What if . . . we adopted a child? Really? Seems a but crazy at this stage in our lives I know. After all we have 5 children who are finally to a semi-independent stage (and by that I mean they can mostly dress themselves, use the bathroom (no diapers!!!) and get their own lunch!), we're in our mid-40's, we certainly don't have the funds needed to adopt, and life seems pretty stable right now.
This has been our thought process for over a year now as we consider this strange feeling (calling?) God seems to have placed on our hearts. It's something we have talked about on and off over the years of our marriage but after attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert 2 summers ago the feeling has been stronger. During the concert they show a film about the Chapman's Show Hope organization. They speak a lot about adoption and all the thousands of children that need forever homes. It's heart wrenching! I was ready to get on a plane! Instead we've spent this time talking, reading various things about adoption, praying, and waiting . . . for what? I guess for clear sign? for it to be the perfect time? for the money to magically appear even though we've never even told people we were considering adoption? Ha!
It seems that everywhere I look these days I hear of someone adopting or see adopted children - it's everywhere! And God continues to fill my heart with a desire to do something! Finally, we took a first step. Shouldn't we at least talk to someone and see if it was even possible for us to adopt, I mean would we even qualify?? That would be a good place to start.
I started by searching online for different foreign adoption agencies. There are so many!! How do you pick? I started clicking on sites, seeing all the "waiting children", those ones with special needs - the most important need being a family to love and care for them forever!
A few days later I spoke with a woman from an international adoption agency. She was so nice and explained a lot about the process and adoption in general, but as we continued to talk she determined that we would not be able to enter their China program as we had certain obstacles to China's requirements. Really? How sad that was to hear! She started talking about Bulgaria and the needs there. I felt like that was something to consider but our hopes for a sweet little girl from China seemed dashed.
Fast forward several days, I was still searching the internet, looking for other options, other countries, trying to find more information but I didn't find much that looked promising. I began looking into Hong Kong as an option?. I did another internet search for agencies who worked with Hong Kong and came across LifeLine Children's Services. They had a Hong Kong program and it appeared that we may qualify so I contacted the agency with the question - does HK have the same restrictions as China?
After a day or so, I was contacted by a wonderful woman from LifeLine who began to discuss the HK program with me. We talked about requirements, restrictions, the health of the children available, etc. As we talked further I asked her about the China restrictions, was there any way we might qualitfy? Much to my surprise she said that they do sometimes obtain waivers for families that otherwise meet the requirements. What joy - what hope! I began to think about the possibility again. We would need to submit our application to them, along with the $250 application fee and wait to see if we would be accepted - that would be our first step, that would give us an indication of God's path for us.
I excitedly told my family and we began to pray and hope again. So it looks like we'll be submitting an application soon. For now, praying, trying not to get hopes too high, waiting . . .
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