Tag: Adoption #4

Waiting for Edmund

On December 17, 2013

My kids really want an Edmund.

They have a Peter, a Susan, and a Lucy, but they can’t really be the Pevensie kids until they get an Edmund.

We started working on a fourth adoption almost two years ago. Lots of people are asking us, “How’s it going with your Ethiopia adoption?”

So here’s the answer to that question.

Ethiopia has majorly slowed down their adoptions, like many countries in the world. This needed to happen to some extent, because some fraud had crept into the system. There have been some nasty stories. But that doesn’t change the fact that there still are millions of children in Ethiopia who are true orphans and need families.

Our agency is currently having significant problems getting referrals in Ethiopia. I don’t believe this is for any fault of their own, but because of how African governments (or perhaps governments in general) have a tendency to operate.

That means that our Ethiopia adoption is basically at a complete standstill. We may need to consider switching over to a different African country.

However.

If you recall the story of this adoption, you may remember that we originally wanted to adopt a fourth from Tanzania. In fact, we even were thinking of a particular child. Unfortunately, we were told that Tanzanian regulations limited the number of adopted children to Three. I pushed as hard as I could; I cried in front of them, and the answer was still No.

When I was given that answer two years ago, it was based on new regulations that had yet to be actually published. Shortly before we left Tanzania in July, the regulations were published and we were able to read them ourselves.

And based on that, we believe we have a case for trying again to push for a fourth child from Tanzania. We cannot do that from the States, so we have to wait until we return.

And yes, I’m still thinking about this little guy. It’s been over two years since I met him. I gave up on the idea that he could be mine, but now there are feathers of hope. He will be four years old soon, and he still does not have a family.

I really have no idea if Tanzania will let us pursue a fourth. Will you pray with us?

We have not closed the door on Ethiopia, or another international adoption, because we just don’t know what will happen.

We really, really want an Edmund. But we don’t know what God wants, so we trust Him. He has already been so good to us.

Consider the Lilies (Part 2)

By Amy Medina

On March 14, 2013

In Other

During the summer of 2011, I was really worried.

Lily’s homecoming was taking waaaay longer than we
expected. And every day that went by, I
knew our future plans were getting screwed up.

Namely, because there are two ways for an adopted child to
get U.S. citizenship. One way is by that
child living with their new family for two years overseas. Then you just fill out a few simple forms,
and whammo, you get the citizenship. This
is how we did it for both Grace and Josiah.

Our original plan for Lily was to do the same thing. However, the longer it took to bring her
home, our chances seriously diminished to use that citizenship process. Lily ended up coming home on August 23,
2011. And we planned to go to the States
for our year-long home assignment in July 2013.
Which meant that process would not work for Lily, since we would have to
wait until August to even apply.

So in the summer of 2011, I was really worried. Being the long-range thinker that I am, I
knew that the longer we waited for Lily, the more complicated it would be to
get her citizenship in time for our home assignment.

But God showed me that summer that our theme of waiting for
Lily was from Matthew 6: “…do not worry
about your life….See how the lilies of the field grow! Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself.”

There is another way to apply for citizenship for an adopted
child. It is the fast-track way (the
I-600, similar to the I-800, for those of you who know international adoption
lingo). But the fast-track way requires
a home study by an American-licensed social worker…..which there is not an
abundance of in Tanzania, East Africa. How
on earth would we find a social worker willing to fly to Tanzania and do a home
study? How would we afford it, even if we
could find someone?

Then the amazing happened.
God brought us a social worker last year, out of the blue, who was with
an adoption agency who worked a lot with American ex-patriots. He did a home study for us. This is what allowed us to start the process
to adopt from Ethiopia.

And for no extra cost, he modified that home study so that
we could use it for Lily as well.

In January, I submitted both applications to the American
embassy: one for Lily’s citizenship, and
one that would allow us to be pre-qualified to adopt from Ethiopia.

Yesterday, I found out that both were accepted.

Why did I worry? God had
it all planned out. Now Lily will receive
her immigrant visa, and when she steps foot in the States in June, she will be
a U.S. citizen.

And soon, in very short order, our dossier will be sent to
Ethiopia, where we will begin the wait to be matched with a little Ethiopian
boy.

And God says, Easy as pie.
For heaven’s sake, stop worrying.

Cost

By Amy Medina

On July 17, 2012

In Other

I am a saver. As in, a saver of money.

And since my husband has always happily handed all financial matters in this family over to me, I am the one who has had the pleasure of moving money into our savings account every month.

In the last number of years, it has brought me great joy to see that little savings account grow. And brought me security. Boy, do I sure like security. A lot. Especially since we do not own a house or a car that is less than 12 years old or anything else that could be considered assets.

But yet, feeling secure over our savings account made me feel uneasy. Because I know (like every good Christian) that our security doesn’t come from money. But yet, does not the Bible also say that saving money is a wise thing?

I can remember discussing this with Gil a while ago. When do we know that we have saved enough and can give away the rest? How do we know when or if God wants us to give away some or all of it?

And that made me uneasy too. The giving away of, or somehow losing, all of it. Made me feel decidedly insecure.

But I planted my feet and set my resolve and told God, It’s your money. Tell us if you want us to do something with it.

And then January came, and we found out that we would not be able to adopt in Tanzania again. Yet, we knew we wanted another son. Which left us with one choice: International Adoption. And besides the fact that International Adoption requires sheaves more paperwork and documents and emails than a Tanzanian adoption, there was one other major, major difference:

The Cost.

Which, to be honest, had not really been a big factor in our other adoptions. Of course, we had paid for them in time and gasoline and tears and aching hearts and a certain degree of sanity, but relatively speaking, not a lot of money.

So we knew that by jumping into International Adoption, we would also be looking at a cost that would be about 6-8 times more than our other adoptions. If you didn’t already know, the average International Adoption costs about $30,000. Gulp.

Of course, there is no price you can put on giving a child a family. Or giving a family another child.

I don’t know yet what exactly this adoption will cost us, because we will be applying for grants and scholarships, and maybe, maybe the U.S. adoption tax credit will be renewed (which would amazingly give us and other families a whopping $12,000 to work with).

But what’s incredible to me is how easily I have begun hacking away at that savings account. I do admit that when I am making these large payments, I take one big shuddering breath before I press “Pay Now,” but it really hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be, giving away all that security.

Because when it’s worth it, it’s worth it. And when it is crystal clear that God wants you to do it, then it’s really not that hard.

In Case You Were Wondering

By Amy Medina

On July 10, 2012

In Other

Our next son will be coming from Ethiopia.

Don’t know who he is yet, or when he will be coming. But Ethiopia will be the place.

When I was in 9th grade, my family lived in Ethiopia for a year. It will be very, very fun to go back, especially for this reason.

Our home study is almost done. Onwards with the dossier!