It has been quite a while since I have updated the blog. There are a couple of reasons for that: I don't know what to write and nothing has been happening. We started this process back in August of 2011, for those who are trying to figure it out, it has been 2 and a half years, and we are still childless! Needless to say, this has been an extremely LONG and DAUNTING process!!! Within the last several months, I have gotten very discouraged. We started this process with so much excitement about becoming parents, giving hope to orphans and following God's leading in our lives. That excitement dwindled down little by little until it resembled hopelessness. This past Sunday, at church, we read the verse Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time..." I may look at the last 2 and a half years as a lifetime, but to God, it's like a day. He never said that if we follow His leading that it will be quick and easy! In fact, I think it is usually the opposite. If being in God's Will were the easy thing to do, then wouldn't everyone be doing it without question? It takes faith and trust to follow God, and that is where the rewards come from. I have grown more in my personal walk with God, in my trust and faith in God, and in my marriage since we started this process. Whether we bring home kids or not, that growth is priceless to me. That being said, I still want to bring home some kids!! : )
A few weeks ago, we got an unofficial referral... this is the same situation that we were in a few months ago with the little boy that I wrote about. This referral was sent to another couple who were not able to accept them. So our agency asked us to look at it and see if we were interested. Now, when we first started the adoption process, we wanted to be open to whatever God has for us. So we didn't say "no" to very much. We originally thought that we would like 2 children. In Bulgaria, they don't split siblings, so if they don't all get adopted together, then they don't get adopted at all. We were blessed with a beautiful home with 3 empty bedrooms, we don't have any children right now, so we felt God leading us to bring in more than 1 child. Not everyone is able to adopt more than 1 at a time. So our agency put us down to accept between 1 and 3 children, between the ages of 18 mos and 6 years old, but preferring 2 children. Since it has taken so long, our preferences have changed, God has opened our hearts to ANYTHING that He chooses to bless us with.
So this unofficial referral is for 3 siblings, ages 4, 5 and 7. They are beautiful children!!! I wish I could post pictures, so you could see their adorable faces, but I can't! Getting 3 children at one time is extremely scary, specially since they don't know any English. This is a huge decision! It took us less than a day to decide that we wanted these children as our own! How exciting, right? There are a few hitches though. We said "yes" to these children, but Bulgaria still has to say "yes" to us. Since this wasn't our referral in the first place, they still have to look at our information and decide if they think we are a good match for these children. Since our paperwork says that we are approved to adopted children up to age 6, we have to change that. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it's not! We have to get an addendum to our home study to change that one little number from a "6" to an "8". That's one whole week and $100. Then we have to send that to our government for them to approve the change. That's another 4-6 weeks, and $360. Then we have to notarize all of this paperwork and have it authenticated, which is possibly another week and several more dollars. Then it all goes to our agency, then over to Bulgaria after being translated. Once Bulgaria gets all of this, then they will review it, and we will have an answer from them in about 3-4 weeks. All of this just to change one little number, and then they could still say no!!
At this point, we are in the 4-6 week stage of waiting for our government's approval. And we are looking at about 2 more months before we get an official answer regarding these children. So imagine this, after 2 and a half years, we finally have pictures and information on children that could be ours. We have said yes, and for the next 2 months, we have to be patient and try not to think of these kids as ours yet, because it's possible that Bulgaria could say no to us. This is agonizing!!! Now, like I said before, not many families are able to take in 3 children at one time. In fact, we are the only family in our program who is able to do so. (We have been called "one in a million") We are praying that this works in our favor, and compels the Bulgarian government to say yes to us.
Please pray for us during this time. We REALLY want to bring these children home, we are falling in love with them! Pray that the paperwork process moves quickly, that we have patience in the mean time, and that God works in the hearts of the decision makers in Bulgaria to allow us to give these children a home.
On another note, since we are looking at 3 children, the fees have gone up. We are going to need, at the least, an additional $15,000. Please be in prayer that we can raise/save this money as well. We already have some grant applications filled out and ready to be mailed if we get a yes as well.
Thanks for all of your prayer and support so far!
Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or ideas. And we love getting words of encouragement and wisdom!!! : )
