Many of you know that we've been in the process of adopting two children from Ghana, West Africa, since late 2012, but very few know that in 2014 we started yet another adoption as well from India.
Let me give you the "short" back story...We started our adoption from Ghana in late 2012, and shortly thereafter, Ghana started slowing down adoptions. We had not been matched with a referral yet but we continued to wait and see if the country would continue processing adoptions. In early September 13' we saw a sibling set (a brother and sister) on a waiting child listing and a fewdays hours later, decided to pursue adopting them.
In November of 2013, our family (Jonathan and I and our 3 year old daughter Masha) flew to Ghana to meet our children and stay with them for a week. It was quite the emotional roller coaster. Our poor children couldn't speak any english, and we couldn't speak any of their native language either, so our communication was very small. They were cautious with us, and we struggled to show love and comfort to two children who clearly had never been hugged (and they were alarmed by this weird gesture!) or shown affection in that way before. We left Ghana with the hopes that we would be going to court within a month and then filing for US immigration within a few weeks. We thought we would have them home within probably 6 months.
Lets fast forward to April 2014. Two failed court dates and no progress on their paperwork left us feeling rather defeated. We received very little (or none) updates on how the children were doing and we were growing weary of the waiting and missing our kids. We started entertaining the idea of starting another adoption, but not pulling out of our Ghana adoption. This decision was made with much prayer, but we didn't quite know where or how to begin another process. To be honest, we felt that the door to our adoption from Ghana would close and we started to mourn the loss of our children in Ghana while processing the idea of adopting another child. One Saturday morning we received information on a little girl in India with special needs, who needed a family ASAP. It didn't take long before Jonathan and I were on board, so we started the process of adopting her immediately. However, with India, you have to first complete a home study before you can be matched with a child. So, a few weeks later, we submitted our paper work, and only to find out that the little girl we had been pursuing had been matched with another family. We knew this could happen so we didn't let our emotions get the best of us. Within a couple weeks, we were sent a file of another little girl with SN who also needed a family. We had a few doctors look over her medical file, and we wrestled with taking on a child with her specific special need, knowing that there was a small possibility that we could be adopting our children in Ghana as well. However, our love for her, and our faith that God had brought us to this place, helped us to make the decision to indeed proceed with adopting her.
In Summer 2014, our adoption from India was in full swing, we are in paperwork mode and getting excited to be in an adoption that is a part of the Hague convention, and that actually has some semblance of a time line. During this time we also got some news related to our Ghana adoption that forced us to make a difficult decision to move either full steam ahead to bring our children home (but would require added expenses and difficult decisions) or allow our adoption to remain in limbo indefinitely. For two weeks, we really struggled to make a decision. Not just financially (though I would say that was probably the most stressful of the decisions), but to decide if we could take on all three of these children within a few shorts months. This was a turning point for us, but we went ahead and decided that we had committed to all three of these children and we loved them all. Financially, most would say this was the worst decision of our lives-I would probably have given myself the advice not to proceed, but we knew in our hearts that we couldn't say no to these kids based on money. We had made promises to all three of them and feel that they are truly our children.
In late August, we finally passed court with our two children in Ghana. We are currently waiting to file for US immigration and that can take several months for them to approve. Once the US has approved the children for immigration, we will fly to Ghana for a visa appointment/interview. The Ghanaian government can either choose to grant our kids their visas that week, or they can choose to investigate even further into our adoption case. This would mean that we would have to fly home and then return to bring them home once their visas are granted. Currently we are financially supporting our children to be in a wonderful orphanage where they are well taken care of and loved. I have already seen pictures of our oldest little girl (7) willingly hugging on others and it reminds me of how frightened and confused she was by our affection. She looks like a natural now!! It's a beautiful sight to see our kids smiling faces and so many volunteers reading to them, loving on them, and truly preparing their hearts for a family of their own.
In regards to our little girl in India, we are waiting on the first of two approvals from the Indian government, and then we will go to court. It's very possible she can and will be home by January/February 2015. We have already received immigration approval from the US side, praise God. Our trip to India will be one trip, 7-10 days and we will return home with our little girl.
We've met with Shriners hospital in our city, and they are amazing and willing to help us every step of the way with our little girl. She will need many procedures and ongoing medical care, but we are so thankful that we have such a wonderful place right in our city!
Please pray with us as we pursue bringing home all three of these children.
Let me give you the "short" back story...We started our adoption from Ghana in late 2012, and shortly thereafter, Ghana started slowing down adoptions. We had not been matched with a referral yet but we continued to wait and see if the country would continue processing adoptions. In early September 13' we saw a sibling set (a brother and sister) on a waiting child listing and a few
In November of 2013, our family (Jonathan and I and our 3 year old daughter Masha) flew to Ghana to meet our children and stay with them for a week. It was quite the emotional roller coaster. Our poor children couldn't speak any english, and we couldn't speak any of their native language either, so our communication was very small. They were cautious with us, and we struggled to show love and comfort to two children who clearly had never been hugged (and they were alarmed by this weird gesture!) or shown affection in that way before. We left Ghana with the hopes that we would be going to court within a month and then filing for US immigration within a few weeks. We thought we would have them home within probably 6 months.
Lets fast forward to April 2014. Two failed court dates and no progress on their paperwork left us feeling rather defeated. We received very little (or none) updates on how the children were doing and we were growing weary of the waiting and missing our kids. We started entertaining the idea of starting another adoption, but not pulling out of our Ghana adoption. This decision was made with much prayer, but we didn't quite know where or how to begin another process. To be honest, we felt that the door to our adoption from Ghana would close and we started to mourn the loss of our children in Ghana while processing the idea of adopting another child. One Saturday morning we received information on a little girl in India with special needs, who needed a family ASAP. It didn't take long before Jonathan and I were on board, so we started the process of adopting her immediately. However, with India, you have to first complete a home study before you can be matched with a child. So, a few weeks later, we submitted our paper work, and only to find out that the little girl we had been pursuing had been matched with another family. We knew this could happen so we didn't let our emotions get the best of us. Within a couple weeks, we were sent a file of another little girl with SN who also needed a family. We had a few doctors look over her medical file, and we wrestled with taking on a child with her specific special need, knowing that there was a small possibility that we could be adopting our children in Ghana as well. However, our love for her, and our faith that God had brought us to this place, helped us to make the decision to indeed proceed with adopting her.
In Summer 2014, our adoption from India was in full swing, we are in paperwork mode and getting excited to be in an adoption that is a part of the Hague convention, and that actually has some semblance of a time line. During this time we also got some news related to our Ghana adoption that forced us to make a difficult decision to move either full steam ahead to bring our children home (but would require added expenses and difficult decisions) or allow our adoption to remain in limbo indefinitely. For two weeks, we really struggled to make a decision. Not just financially (though I would say that was probably the most stressful of the decisions), but to decide if we could take on all three of these children within a few shorts months. This was a turning point for us, but we went ahead and decided that we had committed to all three of these children and we loved them all. Financially, most would say this was the worst decision of our lives-I would probably have given myself the advice not to proceed, but we knew in our hearts that we couldn't say no to these kids based on money. We had made promises to all three of them and feel that they are truly our children.
In late August, we finally passed court with our two children in Ghana. We are currently waiting to file for US immigration and that can take several months for them to approve. Once the US has approved the children for immigration, we will fly to Ghana for a visa appointment/interview. The Ghanaian government can either choose to grant our kids their visas that week, or they can choose to investigate even further into our adoption case. This would mean that we would have to fly home and then return to bring them home once their visas are granted. Currently we are financially supporting our children to be in a wonderful orphanage where they are well taken care of and loved. I have already seen pictures of our oldest little girl (7) willingly hugging on others and it reminds me of how frightened and confused she was by our affection. She looks like a natural now!! It's a beautiful sight to see our kids smiling faces and so many volunteers reading to them, loving on them, and truly preparing their hearts for a family of their own.
In regards to our little girl in India, we are waiting on the first of two approvals from the Indian government, and then we will go to court. It's very possible she can and will be home by January/February 2015. We have already received immigration approval from the US side, praise God. Our trip to India will be one trip, 7-10 days and we will return home with our little girl.
We've met with Shriners hospital in our city, and they are amazing and willing to help us every step of the way with our little girl. She will need many procedures and ongoing medical care, but we are so thankful that we have such a wonderful place right in our city!
Please pray with us as we pursue bringing home all three of these children.
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