So, we took the plunge and are in the midst of the home study process for our adoption. We are working on the literally hundreds of pages of instructions, paperwork, background checks, and required reading and training necessary for an international adoption. It really feels almost overwhelming when we see how far we have to go. I started looking yet again at the payments required to complete this process and thought, "What have we done?" Then, I remember this is God's call for our family and feel some peace. I can't blame all, or even most, of the recent turmoil on the adoption process.
I alluded to our foster care journey in my initial post. Let me give a little more background. Brad and I are licensed foster care parents, so we had completed the State required adoption paperwork and requirements back in the fall of 2011. When we'd been licensed almost a year, I started feeling a pull towards international. Nothing was happening on the foster-adopt front. We had no real prospects or communication with the state about potential matches. I started researching international adoption and really praying about it on a family vacation to Disney World in December 2012. Brad and I spent much of our travel time on the way home discussing it. Within an hour of arriving home, we got a message from our social worker that our home study had been pulled for a potential match. I mean, we haven't heard A THING from the state all year! So long story short, it took about a month with the Christmas holidays to get all the details about the child the state was considering for us. Unfortunately that match, a teenage girl, fell through when her current foster parents decided to pursue her adoption. So by mid-January we were back to square one yet again. Even though I still believed God lead us to foster adoption first, I really questioned our purpose in taking that road since all we'd done is hit multiple dead ends through failed potential matches and children we'd inquired about online.
We talk to some couples who have done international adoption or are in the process. I contacted a couple adoption agencies and we selected Lifeline. The SAME day we faxed in our initial application and paid the $250 application fee online, we get a call from DHR. Brad followed up and the social worker wanted to know if we would take a teenage boy for one night. We decided to help out "this one last time" as we had not told DHR of our new plan yet. The boy touched our hearts and the next morning, we told the social worker he could stay longer if needed. So, that afternoon, he moved in.
We don't know where this will lead or how long he will stay at this point. This is a new road for us because our goal has always been adoption and that is not necessarily the plan for this child due to his age. He is a good kid who's had a tough life. He is slowly warming up to our family. There are virtually no significant issues with him (which is a true rarity in foster care) except the biggest one of all for us. He is not a Christian. This has been the source of my stress for almost 2 weeks now. It isn't that he hasn't been exposed to a faith at all. He is deeply embedded in another faith (or cult as some assert) which teaches that all the differences between what we believe and what he believes is of Satan. I know that only God can do the work to change his mind, but I find myself constantly evaluating if I should be doing things differently or saying more to help him realize why Jesus is the one and only Savior. This is truly a stressful situation that has challenged me in ways I was not prepared.
Our plea at this point is to pray for this child, that he will come to know the Truth. That he will see Jesus in our family and want to know more. . . John 14:6 and John 14:10
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