We have had them home for a year!! It's so hard to believe! Thinking back about the "waiting", it's hard to even remember. It was SO hard when we just waited and waited for 3 years, but now life is just normal. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy, as any of you with kids know. But we have fallen into a new normal. It's hard to remember what life was like without our girls.
In the last year, I (Kathy) have been homeschooling the girls. They have finished 1st grade and half of 2nd grade. They tested in the 80% in math and English, amazing!! We are working on getting caught up with other kids their age. We are working through the summer to get them into 4th grade by next school year. We are not pushing them though, they are very smart and they like to learn.
They have completely lost their native language, Bulgarian. It's hard to believe that you could speak a language for 7 years, and then completely forget it in just one year! They are mostly fluent in English, with a few mistakes here and there. They don't even understand when I speak the little Bulgarian that I know. Evalina still has a slight accent, but Availya sounds like a good, ol' American country girl!
They have started piano lessons, and playing basketball. They are just starting to learn, but they are doing well and enjoying it.
They are attaching well. There are still times that we wonder how attached they really are, but our bond is getting stronger everyday!
A little before Thanksgiving, Justin told me that he was feeling like we should adopt again, not knowing that I had been having the same feelings. So we started talking and praying about it. A few days later, as we met with our adoption counselor about the girls, he mentioned out of the blue that we should consider adopting again. We felt that we were being nudged, so we started to look into it more. I was thinking that we should adopt domestically. I wasn't comfortable with adopting an infant, but I wanted to go with a younger child this time. Justin was thinking more about international, and he wanted an older sibling group again. The only thing we agreed on is that we both wanted boys this time. We were on totally different pages, so we just continued to talk and pray about it. In the end, we both wanted to just be as open as possible and let God lead us. We started to look through waiting children profiles, this includes kids from all over the world, including the United States. There were several kids that we thought were cute or sweet, but none that we felt nudged towards. Slowly, I had moved from wanting 1 child to being open to 2 children. But I wouldn't even consider 3 kids, or kids over 5 years old. Of course, this was all because of what I wanted, not what God wanted. Then I began to warm to the idea of older sibling groups. Not everyone can or wants to adopt older children, especially when they come with siblings, which is completely understandable. However, these kids need a home too. For some reason, (definitely not because of our abilities) God has given both of us a heart for older children. As much as I would love to have all of my children from birth, I feel like God is calling us to do it differently.
We came across a sibling group of 3 brothers one day. They were really cute. But 3 kids?! We already have 2, so that would make 5!!! That's crazy! I saved their profile and showed it to Justin, but I really didn't think it would go anywhere. Justin felt like he should call and inquire about them, just to see. Surprisingly, they were very helpful and thought that it would be completely possible to start now and still be able to bring them home in just 8-12 months. (This is super speed in the adoption world!) Sure, maybe it could be done, but there is no way that God is asking us to do this. It's just too crazy! We wanted to do our due diligence and pray about it anyway. Instead of feeling a leading away from these boys, we actually both felt lead to them. We kept inquiring about them and praying for God to close a door, but it never happened. The door kept standing wide open and wouldn't close no matter how much we prayed that it would. We dragged our feet for a while, and then realized that the only thing left to do was walk through that open door. This was going to take so much faith though.
So here we are inching our way through the door. We don't know exactly what is going to happen, but we are faithfully following the path that God has set before us. We are trying to keep our trust in Him, and it is very difficult! We have started doing the paperwork, and have even set up an appointment to get our home study updated. The only thing that is holding us back is the funding. We just don't have it!
Throughout our first adoption, God provided the fees every time they were due. Of course, He always waited until the last minute (I think to test our faith!). I know that God is faithful, and if this is what He wants us to do, then He will provide!! Please pray for all of us as we go through this process again! If God is calling you to give financially, please give. It is so humbling to ask for money, but this money is not for us. This money is going to give a home to 3 orphans. It's going to put these boys into a family that will love them and teach them about their Savior, Jesus Christ! Ultimately, this money will go towards the command in James 1:27, to look after orphans in their distress!
Thank you so much for supporting us! Words of encouragement mean so much to us!
We have set up a donation site with YouCaring. You can visit here: https://www.youcaring.com/justin-kathy-hansen-492181 There is more information and updates there. There is a Donate button on the right that will also take you straight to the site to help with adoption costs.
Thanks again!
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