History of our Adoption

My friend Kelly at Kelly's Korner is having a blog link up on adoptions. I figured I'd be in trouble if I didn't link up, so I'm going to try to condense our adoption story into just a few paragraphs. That is going to be EXTREMELY hard to do! :)

We are in the process of adopting a little boy in Haiti. Why Haiti? Read about how we fell in love with the country of Haiti here. Haiti went from being a place of that we were vaguely aware of to a people and country that stole part of our hearts.

Lance and I talked about adoption before we ever got married. The benefit of dating for 3 years is getting to talk through all aspects of your life together. We truly had the expectation of God adding another child to whatever biological children He was going to give us in a situation resembling the movie "The Blind Side." We had a vision of our kids having a friend when they were teens that didn't have a family and needed one. You would think after following the Lord for 32 years, I would have learned not to ever think you know how God is going to work in your life!

So fast forward 8 years and 4 kids later, our thoughts of adoption got pushed to the backburner. And if I'm going to be completely honest, Lance didn't think it was going to happen at all. Our conversation after finding out I was pregnant with number 4 went something like this...Me: So what does this mean for us adopting? Lance: Um, that's not going to happen. Me: But Lance, you're calling can't change. Lance: Oh yes it can! (Hahaha! He was only half serious.)

But on that first trip Lance took to Haiti, things changed for us. On one of the days leading up to his departure, we were talking in the kitchen while he was organizing supplies. I looked at him and said, "What if our child is in Haiti?" He looked me in the eyes and answered, "I've already thought that." Now if that isn't God at work, I don't know what is. 

We both knew then, that were were going to have 5 children. And that number 5 was in Haiti. It has been such and emotional roller coaster since then, and God has taught me so much about trusting in His timing and His calling. At the time that we felt Him calling us to adopt from Haiti, we weren't even eligible to adopt from that country because we had too many biological children. It was almost 2 years before laws were changed allowing us to pursue adoption in Haiti. And it's been over a year since we started the process of compiling our dossier. Our dossier arrived in Haiti October 30, 2012 and we are now waiting for our referral. 

There have been so many times throughout this journey that God has confirmed His calling and our response. He has revealed Himself in supernatural ways, and given us such a peace that we are following His will. Our kids tell everyone that they have a brother in Haiti. (It is a boy and he is between the ages of 4 and 7.) And that's another way that God has revealed Himself to us and our family. Our kids are so excited about the adoption and there has never been anything negative said by any of them about growing our family with another child. There will definitely be an adjustment period, but there always is when you add another member to a family. Whether that be by birth or adoption.  

The waiting is hard. I'm not going to lie. I look everyday for that email saying we have a referral. It gets really hard to hear the questions week after week from friends and family asking how things are with the adoption. There's just not a lot to report. We have had some forward movement and are cautiously expecting our referral in the next few weeks. But we rest totally in the fact that God is in control. He determined our children before the foundation of the earth. And our son will come home in HIS timing. You can read about where we are in the adoption here.

In the meantime, he is in an AMAZING place. An orphanage in Haiti called God's Littlest Angels. He is being taken care of, provided for and most importantly, LOVED on!