Why are we adopting internationally (when there are children right in our back yard who need homes)?

First of all… THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I have never been more nervous to hit “publish” on anything I’ve ever posted to our blog – and your encouragement and kind words mean so much!

 

Onto this post: When we told our family we were hoping to adopt from Uganda, we got several questions… I thought I’d share some of those here, in case any of you were wondering also. (If it is news to you that we are pursuing adoption, you missed this post…)

Why International?  The first question we’ve been asked is why we chose to adopt internationally rather than locally. The easiest answer to that question is that I have friends who have researched adoption in the states, and they’ve either had multiple experiences getting their hopes up, only to have things fall through (either at the front or back end), or been told that as a family with 2 or more children, they would be an unlikely choice for birth mothers choosing a family for their baby. After some research and seeing others’ experiences, we decided the foster system is not a good fit for our family at this time, either. I believe adoption/fostering to adopt in the states is a wonderful opportunity and very necessary thing (and I am soooo thankful to have friends who have adopted and are currently adopting in the states.) However, in the states in most cases we would be waiting for a child. I have a hard time committing to that wait, knowing there are WAITING CHILDREN all over the world.

I could also give you statistics as a reason we’re pursuing international rather than local adoption. Some statistics that have been compelling to us are: (from Steven & Mary Beth Chapman’s Shaohannah’s Hope website):

* Over 130 million children (worldwide) have lost one or both parents.¹
* Every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan, without a mother or father.²

Where are they?

* 43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, 87.6 million orphans live in Asia, and 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.⁶
* In some countries, children are abandoned at alarming rates, due to poverty, restrictive population control policies, disabilities or perceived disabilities, and cultural traditions that value boys more than girls.⁹

What happens to the children?

* Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade.¹⁵
* Unaccompanied boys are at high risk of forced or 'voluntary' participation in violence and armed conflict.¹⁶
* Orphanages, children's villages, or other group residential facilities generally fail to meet young people's emotional and psychological needs.¹⁷

All of the above are very compelling reasons. But they’re not the main ones. The main reason we’re pursuing international adoption rather than local is my heart.

I’ve wanted to be involved in what Jesus is doing among the peoples of the world for almost as long as I’ve known Jesus. For many years when I was still single I was able to be more actively involved in seeing the good news about Jesus taken around the world, and I was always praying and planning to be overseas someday. If you’d told me at 29 that I’d be living in NEBRASKA at 39, I would have been mad. I wanted to be in CHINA, not Nebraska (truthfully, I’d probably never had 2 thoughts in a row about Nebraska until I met Matt.) But I gave my heart to Jesus, not to missions or any “call”, and I believe I followed Him to Nebraska. But the desire to be involved in bringing Him glory outside of America (preferably the third world, the “least of these”) has never left me. It seems to me that the greatest needs in the worldwide orphan crisis are in Africa. And while I can’t go to Africa and help the people there directly, I can take one child and bring him/her into a loving family. And I firmly believe the Bible prophesy that in the end of time, there will be people from every tribe and tongue and nation bowing down and worshipping the Lord Jesus (Revelation 5:8-10, 7:9). I love the idea of having the “tribes and tongues and nations” represented right in our family. And I think the Lord is using this as a way I can fulfill my heart’s desire to live internationally, right here in Lincoln, NE. Praise Him for His sweetness to me!

And praise Him for YOU. You really are His kindness to me, I have the sweetest friends and family a girl could ask for!

Big news for the Meyer Fam…

So, when I wrote this post about waiting, I really had no idea that I’d be waiting soooo long to tell you what we were waiting for.

The last paragraph of that post said,

We are in the process of making some decisions about our family in light of all these things. We’d love your prayers for our family and especially decisions we’re in the process of making right now. I’m very thankful for each of you. And thankful that no matter what we decide, our God is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, Who sets the lonely in families (from Psalm 68.)

It seems that immediately after posting that, our decision making came to a grinding halt (another reminder that God is in charge of our TIMES.) But now we’re ready to prayerfully move forward… and tell you what we’ve decided.
We’re going to pursue ADOPTION. I’m very excited (and scared to death, but that’s another post.) I’ve been interested in international adoption as long as I can remember. And I’ve been suspicious through our time of waiting that God was saying no to another pregnancy so He could say yes to my lifelong dream.
Our plan right now is to adopt from Uganda, from the Sanyu Babies Home. Our church is hoping to establish a long-term relationship with Sanyu, with the desire to provide the opportunity for families to safely pursue independent (cheaper, maybe even significantly cheaper) adoption from Sanyu. One family has already brought their precious daughter home (the little cutie we babysit several days a week.)
I’ll explain at another time why we chose to adopt internationally (although if you’ve known me for long, it probably won’t be surprising to you), how we decided on Uganda, why I prepped to tell you this news in August, but am just now spilling the beans, and tell you how the boys are responding (short version: they’re excited).
For now, I’d love your prayers. We’ve contacted a local agency to begin our home study, and we are excited to get started. However the biggest barrier that has kept us from committing to this road is still before us: Adoption is expensive, and we can’t afford it.
We’ve been saving money already, and we TRUST God to provide for what He calls us to. We also have some ideas for how to raise the money we’ll need: We’ve considered sending support letters, designing and selling t-shirts, and I’ve thought about selling crafts/sewing projects to raise extra money (opening an etsy.com shop.)
We’re just not sure how it all should work, since we’re pursuing an independent adoption (we have an agency doing our homestudy, an attorney who will finalize everything for us on this end, and attorneys in Uganda whom we’ll be paying directly.) It feels a little fishy to say, “Hey if you want to participate in our adoption, make a check out to us & we promise we’ll spend it wisely!” Eek.
So thank you for praying 1) For God’s leadership & provision (and hearing hearts for us!) 2) WISDOM (He promises to give us wisdom when we ask – and we are ASKING!) and 3) Grace over this whole process: Grace to wait, grace to grow and protect a child so far away from us, grace over our family as we head into what is likely to be a huge time of transition.

Big news for the Meyer Fam…

So, when I wrote this post about waiting, I really had no idea that I’d be waiting soooo long to tell you what we were waiting for.

The last paragraph of that post said,

We are in the process of making some decisions about our family in light of all these things. We’d love your prayers for our family and especially decisions we’re in the process of making right now. I’m very thankful for each of you. And thankful that no matter what we decide, our God is a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, Who sets the lonely in families (from Psalm 68.)

It seems that immediately after posting that, our decision making came to a grinding halt (another reminder that God is in charge of our TIMES.) But now we’re ready to prayerfully move forward… and tell you what we’ve decided.
We’re going to pursue ADOPTION. I’m very excited (and scared to death, but that’s another post.) I’ve been interested in international adoption as long as I can remember. And I’ve been suspicious through our time of waiting that God was saying no to another pregnancy so He could say yes to my lifelong dream.
Our plan right now is to adopt from Ug*nda. Our church is hoping to establish a long-term relationship with a babies' home there, with the desire to provide the opportunity for families to safely pursue independent (cheaper, maybe even significantly cheaper) adoption. One family has already brought their precious daughter home (the little cutie we babysit several days a week.)

I’ll explain at another time why we chose to adopt internationally (although if you’ve known me for long, it probably won’t be surprising to you), how we decided on Ug*nda, why I prepped to tell you this news in August, but am just now spilling the beans, and tell you how the boys are responding (short version: they’re excited).

For now, I’d love your prayers. We’ve contacted a local agency to begin our home study, and we are excited to get started. However the biggest barrier that has kept us from committing to this road is still before us: Adoption is expensive, and we can’t afford it.

We’ve been saving money already, and we TRUST God to provide for what He calls us to. We also have some ideas for how to raise the money we’ll need: We’ve considered sending support letters, designing and selling t-shirts, and I’ve thought about selling crafts/sewing projects to raise extra money (opening an etsy.com shop.)

We’re just not sure how it all should work, since we’re pursuing an independent adoption (we have an agency doing our homestudy, an attorney who will finalize everything for us on this end, and attorneys in Ug*nda whom we’ll be paying directly.) It feels a little fishy to say, “Hey if you want to participate in our adoption, make a check out to us & we promise we’ll spend it wisely!” Eek.

So thank you for praying 1) For God’s leadership & provision (and hearing hearts for us!) 2) WISDOM (He promises to give us wisdom when we ask – and we are ASKING!) and 3) Grace over this whole process: Grace to wait, grace to grow and protect a child so far away from us, grace over our family as we head into what is likely to be a huge time of transition.

SNOW DAYS!

Much to my boys’ DELIGHT we finally got a big snow this week.  Big enough that LPS called snow days Monday and Tuesday. We were thrilled, and the boys spent almost all afternoon Monday outside. (In case you’re wondering…I was just outside long enough to take pictures. And then I came back inside and drank a hot drink.)

We’re hoping for some sledding this weekend, but for the moment the boys have had to make do with sledding down our front yard. Good times.
 
Dudley enjoyed it too!

Luke got $10 for scooping the driveway!
And Tobin made snow angels for free :).

Luke finished off the day building snow forts on either side of the driveway with our neighbor and friend, Zack. Then they got out their nerf guns and went to town…

Tuesday was crazy cold. Luke & Zack braved it out, but Tobin and Sarah only lasted about 5 minutes. 30 minutes to get them bundled up, 5 minutes of playing. :)

Stay warm & drink hot cocoa! :)

Christmas Joys :)