Adoption Alliance

Our home study was submitted to Adoption Alliance today for state approval. Hopefully it will be approved in the one to two weeks that they say is normal.

Next stop is Immigration!

State Clearances

The last of our state clearances came back today.  YEAH!!!

Now our homestudy needs to go get state certified and we can start the Immigration paperwork.
Hopefully we can have our I-800 form done and drop it off with the adoption agency when we go up there tomorrow for more parent training.

I'm so excited!!  (it could be the 4 cups of coffee).

Congressman Doug Lamborn

Last week I sent an email to congressman Doug Lamborn asking if there is anything he could do to speed up the immigartion process in regards to adoption in China.  Currently the US Consulate in China only opens appointments 3 days a week.

I was quite surprised to get home yesterday to hear a voicemail from Mr. Lamborn's offices stating that they had contacted the State Department on our behalf, but needed more information.  Violet tried to call them back, but got the voicemail box of the young lady that contacted us.  Hopefully they can work something.

Thank you Mr. Lamborn!  I'm VERY impress with your office so far.

Adoption Poem

On an early April morn'

A special gift from God was born

A grieving mother whose heart was breaking

Must leave her son for the taking

A man and wife a world away

Their lives were changed forever that day

God was whispering to their hearts

To adopt a child, it's time to start

Adoption is something we cannot do

Change our hearts. It’s up to you

A decision to adopt was reached that day

And to take this child home to stay

The process is hard and feels like forever

A love was building that cannot be severed

They love their son so far away

Just waiting for that special day

When God will bring them all together

Then take him home to love forever

 

~Wayne E. Bowers

Poem to JB

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night,
May you be safe as you wake to the morning's light.
May you feel my love from so far away,
May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.
I will pray for you my little one
Until our time of waiting is done.
I will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,
Until the child of my heart becomes the child in my arms.

                                                             ~Author Unknown

Adoption Testimony

Our adoption Testimony starts a few years back. Wayne’s sister was working as a social worker in Oregon and knew of this little blond haired, blue eyed girl who needed a permanent home. Because God had blessed us with a large home but only one biological child, we decided that we would start the foster adopt program with the hopes of giving this little girl a home. Our daughter was almost twelve years old and, although she wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, we thought it would be good for her to have a little sister.

About six months into the foster-adopt process, Violet’s fingerprints came back “unreadable.” At the same time, we found out that the little girl had been adopted by someone else. The training we were going through at the time was talking about all the problems you could encounter when adopting a child through the foster program (fetal alcohol syndrome, attachment issues, visitation requirements, etc). At that point, since the girl we originally wanted was no longer available and it would be another six months for Violet’s fingerprints to come back, we decided that we were not quite ready for foster adoption and stopped the process.

In the years that followed we tried to forget about adoption, but every time it came up we would feel a pull in that direction. We told ourselves that our daughter was already a teenager and we would be enjoying the empty nest phase soon. Why would we want to start over now?! We also knew that the foster adopt system was not a program we really wanted to deal with…our hearts were more drawn towards China and other countries. Since we had experienced some financial difficulties during that time and had incurred a lot of debt, we believed there was no way we could afford an international adoption. Plus, our attitude seemed to be lacking the heart that we believed was needed to adopt. We were “willing to do our duty” as Christians…but we were also terrified at how it would affect our family. If we were to admit the truth, we believed that adoption would be nothing more than a horrible inconvenience for our family. All of those things seemed to add up and settle it in our minds that, even though we felt it was somehow our duty to help out, there was no way we could ever adopt.

But then…God is amazing and way bigger than our fears or doubts! In August of this year, Woodmen Valley Chapel started a three week sermon series called “Awaken” that focused on the plight of the orphan. The series started with Tom Davis (president of Children's Hope Chest) speaking on child trafficking. He spoke about the countless graves of unnamed children in Russia who had been forced into child trafficking after being dismissed from their orphanages with nowhere to go. He showed us a pair of tiny shoes that were worn by a child in India that had been rescued from child trafficking. That service re-ignited the adoption spark that we once had.

Once again, the issue of orphans and adoption had been brought to our hearts, and this time we decided to make a final decision about it. We both agreed that if this is something that God wants us to pursue, then He was going to have to change our hearts. We did not want to go into any adoption with the attitude of “we’ll just do our duty.” We would only consider it if both of us had a mutual, heartfelt desire to adopt. That desire was almost instantaneous for both of us the moment we agreed to pray about it! It was like God was saying “What took you so long to ask?!” We didn’t admit it to each other at first for fear that it was all just in our heads. But when the series continued a week later, it was clear to both of us that God had answered. Our hearts were changed and we were going to adopt! We didn’t know how it was going to happen, or where we were going to adopt from, but we could no longer say “No.”

Jimmy Dodd from Pastor Serve out of Kansas City was the guest speaker that week. He has adopted from China and is getting ready to adopt from Haiti. He bragged about the fact that he wouldn’t be an “empty nester” until he was in his eighties. He gushed about his Chinese daughters and longed for the child he would soon have from Haiti. He encouraged people not to let money be an issue since there are many who generously give of their finances to help people through the adoption process. By the time service was over, any excuse we had for not adopting had been thrown out the window.

One of the things Jimmy Dodd said that will forever stay with us was that most Chinese children that are not adopted by the time they are sixteen will end up in either prostitution or jail. Up until that day, even though God had changed our hearts, we didn’t know what direction to take. We didn’t believe we could afford to adopt from China and thought perhaps we should turn back to the foster adopt program. God used Jimmy Dodd to change all of that for us and set us on the path He had been pointing us to all along. We would adopt from China and trust Him to provide the finances! 

The third week we had Wes Stafford, president of Compassion International at our church to speak, but to be honest, we can’t remember what he had to say because our minds were flooded with thoughts of adopting a child from China. Jeff Moore was also there as a guest worship leader and gave his testimony about adopting three girls from China. We were overwhelmed with the desire God had placed in our hearts and every new story we heard made our desire stronger.

Wayne went to a men’s breakfast and Rich Griffith (our men’s pastor) was showing pictures of the little girl he had just adopted from China. Violet hiked to the top of Pike’s Peak with a friend who had adopted a girl from China and was in the process of adopting another…this time a little boy through the Waiting Child program. Our daughter, now fourteen, was ecstatic and announced that she wanted to have a “rainbow family,” one child from every country possible. Each new day brought bigger and bolder ideas…maybe we wouldn’t just adopt one…maybe we would adopt many! God’s ways are definitely higher and more amazing than anything we could ever imagine!

By now we had begun to research adoption agencies and China adoption in general. We were extremely disappointed to find out that it is now taking almost five years to adopt a healthy girl from China. At that rate our daughter would be in college by the time we brought a girl home from China. We started looking into CCAI’s Waiting Child program and immediately fell in love with a little boy on the website. We asked for him specifically when we turned in our adoption application and were shocked when they said he was ours! We have been working feverishly ever since to get the paperwork done and are hoping to have him in our arms within the next six months.

In addition to this sweet little boy that we have named Joshua, we have also felt led to apply for a second child through the new Special Focus program that China is offering. We believe that if God wants us to have two, He will provide another through this program. If not, we are equally thrilled with bringing little Joshua home and then moving on to adopt through the Haiti program.

So far God has provided abundantly for our financial needs, further confirmation to us that we are on the path He has chosen for us. We refinanced our home and received enough to cover our first fees to the adoption agency. We finished our 2009 taxes and have set aside our refund for upcoming expenses. Our 2010 tax refund will also be set aside for the adoption. We are in the process of reducing our bills in any way we can while still trying to pay down our credit cards. God has already been so amazing through this whole process that we trust He will provide what we need and we are grateful for any help we can get. It’s all His money anyway, right? In the meantime, we can’t wait for the day when we will be united with our sweet boy and we are thrilled at the possibility of returning from China with two children!