I talked to Carol Mardock today about finishing up the adoption application. I shared with her that we planned to list Bulgaria as our first choice and Moldova as our second. If Moldova opens in the near future, we would want to switch programs. She informed me that if we knew we wanted Moldova, we should list it as first since it had officially OPENED! I began to cry as I explained that George had told me that God would open Moldova for us. "You of little faith," he would say as I tried to convince him that Bulgaria was a better choice. It, in fact, was actually open to adoption. Now here I was facing the beauty of God's majesty as Moldova doors opened the adoption gates. The children would be eligible for adoption at 24 months, and no one is in the line up yet.
I also shared with Carol that George and I planned to gain qualification for up to three siblings. She laughed as she told us there may be twins waiting for us. After all, George and I had just known that we were supposed to have had twins...maybe it is through adoption not birth that we are supposed to have them!
Have to get to work on the home study!
"For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
Psalm 108:4
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The $58 Launch
Certified marriage certificate $8
Certified birth certificate for George $24
Certified birth certificate for Danielle $26
Total of items ordered to launch adoption process on Monday $58
Total of unexpected letter from the Treasury of TN for a refund due from Cincinnati Bell from our time as residents there in 2006 (received on Saturday) $58.40
Coincidence? I think not! Praise God for having His hand in all the small details of life!
"My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19
Certified birth certificate for George $24
Certified birth certificate for Danielle $26
Total of items ordered to launch adoption process on Monday $58
Total of unexpected letter from the Treasury of TN for a refund due from Cincinnati Bell from our time as residents there in 2006 (received on Saturday) $58.40
Coincidence? I think not! Praise God for having His hand in all the small details of life!
"My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Full Steam Ahead...Slowly
We are moving forward! We set up an appointment with Catholic Charities to discuss the home study process. I ordered a certified marriage certificate from one state, a certified birth certificate for myself from another state, and a certified birth certificate for George from yet another state (very easily I may add...which was kind of disturbing...didn't even have to give a copy of my ID. If I was willing to fill out a form and pay, they were willing to give me the birth certificate for another person!) We are bracing for the longest pregnancy ever. We may have two years (or more) ahead of us before we are squeezing a new little dude. Elliot and Gavin have already agreed to share their toys, but Gavin said he can't share his food. We are working on him...
The Signs
While other friends prayed along with me that our hearts would be open to whatever God's will was for us, God was at work in ways both that were obvious and not so obvious to me. I was in Nashville feeling as though God was shouting about adoption to me. I would take the kids to gymnastics, and I would see a banner for "Show Hope," the foundation started by the Chapman family to help orphans and aid in adoption expenses. I would turn on the radio and hear an advertisement for Compassion International. I would have a conversation, and it would always seem to turn to the topic of adoption. I would walk past the front desk at the YMCA, and an ad for "Both Hands," a group that helps widows and orphans, would pop up.
Meanwhile, George was sitting at a bar in California sharing a beer with our friend Jake. Jake and George had become friends through church, where Jake was a pastor. I had gotten to know his wife Joan through our Moms' group. Jake shared with George that they were waiting on a match for a domestic adoption that would come any day. George was feeling the tug himself.
When he came home to Nashville, we committed to being prayerful and exploring the idea of adoption for our own family. Every night after putting Elliot and Gavin to bed, we found ourselves reading everything we could on the internet, requesting information from various agencies, looking at pictures and video of orphanages, and envisioning aloud how a new little person would become part of our fun, crazy family.
We began to ask others to pray for us, no longer feeling as though we needed to be completely quiet about the heavy burden on our hearts.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
Meanwhile, George was sitting at a bar in California sharing a beer with our friend Jake. Jake and George had become friends through church, where Jake was a pastor. I had gotten to know his wife Joan through our Moms' group. Jake shared with George that they were waiting on a match for a domestic adoption that would come any day. George was feeling the tug himself.
When he came home to Nashville, we committed to being prayerful and exploring the idea of adoption for our own family. Every night after putting Elliot and Gavin to bed, we found ourselves reading everything we could on the internet, requesting information from various agencies, looking at pictures and video of orphanages, and envisioning aloud how a new little person would become part of our fun, crazy family.
We began to ask others to pray for us, no longer feeling as though we needed to be completely quiet about the heavy burden on our hearts.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
Seeds to Grow
When I was about ten, my Aunt Jean and Uncle Gene welcomed a new daughter into their family, my cousin Jenny. My cousins Scot, Kim and Chip all became part of my family through domestic adoption. Weeks prior to my wedding, my cousin Theresa and her family made a journey to China to pick up the daughter born to be a La Du, my cousin Tori. A few years later, Theresa's sister Susan and her family traveled to Guatemala before the country was closed to adoption and met Micah, the boy born to be their son. None of these necessarily made me think about adoption for my own family, but all three made adoption a natural part of my extended family. I often joked that I would love to one day have the family God designed as depicted in the song, "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."
Then came Emily. I was leading Bible study for women with "Babes-in-Arms" when Emily was introduced with her infant son. I was thinking she looked way too good to have just had a baby when she shared that her son was adopted. Because breast cancer years ago had forced her to have chemo, she was unable to carry her own child. God knew all along that her son, whose middle name was "Matthew" meaning "Gift from God," would be delivered to sweet Emily and her hubby through another young woman's womb. He was born to be their son.
I learned from my friend Mary that all three of her wonderful grown children had been adopted. She shared a specific story about her son's birth mother coming to visit and the sense that God's hand was in it all. Another friend, Joan, from my Mom's group at church shared with me that they were in the process of domestic adoption. As I pondered the idea of adoption aloud, I was encouraged by my friend Aimie to read Forever Lily, a story in which a woman traveled to China as an observer of the adoption process only to become an adoptive parent herself...twice.
Still, I simply remained intrigued by the beauty of adoption. George and I were blessed to have been given two beautiful, rambunctious sons. Perhaps we would have more. Perhaps not. Why would adoption be a consideration for a family like ours? Pregnancy, after all, had been fun for me. I love how strangers give you that big smile when they determine your big belly is actually a tiny human growing on the inside.
Fast forward to my quaint neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the first neighbors to greet me was Becky, who was hosting a garage sale to raise money, so she and her husband could adopt a little cutie from China within the next year. Like my cousin Theresa had years before, Becky spoke of her "pull" toward China to pick up the baby girl waiting for her. I quickly became friends with Kristen at the neighborhood pool, who had adopted a beautiful little baby girl within the past couple years. Watching the family interact, I just couldn't imagine their baby Grace not being part of it. I met Jake, a cheerful, athletic young man across the street, whose dad Kyle shared the story of Jake's adoption experience. Then there was Virginia, whose family had welcomed a precious little dude from Russia recently. When August rolled around, I was assigned to be in Tracy's group at Bible study. Tracy and her husband had adopted five children from Ethiopia. After fielding a lot of my questions, she shared the book Adopted for Life with me. I couldn't help but fly through it. Russell Moore (fellow Mississippian, I might add) painted an amazing picture of adoption as he discussed our adoption into the family of Jesus Christ. He and his wife had adopted two little guys from Russia as well as having three biological sons. Although now may not be the right time for us, I asked Tracy to pray about our openness to adoption, whether it be domestic or international.
When September threw us into soccer season, we were reunited with our old friends Brad and Penny on the sidelines. Penny shared that they had completed the process to become foster parents. I was again reminded that there are little people out there who were longing for family to love on them. Then I started to notice the ache in my own heart more intensely for the little person who was made to be part of our own family.
Then there was Sue Talia, the woman who sat next to me on an airplane and shared her family's story of being a foster family. She spoke of the joy and the torment, but I knew that God had placed her there to continue to grow the whisper I was hearing about what He was calling our family to do.
I was still driving others crazy talking about Adopted for Life when another friend, Belle, shared not only that she and her family were in the process of adopting from Uganda but that I had to read Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis, a girl from Nashville who had moved to Uganda to care for orphans. I was humbled by her willingness to submit to such a level of servanthood because of the call of Christ. She was called, and she said, "Here I am, Lord." Reading her book gave me a new perspective on my ability to give more of myself. Was I holding back simply because of my fear of not being able to juggle it all in the perfect manner I preferred to do it? It wasn't about "saving a child," but rather about answering God's call to simply go pick up the little one He knew from the beginning of time was supposed to be part of and help to shape the Hampton family from here forward.
Then while passing the "Orphans and Widows" table at Covenant Presbyterian Church, I decided to check out The Strength of Mercy by Jan Beazley. The book continued the tug on my heart to seek out an opportunity to love on another little person who may otherwise grow up in an orphanage, never having known the love of a family, the hugs of a mom and dad and two big brothers. I also grabbed a three-page summary of adoption agencies and their contact information...and I prayed for God's discernment...
"Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5
Then came Emily. I was leading Bible study for women with "Babes-in-Arms" when Emily was introduced with her infant son. I was thinking she looked way too good to have just had a baby when she shared that her son was adopted. Because breast cancer years ago had forced her to have chemo, she was unable to carry her own child. God knew all along that her son, whose middle name was "Matthew" meaning "Gift from God," would be delivered to sweet Emily and her hubby through another young woman's womb. He was born to be their son.
I learned from my friend Mary that all three of her wonderful grown children had been adopted. She shared a specific story about her son's birth mother coming to visit and the sense that God's hand was in it all. Another friend, Joan, from my Mom's group at church shared with me that they were in the process of domestic adoption. As I pondered the idea of adoption aloud, I was encouraged by my friend Aimie to read Forever Lily, a story in which a woman traveled to China as an observer of the adoption process only to become an adoptive parent herself...twice.
Still, I simply remained intrigued by the beauty of adoption. George and I were blessed to have been given two beautiful, rambunctious sons. Perhaps we would have more. Perhaps not. Why would adoption be a consideration for a family like ours? Pregnancy, after all, had been fun for me. I love how strangers give you that big smile when they determine your big belly is actually a tiny human growing on the inside.
Fast forward to my quaint neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the first neighbors to greet me was Becky, who was hosting a garage sale to raise money, so she and her husband could adopt a little cutie from China within the next year. Like my cousin Theresa had years before, Becky spoke of her "pull" toward China to pick up the baby girl waiting for her. I quickly became friends with Kristen at the neighborhood pool, who had adopted a beautiful little baby girl within the past couple years. Watching the family interact, I just couldn't imagine their baby Grace not being part of it. I met Jake, a cheerful, athletic young man across the street, whose dad Kyle shared the story of Jake's adoption experience. Then there was Virginia, whose family had welcomed a precious little dude from Russia recently. When August rolled around, I was assigned to be in Tracy's group at Bible study. Tracy and her husband had adopted five children from Ethiopia. After fielding a lot of my questions, she shared the book Adopted for Life with me. I couldn't help but fly through it. Russell Moore (fellow Mississippian, I might add) painted an amazing picture of adoption as he discussed our adoption into the family of Jesus Christ. He and his wife had adopted two little guys from Russia as well as having three biological sons. Although now may not be the right time for us, I asked Tracy to pray about our openness to adoption, whether it be domestic or international.
When September threw us into soccer season, we were reunited with our old friends Brad and Penny on the sidelines. Penny shared that they had completed the process to become foster parents. I was again reminded that there are little people out there who were longing for family to love on them. Then I started to notice the ache in my own heart more intensely for the little person who was made to be part of our own family.
Then there was Sue Talia, the woman who sat next to me on an airplane and shared her family's story of being a foster family. She spoke of the joy and the torment, but I knew that God had placed her there to continue to grow the whisper I was hearing about what He was calling our family to do.
I was still driving others crazy talking about Adopted for Life when another friend, Belle, shared not only that she and her family were in the process of adopting from Uganda but that I had to read Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis, a girl from Nashville who had moved to Uganda to care for orphans. I was humbled by her willingness to submit to such a level of servanthood because of the call of Christ. She was called, and she said, "Here I am, Lord." Reading her book gave me a new perspective on my ability to give more of myself. Was I holding back simply because of my fear of not being able to juggle it all in the perfect manner I preferred to do it? It wasn't about "saving a child," but rather about answering God's call to simply go pick up the little one He knew from the beginning of time was supposed to be part of and help to shape the Hampton family from here forward.
Then while passing the "Orphans and Widows" table at Covenant Presbyterian Church, I decided to check out The Strength of Mercy by Jan Beazley. The book continued the tug on my heart to seek out an opportunity to love on another little person who may otherwise grow up in an orphanage, never having known the love of a family, the hugs of a mom and dad and two big brothers. I also grabbed a three-page summary of adoption agencies and their contact information...and I prayed for God's discernment...
"Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5
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