, to become an heir, and to be loved unconditionally.

Of course, it is impossible to follow Christ's example without help from Him. We are NOT spiritually, emotionally or financially adept to adopt this child, but God is. God will give us everything we need to bring her home, because He is the one rescuing her, not us. He wants her in HIS family. We are only hoping to be instruments of his Grace.

On the same day, I was talking to an older lady about the adoption. She asked how much it would cost, and upon my reply, she said, "So they're selling babies."  Yep. Kind of. We have to pay people to make sure the laws are followed. We have to pay the country, and the orphanage, and the American side of things. However corrupt the cost may or may not be, there is a cost.

Then she said, "But on the flip side, someone who is willing to pay $30,000 or more to bring a child home must be very committed."  Yep, we are. That's the point.

We know the cost is outlandish.

God paid an outlandish price to bring us Home. Jesus has already paid the price for our daughter, and we're waiting to see how He will work to bring her into our family, His family, by His grace alone.

Please pray. 

"You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men."
1 Corinthians 7:23

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21

"...the Lord will take me in."

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me in."  - Psalm 27:10

Imagine a child abandoned by her parents, orphaned not because her parents died, but because they decided not to keep her, possibly because she's a girl. Imagine that she's already four years old, and she knows that her family has abandoned her by choice. What will become of her?

Abandoned daughters are very common in India. 

We've seen some photos. There are referrals. But if we choose one of those referrals, if we decide to claim one of these children as our own, we would need to make an initial payment of $7,250, immediately, and we don't have it. Please pray with us that God would provide the funds we need. We trust that God will provide, and we wait eagerly to find out how that will happen! Since our home study is not yet complete, we are not yet eligible to apply for grants, but I am working on getting the applications ready so we can apply as soon as possible.

We are making progress! Kyle got his FBI fingerprints taken, too, and we sent them to the FBI fortress in WV via certified mail early last week. Looking over some of the home study information, we realized we needed ten hours of adoption education in order to be eligible to adopt from a Hague accredited country. The cost for both of us is $195. Kyle worried that we didn't have the money for that, but I reminded him that we have enough in our special adoption donation bank account! It was such a relief to remember that we have already been so blessed with the support of God's people.

So...there is much to be done, and quickly. Please pray with us. 

Wanna Hold Your Hand

The fingerprint machine at the local sheriff's office is working again! So I went to the big, slightly-less-scary-than-a-former-Soviet government building and had my fingerprints taken today, even though the employees repeatedly rolled their eyes, glancing at the twenty minutes left for fingerprinting on the clock before they consented to take my money and literally hold my hands while the computer recorded my prints. Kyle couldn't go because he had to work late, even though his superiors said he could have the day off if I came to PT with him this morning, which I did, so that was not exactly the truth, but it's OK. A little morning exercise never hurt anyone. He can get his prints taken later.

And...when I ordered a big new shipment of these beautiful handmade-in-India cards and journals, I was just guessing about the amount that would sell. Turns out I guessed wrong. The package arrived yesterday and almost half of the inventory has already sold! Whoa! So God hasn't forgotten us!

Just when I start thinking I should push thoughts of my child-to-be into the back of my head, things start rolling again. Praise Jesus.

Mama Bear

So two weeks ago, I had the privilege of giving six vials of blood. I will gladly give my blood if it means someone will sign a paper recommending me as a mother, stating that I'm healthy enough to raise a child...but the physical examination process isn't finished yet. I still have to find some obscure office where they can officially conduct my hearing test, plus a few other things I don't really understand. I'm just glad we don't have to get our physicals conducted in the Ukraine. I've talked to parents who have adopted from that place. I've heard how that goes. No, thanks.

Kyle hasn't had a chance to have his physical done yet, and lots of our home study paperwork remains incomplete, not to mention the homework reading I haven't yet finished, though it's excellent and I'm so thankful to have it.

Oh, and then there's the ongoing matter of the broken fingerprinting machine and the lack of other options to get that part of the home study completed.

So...we've made progress, but we're still a long way off from bringing our child home, which has to be OK, because there are still no referrals available. Good thing too, cuz if I had a photo and a name of my child in India, I just might go all Mama Bear on someone and claw their eyes out. Lord, have mercy. Thank God He's got the whole world (even our unknown child) in His hands.

Please pray with us, friends!