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.
