Adoption journey

It all began when I received Above Rubies in March, 2005. Nancy Campbell, editor of Above Rubies, had just come back from Liberia and shared with the readers about the need for forever families for the children in the orphanages there. Our youngest child, Talitha, was only a year old at that time, we thought we would have more children through my womb and so I thought, "God bless those families."

We never felt led to adoption. Just thinking we would trust God for our family size with our biological children. Well, the biological children didn't continue to come (to term at least). Talitha Hope was born March, 2003 and lo and behold we get pregnant in October, 2005! We were soooooooo excited! Then on December 23, we were wrapping last minute gifts, getting ready to shop for stocking stuff and I started spotting--this had NEVER happened with the other pregnancies. We went in for an ultrasound and our baby was dying. What a sad horrible experience. But we were so happy to get to see our little one.

We then were blessed with another pregnancy in March, 2006 and really believed all would be fine with this one--maybe even be blessed with twins. So all went well until June 17, 2006. We were returning from the west side of the state and started spotting again. Went in for an ultrasound and discovered a blighted ovum. Pregnancy but no baby to be seen.

We grieved for the loss of our babies, had great support from family and friends and moved on with life and the 8 living children I had with me.

In the winter of 2006, God started stirring my heart in regards to adoption. I mentioned it to Paul, we sat on it until February 13, 2007. We were watching the movie, "Facing the Giants", a super movie about God being God of the impossibilities. The next morning Paul woke up and said, "Start checking up on home studies." God will provide for all of our needs according to His riches in glory. We trust Him for the right children to be brought into our family, the finances to come in.

So here is a rough timeline:

February 14 The beginning of our adoption journey
February events: passport update, check out home study providers, chose Swartz Adoption Attorneys
March: physicals for all the family! Home study begins with Miss Pat, Health department immunizations for Liberia
April: completed home study, huge successful garage sale, applied for Orphan petition, got dossier together, fingerprinted
May:Premier jewelry party with all proceeds going toward adoption
June: I-600A approved, apply to Acres of Hope, sent in dossier--ALL OUR PAPERWORK DONE for now!

So that is where we are for now! We can do nothing else but pray and wait for a referral. Donna Barber is our contact at Acres of Hope, who will be contacting us when the right children become available. Please pray for her and us during this time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me ANYTHING!

After we receive the referrals, we will then wait for passports for the children, finalization of adoption in Liberia and then receive travel dates. Many people want to know when our children are coming home. Of course we don't even know who they are yet and so my quick answer is "God ONLY knows!" So true, eh? Just like trusting Him for our family size, we continue to trust Him to expand our family through our adoption.

Financial information: To adopt 2 children from Liberia, including all the paperwork, plane tickets, EVERYTHING will be ~ $30,000. We have raised over $7000 with the garage sales, jewelry party and donations from friends and family.

Denise and fam