God's Provision

This week has been a trying one. Last Saturday, Heather ended up in the emergency room with a severe infection. She followed up her ER visit with a doctor's visit and is taking several medications. On top of all that added expense, this week we sent in a $1650 check to our adoption agency. Needless to say it was with some trepidation that I mailed the check. I wanted to hang on to it for a few more days to make sure we had the money. God reassured me that He called our family to adopt and He would provide for all our needs. Today, Heather and I received just under $2000 in cash. Wow! Our God is a God who provides. I would like to thank each of you who have prayed for us as we go through the adoption process. I would also like to thank those of you who have donated. We don't even know who all of you are, but your gifts are appreciated and will be used for adopting a child. Please continue to pray for our family. We are so amazed at the goodness of our God and at the generosity of our family and friends.

Happy Birthday

Today is Tyler's first birthday. This little guy has had a rough first year, but by the grace of God he is still doing well in the orphanage, Jonah House. Even still, this day will likely be different for Tyler than for most of the children you and I know when they celebrate their first birthday. There will be no family around making a big fuss over him. There will be no chocolate cake to eat and smear all over his face and no candles to blow out. There will be few if any presents for him to attempt to open. Nobody will sing the happy birthday song. There won't be any pictures taken to remember the occasion. No, today will just come and go like the 365 days before. So the best thing I can think to do for Tyler today on his first birthday is to pray for him. Pray for his health. Pray for his caretakers. Pray that he would find a family this year. Pray for Tyler.

With a Song and Dance

It seems that everyday brings on a new story from our kids about their interviews with the social worker doing our homestudy. Last week, Kim (the LA homestudy social worker) came to our house for the second of two meetings. During her time at our house she had to interview our children. Heather and I went out to the office and left Kim inside with the kids to do their interviews. Obviously, Heather and I were very curious about what kind of questions she asked the kids and how they answered. We had no idea what they would say, especially since we had told them the night before that there were no wrong answers to her questions and they should just be honest.

After Kim left, Heather and I began asking Rachel and Micah about what they were asked and how they answered. We didn't get much at first. Both said they really couldn't remember much but that the meeting went okay. That wasn't good enough for us. We wanted details. We began to press them a little harder about remembering. Finally, the dam broke and they opened up. Once one remembered something, this would remind the other of something and they began talking fast and furious.

We still don't know a lot of what went on but one story was particularly funny to us and I though I would share it. Kim asked the kids about their feelings on adding a member of the family. She asked them how they would handle another child coming into our home. Micah immediately began telling Kim stories of how he entertains his cousins. (Rachel informed us that no matter what question they were asked Micah had a couple of stories to tell.) Rachel said that Micah told Kim he would be right back and show her how he would take care of a new brother or sister. Micah went to his room and when he came back out he had an umbrella. He then preceded to do a dance routine with the umbrella while singing, "Hello my baby, hello my darlin', hello my rag time gal..." Evidently he danced and sang for several minutes before exiting stage right while continuing his song and dance routine.

Rachel said she thought the whole episode was funny and they all laughed. Heather and I were definitely concerned with how Kim would react. Hopefully, Kim is still laughing and we get a great recommendation from her homestudy.

God Will Provide

Thursday, Heather and I met with our pediatrician in Alexandria. We took Tyler's records for Dr. Clark to look over. He confirmed the information we had already received from the doctor the agency in California recommended. Both said that Tyler's down syndrome is typical. Other medical problems are related to down syndrome and are very low risk. This was great news.

We have had two doctors review the medical records and give us their interpretation and recommendations. Not only were the reports positive, but neither doctor charged us any money for the consultation. This was shocking because the agency made it clear that doctors usually charge for this needed service. This past week we have paid about $1600 for the homestudy and are preparing to pay another $1650 for the agency fees. Paying for two doctor consults would have been added strain. But God is great. He provided for all our needs. God has provided a way for our family to afford the cost of adoption. We are confident that God will continue to provide.

Thank you for your prayers and continue to pray for our family and that God would get all the glory.

Home Study Nears Completion

Yesterday, our social worker came to visit for the second time. This completes her required visits for the homestudy. Within a couple of week she will be sending our adoption agency (Heartsent Adoptions) a preliminary copy of the homestudy to be sent to Taiwan. Once the pre-approval packet arrives in Taiwan, Cathwel (the Tiawanese adoption agency and orphanage) will begin their process of final approval. We are praying that Cathwel will make a decision on final approval quickly.

The next phase of our adoption process is what many people refer to as the paper chase. We must begin the process of looking for many certified and official copies of all sorts of documents. This will likely be the most tedious and labor intensive phase of the adoption process. Also once final approval is made in Taiwan the next payment is due.

We have several prayer requests:

Pray that the Lord will continue to provide for our needs, financial and otherwise.

Pray for the decision that Cathwel will make in the next few weeks.

Pray for Yi-Fan Chen. His first birthday is Tuesday.

Pre-approval

We got great news today. We are being pre-approved to adopt Tyler. When Jill, the adoption agency's case worker, said, "Congratulations!" the whole adoption thing became so real. We are excited and thrilled that the Lord has opened this door and is allowing us to proceed with the adoption.

Tyler was born July 27, 2009. He has been diagnosed with Down Sydrome, G6PD, hearing loss, and two heart defects. Tyler will not get the medical attention he needs until he is adopted. Please be praying for him and for his birth parents who have made the courageous decision to give their son a life with medical care he would not otherwise receive.

Pray for Heather and I as we continue the process of the home study and now with agency contracts and applications. We will be sending off another payment to the adoption agency and are thankful that the Lord continues to provide for our financial needs. We truly serve an amazing God.

Finally, I want to write a word about the pre-approval process. Heather and I are pre-approved to adopt Tyler. This means that the US adoption agency will not consider another family to adopt Tyler unless we are ruled out by the Taiwanese adoption agency and the birth parents. What this means is that at any time a Taiwanese family can step in and adopt Tyler or the birth parents and Taiwanese officials can determine that our family is not the right match for Tyler. So there are still many questions and uncertainties. Pray that the Lord would reveal His will to our family and to those making decisions about Tyler's future.

Home study

On Tuesday, July 13 we began the official process of adopting by starting our home study. For months, Heather and I have researched different agencies and thought about countries we would be open to adopting from. As we read and studied about the international adoption process, God began softening our hearts for a child with special needs. Sometime around the end of June 2010, a child named Yi-Fan Chen (Tyler in English) from Taiwan came to our attention. Heather and I began praying for him and wondering if this might be the child God would give us. Tyler's agency requested that we begin the process by completing a home study. This is the first major step in adopting.

Our social worker came to the house on the morning of July 13 and interviewed our family for several hours. God was faithful in providing the money we needed to pay completely for the home study. The social worker is scheduled to come back on July 23 to complete her second and final visit. It will then take a couple of months to finish all the paper work.

Please continue to pray for our family. We want to be obedient to the Lord as we adopt. We need the wisdom to answer so many questions. Also, pray that God would continue to bless us financially so we can afford the adoption. Pray for Tyler and his birth parents as they are involved in selecting his adoptive parents.

And it begins

Writing a blog is a weird thing for me to do. Other times in the past I have tried and failed to do a good or even decent job at keeping a blog current. It just seemed it was too much work and took too much time to sit and write. So why will this time be different? Truth is...I'm not sure it will be. The only reason I am trying a fresh start and writing now is I feel I have something to write about that honestly is more about me and my family than you, the reader. On other blogs, I was writing for you to know what I was doing or what happened in my life. This blog is going to be written for me, not for you. My family recently began the process of adopting a child. This will be a running log of what's going on as we take this journey.

HOW THIS ALL STARTED

Four or five years ago, I was watching a television show on the horrors of orphanages in China. As I watched that show, the Lord placed a burden in my heart for orphan children all over the world. I shared this burden with Heather and no one else. Several times over the next few years Heather and I discussed how we were to act or what we were going to do about the burden God had given our family. Early on, I felt led to look into adoption. Heather did not. So we prayed and did nothing. Over and over, the subject would resurface, but Heather and I could never agree on the direction God was leading. I believe now that this time of disagreement led us to pray deeper and seek harder the will of God.

A few weeks ago we were at a service for student pastors, their wives, and other youth workers and volunteers. The speaker was preaching on missions and how those who work with youth should be modeling a missional lifestyle. In the message, the Lord began speaking to me again about adoption as a lifestyle of missional and gospel living. And then...the speaker...said it. "You might not be called to go overseas and serve as a missionary, maybe God is calling you to adopt a child from one of those countries." I knew right then God wanted our family to adopt. Little did I know, God was speaking to Heather in the same way. After the service, I told Heather that I felt God was strongly leading us to consider adoption. She informed me she felt the same way and was ready to be obedient.

THE PROCESS BEGINS

The next several days were spent in prayer as Heather and I sought the Lord's confirmation of His will. We began doing research on the internet and realized that adoption is a huge need all over our world. We also realized that to adopt a child and make him/her a part of our family would be a daunting challenge. It would be one we could not do on our own, but we would have to depend totally on the Lord's provision and guidance.

As of this writing, we have researched three or four international adoption agencies. We are considering and praying about which one to use. We have decided to pursue an adoption from the Philippines. Our desire is to adopt a child (no gender preferred) under the age of four. As any new parent, we are praying our child would be healthy, but know that is in God's hands.

Since beginning this process, we have learned tons in a short time. We have grown more and more excited and are looking forward to what God has in store for us and what He will teach us over the next few months and years.

The one thing that held me back for so many years was money. International adoption is expensive and our family does not have the resources to afford adoption. Now that I am confident that God has called our family to adopt, money is not even a worry. I know that God has guided our family into this process and I know that He will provide for that need. I'm excited and anxious to see how He will come through.

Starting the Journey

Several months ago, Heather and I made the decision to adopt internationally. I began keeping a record of what was taking place in the process. I will post those on this blog and it will be a way for you to keep up with all that is going on in our adoption story.