Happy first year, Gabe!

You are the greatest gift I never knew I always wanted. You've 

brought immeasurable joy to our lives. I love you.

Love, Big Mamma.

The Process.

Silas & his African friends.

We have had several people ask us about the adoption process and how it works.  First off, not all adoptions happen the same way.  They can be done in a variety of ways from private adoptions between two parties to state-sponsored adoptions through foster care or orphanages.  When you factor in international adoptions where each country has its own process and standards, it can become a bit overwhelming.  So rather than write a book on adoption (which I am far from qualified to do anyways), I thought it may be helpful to describe our journey thus far and what we expect on the horizon while adopting from DR Congo.

Our adoption process began with the same step most do; the home study.  The home study is where a social worker will evaluate your family to determine that you are fit for adoption.  It is required for all domestic and international adoptions.  It includes interviews, references, financial statements, fingerprints, background checks, home visits, education, etc.  It is a long process as there is much information to be gathered.  We worked with All Blessings International’s Springfield office for our home study.  Meryah was our social worker and she was fantastic to work with.  

While we were in the midst of the home study, we also began to interview adoption agencies to determine who we would use as our placing agency (this is the agency that will actually work with us to pair us with a child and handle the paperwork of finalizing the adoption).  We had been researching various country programs to determine what was the best fit for our family.  Once we chose the DR Congo, we tried to reach out and talk with a few different agencies with DR Congo programs.  We found that there can be quite big differences between various agencies in terms of how the adoption looks.  I would recommend talking to multiple agencies and ask plenty of questions.  Interview them as you would interview an employee.  This is someone you will be working with for potentially a long time.  We were already working with All Blessings International on our home study and decided that they were also the best fit to be our placing agency.  There were several reasons for this, but the biggest was just the sense of comfort we felt when talking with them as well as their responsiveness compared to some of the other agencies we interviewed.

Now that we had hired ABI as our placing agency, we were able to begin work on our dossier.  The dossier is the packet of information that will be submitted to the foreign country, in our case the DR Congo.  Each country will have different requirements for a dossier.  The DR Congo was relatively easy to gather the requirements as most of the information they required we already had provided for the home study.  Once our dossier information and home study were completed, both have were sent off to be translated into French, which is the national language of DR Congo.  

With our home study now complete, we were also able to submit our I600A application.  This is the form submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to begin the adoption approval process from the US Government.

This is where we stand now.  Our home study and dossier are complete.  We have applied to the US Government for preliminary approval (final approval will be after we know who the child will be) and our dossier will be translated soon and sent to the DR Congo for their approval.

We are now considered referral ready.  This means that we are waiting for our placing agency to match us with a waiting child.  It could take a few days or a few months.  In other countries, this process can last much longer.  Needless to say, we are hoping to get a referral by the time you read this!

Once we have a referral and we accept it, there will be more paperwork.  Both the US Government and the Congolese Government will then work on approving our adoption with a specific child.  There will be more background checks, especially on the child.  We will initiate the process of citizenship for the child.  Again, this part of the process can widely vary in time depending upon the country.  In the DR Congo, we are told to expect it to take 3-6 months after we accept a referral.  However, we have been told many times to expect bumps in the road as it is normal when dealing with governments.

Once everything is accepted and approved, we will then travel to DR Congo to finally meet and bring home our child.  We will have to stay anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks in DR Congo as there will still be some legal stuff to take care of while we are there.  So, depending upon how quickly we can get exit visa’s, a passport for the child, and other immigration things resolved will determine how long we stay there.

Clear as mud?  We are just learning the process as we go, so I am sure there are many things I have missed along the way.  This is a broad outline that will let you know what we have gone through and what we expect in the near future.

Giving.

We have just set up an account at AdoptTogether. They are a 501(c)3 organization that partners with adoptive families to provide a way for them to fundraise in a tax-deductible way.  This means that people can make a donation to them on our behalf and then they will use those donations to pay for expenses incurred during our adoption.  To make a tax deductible gift, you can click on the “donations” tab to the left or just follow this link: www.adopttogether.org/craft.

Please know there is absolutely no pressure to give.  We are prepared to tackle this on our own, but we are blessed to have people who have expressed a desire and willingness to partner with us financially. This site will allow you to do so in a tax beneficial way. We are grateful for and humbled by all of your prayers and support. Thank you all for your generosity!

Update!

Artwork courtesy of Isaiah.

The big news this week… Our home study was completed! Also, all of our dossier information is together and has been sent out for translation. This means that we are now referral ready. After hurrying to get through the home study process, we now find ourselves waiting for a referral. This is obviously a very anxious time for us, but we know that we will meet our child in due time.  

Please continue to pray for us, but more importantly our child... Even though we may have to wait a little longer to meet them.

7 Things to Pray for Your Children || John Piper

1. That Jesus will call them and no one will hinder them from coming.

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13–15)

2. That they will respond in faith to Jesus’s faithful, persistent call.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

3. That they will experience sanctification through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and will increasingly desire to fulfill the greatest commandments.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

4. That they will not be unequally yoked in intimate relationships, especially marriage.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

5. That their thoughts will be pure.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.(Philippians 4:8)

6. That their hearts will be stirred to give generously to the Lord’s work.

All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. (Exodus 35:29)

7. That when the time is right, they will GO!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

We can't just walk away.

Wisdom is needed in addressing the issue of human trafficking. We as Christ followers will never overcome this evil by disengaging from it. In our sanitized church culture, it is far too easy to condemn anyone we see living in a "sinful lifestyle." But millions of children around the world today are being forced into selling their bodies & then handing the money over to their pimps. These sex slaves can't just decide one day that they're "done." Their owners -- or their early death -- will decide that for them.

We dare not continue to ignore child trafficking because we feel it is too complex or too corrupt. If we truly care about orphans as Jesus does, we can't just walk away.

-Jonny Carr

Adoption: Why?

God put the idea of adoption on our hearts about five years ago. We wrestled with the idea and continued to ask the questions of why and how. After all, we are a large family by current standards, and the financial cost  of adoption was a huge hurdle that made it seem impossible even if we wanted to. A few years ago, we seriously consider adoption and even began the home study process. We quickly pushed the pause button when we became pregnant with Silas, feeling that it wasn't the right time to begin this journey. A year after Silas, Gabe decided to make his entrance into our world. And, yet again, we felt the timing wasn't just right.

While adoption did not fit in our "plans" at the time, God continued to soften our hearts. He continued to teach us that He adopted us into His family and we should do the same for those in need. Every time we came up with a reason to not adopt, we would quickly realize that the reason was selfish and not rooted in Him. 

So, why adopt now? As we've said, we have a large family. Six children makes for a full house. During the home study interview, Eli jokingly told the social worker, "Well, seven is a lot of kids!" And he's right. However, we have all sat around the dinner table and have had the feeling that a little person was missing. Not realizing at the time that the sibling we were missing wasn't simply in the other room or down the hall, but half a world away.

Last year, there were 147 million children living without parents and only an estimated 25 thousand adoptions. When compared against that backdrop, the bigger question that kept coming to our minds was, “Why not?”

This leads us to today. We still do not have answers to all of our questions, but the Lord has taught us that He will be more than sufficient and we believe God is using this process to strengthen our trust in Him. We do not expect this journey to be easy, but we know it will be worth it.