One thing, that I think, almost everyone adopting would agree is that adoption is hard. Definitely not for the weak at heart. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not at all complaining! Rather I have such an appreciation for every family who has adopted or is in the process. Adoption is beautiful in every way!
When I look at the landscape of what it takes to adopt it is for sure an overwhelming experience. I don't think I have really talked too much about the "process" of adoption. This morning I was feeling a lot about how difficult adoption is. I thought I would share some of the details of our and share the hope I received while reading.
Why adoption?
Each families adoption story looks a little different. The desire to adopt can come from a few places. For us, it was God breathed, and rooted in our hearts. I feel like we are in a small minority of people adopting because we do not have any biological children, and we do not have fertility issues. So our pre-adoption story is simply this: we have a passion for the fatherless(and motherless) and we believe God has a baby for us. He will create our forever family and it will be remarkable. Now all that being said, I will say that we are quickly approaching the 2 year wait time mark (which we were told the process would take 2 and 1/2 years total!!!) and the passing time has made it difficult. I am going to be transparent her. . . I have had the thought, "are we doing what we are called to do...I mean if we got pregnant right now the wait time would be set in stone. . .9 months" Then I take a deep breath, close my eyes and in that moment that follows my doubt, I KNOW we are supposed to be adopting. As always, we think life is about us and if we control it then it's easy. But both of our past experiences have shown us that good (in our case wonderful amazing) things come to those who wait. So we wait!
Oh my gosh, how much does adoption cost?
One of the scariest most daunting parts of adoption is the expense. This has been such a faith builder for us! Let me just say God is sooooooooooooooo big and no matter what we think can or cannot happen God is bigger. I will do a post about resources at a later date so people can see how adoption can happen. But for this post I will say the cost of adoption is SO high. We have applied for grants ( which was another mound of paper work on top of the mounds of adoption paper work). I applied for 15 grants!!! WOWZA! Some have worked out and most didn't work out.
So my mom is an expert seamstress! She made a lot of our clothes growing up (did I mention I grew up in tiny town). When we told our families we were adopting, I knew my mom's gifts could help us raise money. I read about this idea of making bags (we call it Messengers of Love) to help raise money for the adoption. My mom has totally taken control and is making bags left and right! My sister-in-law works for a furniture company and she has donated a TON of really cool fabrics! I am going to post some pictures and if you would like to buy one you can leave a comment with your email and I will contact you:) This would mean sooo much to us. The cost is $40 and all the proceeds go towards bringing our baby home. You can check out one of our first posts if you want to read more about Messengers of Love.
Renewed Mind
I was reading( In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day) this morning and something he said lept off the page and brought me to tears. In it he said, " Reframing problems is about shifting focus (I would add shifting focus from our head to our hearts). You stop focusing on WHAT'S WRONG with your circumstances. And you start focusing on WHAT'S RIGHT WITH GOD." It seems like so easily we forget how absolutely adored we are by God. He looks down on us daily and says, this is my son, or daughter in whom I am well pleased! He fulfilled the law by sacraficing HIS Son, because He loved me and you soooo much. I want to spend my moments renewed and focused not on what's wrong with me but what's right with God!!!
