Adoption Update…

Goodness…where do I begin??? 

First let me begin by saying that walking the journey of adoption is not for the faint of heart.  It is hard.  It is an emotional roller coaster.  It is expensive.  It is many things, but this I know…God has called us to do it, and we want to be found faithful.  We are simply walking in faith and obedience. 

I’m going to try and make a very long story short and concise.  After attending a conference for adopting moms in March and learning some things about the agency we were currently using, I began to feel leery about continuing our adoption process with that agency.  It was a hard decision to make because it resulted in the loss of money, not to mention the thought that we were “starting over” with another agency.  Needless to say, we were a bit overwhelmed, but we did pull out of that agency.  I started researching agencies, and we found one that we were comfortable continuing with but something stopped us from actually doing it.  We were just patient, and to be honest, we were a little gun shy about sending more money to another agency too quickly.

During this time I talked to my sweet friend, Lenora, who brought home her precious little boy last year from Taiwan.  The funny thing is that I actually put them in contact with the people who did adoptions from Taiwan.  It was a friend of mine from home and her husband.  At that time, we didn’t feel like we were supposed to switch countries or agencies, but we knew the opportunity was there.  Anyway, back to talking to Lenora.  While we were on the phone one day and I was telling her about what was going on, she said, “Are you sure you don’t want a baby from Taiwan?”    A range of emotions went through me because I really didn’t know what we were supposed to do, and the thought of switching from Ethiopia definitely made me a little heart sick.  BUT, Michael and I agreed to pray about it and see what happened.  It was also around this time the Ethiopia was starting to really slow down.  It just didn’t seem like referrals were being given out, and it was discouraging to think how far we were down on the waiting list and how long it might take to bring a baby home.  (Thankfully things seem to maybe be picking back up, praise the Lord, and I am continuing to pray for my friends who are still on that list, patiently waiting to get that phone call that they have a baby!)

I contacted my friend’s husband about doing an independent adoption with them, but he explained to me that the law in Taiwan was changing on June 1st that said you could no longer do independent adoptions….you must use an agency to facilitate your adoption.  He told me the chances were not very likely that we would be able to get a baby before the law changed, but we would just have to see.  The next week he called and told me that there WAS a baby available and if we wanted it, we could move forward with the process.  We were thrilled, to say the least!  But unfortunately, that referral fell through because the couple that had been given a referral before us went back on the waiting list after their referred baby’s birthmom decided to keep the baby, which in turn allowed them to get the next baby available.  Did I mention adoption can be an emotional roller coaster???  It was HARD!  Our hearts were hurting, but I think it was at that time that we decided we would pursue an adoption from Taiwan even if we weren’t able to do it independently.  Needless to say, June 1st came and went and we didn’t have a referral.

So, here is the good news.  New Beginnings, which is an adoption agency in Tupelo (and also the agency that did our homestudy) is starting a Taiwan program and my friend’s husband is the director of the program!  We are the first family on the list waiting for a referral which is really exciting!!!  Basically we are waiting for a lot of logistical kinks to be worked out because things are having to be done differently since the law change before a referral can be given out.  BUT, we are used to waiting!  HA!  And knowing that it shouldn’t take a terribly long time does help.  There is no definite time frame to know when we will bring the baby home, but we are praying that it is sooner than later!! 

So, that’s our update in a nutshell.  We are so excited, and we can’t wait to see God continue to work out every detail and provide all that we need.  He is so faithful.  I don’t doubt Him or His promises at all.  We are so grateful as a family for the opportunity to walk this road no matter how hard it is.  This is a course that I did not see our journey taking since we felt so strongly that Ethiopia is where we were supposed to be.  Looking back, we wonder if God was simply testing us to see if we would say yes to Ethiopia?   Michael and I came to the agreement that an orphan is an orphan no matter what country they are in, and we are just ready to be a forever family to a child that would otherwise not have one.  I have a VERY soft spot in my heart for Ethiopian babies though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one is in our future.  We’ll have to wait and see.  As for now, we can’t wait to have our Taiwanese babe in our arms.

“Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a far away land.”

Prov. 25:25