We would like to share with everyone where we go from here. His plane has just landed and he is in the process of making the lengthy trip back to his foster home. Most likely he will have to return to school on Tuesday. Please pray for him. Pray for an easy time adjustment. Pray for him not to be bullied. Pray for his little heart. I pray that he turns to God during this time. We know that God knew him long before we ever did. We pray that he wraps him in his arms and gives him comfort and protection. Once he gets settled we plan to call him in an attempt to continue communications with him. There are no rules in place about contact after hosting, so we will just have to see what his foster family will allow.
Yes, we are pursuing ADOPTION! We are so excited to share this news with all of you. Oh we love him so much. At week 3 of hosting, there is a question on the routine weekly reports about intentions of ADOPTION. Not all families want to adopt and not all families can adopt. Each country has rules about the age gap between the parents and the child. Some children are host only because they are to old to be adopted. Thankfully I exceeded the age gap by less than 1 year. New Horizons for Children puts together a list of the children who are being advocated for, so that other families who are looking to adopt can view a portfolio of the children and possibly speak to the host family. In most cases arrangements can be made for a potential family to meet the child while they are in the United States
When week three came for us, we were praying for God to lead us. This was HUGE for us. We went in with the mindset that we were host only. We were told that he is most likely available when we signed up to host him, but we were just going to advocate for him to find his forever family. That is one of the reasons that we decided to start this blog .
Our lives were forever changed when that little boy stepped off of the plane. It was very easy for us to say yes because we did love him and our emotions were running full speed. We wanted to make sure that this was what God was leading us to do and not our emotions. We were wanting this little boy to find his forever family. We really needed God to tell us a clear strong yes and we strongly feel that he did. This is the first baby step in this process.
Right now we are waiting for official paperwork saying that he is available to be adopted. Please pray for an answer as we have been waiting to hear back for 2 weeks now. Once we have that, we can move on to our home study. Once that is completed someone in L@tvia will ask him if he wants to be ADOPTED. Not all children say yes. This is huge for them to leave everything they know. Leave their hopes of family returning for them, friends, their language and everything. Even if he says no just to know that he was wanted will be worth every hour of paperwork, and money well spent. We love this little boy so much. I wish I could explain it better Our hearts just broke putting him on the plane. Not knowing if he was available just killed us.
Two years ago we started praying and trying to have another baby. With all of our children it has taken the use of fertility drugs. While pregnant with our third child I had to under go a surgery. After my third C-Section Ryan said we were done having children. He said he was so scared and he could not go through it again. At times I struggled with his decision but I always respected it. I knew if it was Gods plan his mind would be changed. I was shocked when Ryan said he wanted to have another child. So we started the heart wrenching process yet again. After 6 failed fertility attempts, I was devastated I could not understand what God was doing. While at a family event I was talking to an extended family member. She casually asked if we were done having kids. My answer was this " I don't know if I will ever be done. I just pray that if God wants me to be done that he takes this longing desire out of my heart." You should have seen her face LOL. I think she thought I was crazy. Months upon month of pumping my body with fake hormones had taken its toll. I told Ryan that I had to stop.
So now hopefully you can see why we were so hesitant to just jump right in. My heart was broken. The thought of adoption wasn't really on my mind when we went into hosting. We wanted to serve God by serving this little boy. I was so scared to say yes to the Adoption. Scared to death. This was putting my already broken heart out there yet again. Yes once again I admit my selfishness. I was so scared. I am so thankful for my husband and his strength to lead me.
We do not know what God has in store for us. I do know that God has given me a 4th child. I love him. I worry about him and pray for him always. I want to be his mother but most of all I want God's will to be done in his life. I take comfort that this is in God's hands. All the paper work, notarization, court dates and finances are all far to much for us to handle on our own. So while I would love to do it all by myself. I know I can't. I have completely humbled myself at my creator to carry this for me.
So here is our rough timeline:
- Get official notification that he is available
- Start and finish our home study (approx 1-3 months)
- Someone asking him if he wants to join our family FOREVER
- Scheduling of our fist travel date. We will have to make 3 trips to L@tvia. The first being 2-3 weeks hopefully with permission , we will be allowed to bring him back home with us on a special visa (commonly done)
- Possible Summer hosting for 5 weeks if our travel will be later
- Our 2nd trip for 3 days
- 3rd trip for a week.
- 4 post placement visits (after 1 month, after 3 months, after 1 year and after 2 years)
How can you help?
PRAY, PRAY, PRAY
Pray for official and accurate paperwork that he is available.
That our home study goes smoothly
For our children. So many emotions going on . There little hearts are broken.
For the funds to be available. It is roughly $30,000 $35,000 - $40,000 to adopt
We will be in great need of fundraising ideas!
I love when Linda writes the posts!!!!
ReplyDelete(You do a good job too, Ryan!)
What wonderful news! :) Hope it all goes smoothly for you!
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