CAR

Sunday July 9, 2017.  Our little family was back at church, and for the first time in several weeks, Tim and I were both sitting in service together.  We were so happy to be there!  Between traveling and nursery duties, it had been awhile. 

Due to the memorial service for his father that weekend, Pastor Bob was not preaching this week, and had asked a man from our community, Carter Strand, to come and speak.  Carter shared this video:

Afterward Carter spoke about the orphan crisis in Central African Republic, the work of Jonathan's House for Orphans, and some ways that we could get involved if we were interested.  I felt like I was holding on for dear life during most of his talk, thinking "what is happening?!" When we got home, Tim and I sat down to lunch, looked across the table into each other's eyes, and knew/hoped we knew what the other was thinking.

We're adopting.

As surprised as we were, and as much as the timing seemed strange, we both knew without a doubt that this was what God was asking us to do.  Not "someday."  Now.

The topic of adoption has come up casually with us in the past, and we both would say "yeah, someday we'll probably adopt," but I think we assumed we would wait until we felt we were done having biological children before pursuing adoption.  Tim pointed out that we've both heard countless sermons and talks on adoption, but we've never felt so clearly and certainly that God was telling us to do it.  Now.

A couple of weeks later, we met with Carter and spoke with him.  After a few more phone calls and a lot more waiting, we got hooked up with our adoption agency and started their processes in November.  Our first home study visit was in February, and our final home study visit was on Thursday.

 Each adoption story is different and unique, and each country does things differently.  Part of our process involves a trip to the Central African Republic (CAR) to meet the children.  Instead of being matched with an orphan, families adopting from this orphanage are allowed to meet the children and identify who they would like to adopt.  No pressure!  I think it would be so much easier to be matched!

Tim and I made the trip in March.  We traveled "alone" but were assured over and over and over that the Lord went ahead of us, with us, and behind us.  As my new friend, Rachael, prayed over us  "For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." Isaiah 52:12b

The preparations for the trip were overwhelming, but we saw God work in countless ways!  We have so many people loving us, supporting us, praying for us, and cheering for us, and we felt that big time while we were there!  Here are some examples of answered prayers:

• Connections with long-time family friends from CAR that helped us get our visas on time
• Many other mom that are adopting or have adopted from JHO that reached out to me, encouraged me, helped me, and prayed for me, particularly when I would feel most like we were doing this alone or feeling anxious
• Smooth flights with no delays, and no lost luggage
• We connected with our host, Samuel, shortly after arriving at the airport
• We did not have to pay excessive taxes on all of the supplies and gifts that were sent with us to the orphange.  A HUGE answer to prayer!
• Safety!  If you check the FBI travel site, they strongly recommend NOT travelling to CAR.  At all.  The UK says not to venture outside of Bangui, the capital.  We were 3 hours north of the capital in an area that is currently stable, but due to the nature of the rebel attacks in the country, this could change at any time.  Not only did we stay safe from rebels, but also injury and illness.  Praise the Lord!
• We prayed many prayers that the Lord would guide us in our decision to adopt.  Early in our adoption journey I was reading in Isaiah, "Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'this is the way, walk in it' whenever you turn to the right or to the left." (Isaiah 30:21)  This has been our prayer!  That we would be walking with the Lord so we can hear His clear directions in our ears when it is time to go one way or the other.  Very quickly after arriving, we realized we would not be able to-- and it would not be best to-- make a decision about who to adopt while we were there.  We needed to come home and have space from that beautiful place to think about it.  While we wanted to bring all 29 children home, we felt comfortable that we did not make a decision while we were there.
• We were worried that we would be a burden to the staff and not have anything to do and be in the way while we were there.  While we probably were a burden to the staff and were in the way, we did find ways to use our gifts to help in small ways.  Tim did wiring at the clinic that is run by the orphanage so that when they receive a generator or--even better-- solar panels, they can have power.  I was able to work with the doctor, explain some of the medicine and supplies we brought, and see potential for future medical mission trips.

While our purpose in travelling was adoption, we quickly realized that adoption is only part of what God is doing in CAR and in us.  We hope to make many, many trips back to encourage the staff, teach them skills, bring supplies, help the community, and help our adopted child(ren) remain connected with their culture.  We don't know what all of this will look like, and most of it needs to wait until our adoption is finalized, but we know that God will finish the work He has started, and we are only a tiny little part of it.

So where are we right now?  As I said, our last home study visit was on Thursday.  When our home study report is finished and reviewed and approved by all required parties, we will submit our dossier.  That is actually when our adoption process starts.  At this time, in CAR, it is averaging about 1 year from when the dossier is submitted to when the child comes home, if there are no major complications (and there have been families with major complications).  When we submit our dossier and are approved by the US to adopt internationally, we can find out which of the children at the orphanage are officially adoptable, and we hope to make a decision at that time.  Until then, we prefer not to discuss "what types of kids" we are thinking about.  We will announce who we are adopting when we are allowed to.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed and supported us so far.  You have blessed us more that you will ever understand!  The Lord has made His presence known to us in the process so many times, particularly with an encouraging word from a friend-- new or old-- just when we needed it the most.

My words are inadequate to share what God is doing, but Rachael's daughter in CAR said it best...

"Only God knows the end of the story."