Since the main reasons for this blog are to keep you guys up to date on our adoption and to have something for our little guy to read when he gets older about how he joined our family, here's some background....
Matt grew up in a big family and I grew up as an only child. Once when I was a teen, my dad mentioned in passing that he wished he and my mom had adopted a sister for me from China. This idea really kind of settled in my heart, because I really would have liked a sister. Before we got married Matt and I discussed adoption and having children. I started bargaining at 6 kids, and I was pretty sure that since my spine is very curved, giving birth 6 times might not work out for me. Matt, being from a large family, started lower, but I have since helped him see that, while 6 is a bit big, 4 is a good size family (He wrote that! I'm still aiming for 6). Matt still has a friend from his younger days who is from Taiwan, and he and his family helped Matt learn about and love Asian cultures.
In the almost 14 years that we've been married, God has changed us both so much. There is nothing like the love of a parent for a child. I could not understand fully what God did for me when he sent Jesus to the cross to pay for my sins until I became a parent and felt the love of a parent for a child. When I see poverty and injustice causing there to be 143 million orphans in the world, my heart breaks. I know that it doesn't even approach the brokenness of God's heart because of this sin. I thank God for organizations like Compassion International, the Watoto Children's Choir and many others for stepping out in faith to bring about change. Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone is affected by adoption.
So, now we have three kids and Matt is off of active duty with the Navy (still finishing with the Navy Reserves), and our days of moving around seem to be over. As soon as Matt's civilian job situation settled, we eagerly started the adoption process. Several friends and acquaintances used America World Adoption Agency for their adoptions and, as they are located near enough to us that we can drive to their office, we also chose to work with them. We chose China's special needs program. Immediately, we had some minor issue that required a pre-approval from China. A month after the very first bit of paperwork was filed, we got a call with a referral. Apparently, part of the pre-approval that we needed required us to be pre-approved with a specific child. Shock. Joy!!! Most families finish three rounds of paperwork over about a year before they get any type of referral. More on this will come after we are approved for the adoption. From that point, we BEGAN the home study and dossier paperwork and have just recently finished both. Now comes the wait for the paperwork translations and CCAA review and approval.
Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Matt grew up in a big family and I grew up as an only child. Once when I was a teen, my dad mentioned in passing that he wished he and my mom had adopted a sister for me from China. This idea really kind of settled in my heart, because I really would have liked a sister. Before we got married Matt and I discussed adoption and having children. I started bargaining at 6 kids, and I was pretty sure that since my spine is very curved, giving birth 6 times might not work out for me. Matt, being from a large family, started lower, but I have since helped him see that, while 6 is a bit big, 4 is a good size family (He wrote that! I'm still aiming for 6). Matt still has a friend from his younger days who is from Taiwan, and he and his family helped Matt learn about and love Asian cultures.
In the almost 14 years that we've been married, God has changed us both so much. There is nothing like the love of a parent for a child. I could not understand fully what God did for me when he sent Jesus to the cross to pay for my sins until I became a parent and felt the love of a parent for a child. When I see poverty and injustice causing there to be 143 million orphans in the world, my heart breaks. I know that it doesn't even approach the brokenness of God's heart because of this sin. I thank God for organizations like Compassion International, the Watoto Children's Choir and many others for stepping out in faith to bring about change. Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone is affected by adoption.
So, now we have three kids and Matt is off of active duty with the Navy (still finishing with the Navy Reserves), and our days of moving around seem to be over. As soon as Matt's civilian job situation settled, we eagerly started the adoption process. Several friends and acquaintances used America World Adoption Agency for their adoptions and, as they are located near enough to us that we can drive to their office, we also chose to work with them. We chose China's special needs program. Immediately, we had some minor issue that required a pre-approval from China. A month after the very first bit of paperwork was filed, we got a call with a referral. Apparently, part of the pre-approval that we needed required us to be pre-approved with a specific child. Shock. Joy!!! Most families finish three rounds of paperwork over about a year before they get any type of referral. More on this will come after we are approved for the adoption. From that point, we BEGAN the home study and dossier paperwork and have just recently finished both. Now comes the wait for the paperwork translations and CCAA review and approval.
Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Maria,
ReplyDeleteHi- you just posted on my blog "our call to adopt"- I read your post and had to say- we have a lot in common. My dh is active duty guard and I was also an only child and my dh from a family of 6. God really changed our hearts and we ended up with 7 bio kids and this is our first, but hopefully not last adoption.
Blessings
April