GUYS.
It has been nearly a year since I gave a true update on our adoption. If you have been following along since our announcement in 2016 then you know we started our adoption with an international adoption with Nicaragua. We heard all the reasons to not do it, that the country was unstable, that most agencies wouldn’t work with them because they did not have certain laws in place, but we chose to move forward anyway because if we didn’t then who would? Our family not only lived in Nicaragua but our hearts were there too. So we moved forward, God provided things SO quickly and used His people across this country to show us that He will provide beyond anything we could imagine. Then we made some drastic life changes at the end of 2016 that included Reed quitting his job, moving in with some friends, and moving to a new city with no house. It was pretty crazy and to be honest REALLY hard. But because we had seen God provide so dramatically with our adoption we knew we were going in the right direction.
So obviously things paused with our adoption as we moved and updated paperwork for our new life, we purchased a home that felt so perfect for a family, we both had jobs that supported us, it was all coming together! We finished our Homestudy and had our dossier ready to send to Nicaragua it was an exciting time for sure! Nicaragua was slowing adoptions with international people but still accepting applicants with a connection to the country, which thankfully we had, but the process was still paused on Nicaragua’s end.
In October of 2017, we announced that we were pregnant with Lanie Jo! This was literally a dream, not because we struggled with infertility but because we hoped our kids would be super close in age and this just seemed to be setting that up perfectly. Fast forward to April of 2018, LJ was born and that same week Nicaragua had unbelievable political unrest erupt across the country. It was terrifying and so sad to see our second home hurting and to be praying for the safety of the families and children in that country. As you can imagine when there is political unrest, adoption becomes almost nonexistent. In fact, the building that housed the adoption program for Nicaragua was burned in some of the riots. It really was devastating on so many levels. Nicaragua is still experiencing a lot of this unrest. Really nothing has been fixed in a year and a half but the violence has subsided some and because of this, all international adoption has been stopped. There is no way for Reed and I to move forward with adoption through Nicaragua.
So in February of 2019, we decided to reevaluate what we were going to do about adoption. We quickly reflected back on a question we were asked at the beginning of all of this in 2016 “are you called to Nicaragua or to adoption?”. We always felt it was both, but then we realized that our goal was to follow the command to love and care for widows and orphans, to act out the gospel and share it with anyone however we could. This question was asked by a dear friend who also works for Bethany Christian Services, once we had our answer we called her and set up a meeting to discuss what domestic adoption looked like with Bethany. In May we had our official informational meeting, had all of our paperwork done by July and are now waiting on our Homestudy to be written! This means soon we will be an official waiting family with Bethany Christian Services.
So, why the shift from international to domestic adoption? Because there are women and children that need help here. These babies may not be orphans and these women may not be widows, but they need a community to come alongside them, to love them and care for them. That is what Reed and I believe we were called to do. To be that option for a child to have a loving family that works hard to provide them with their daily needs and introduce them to a God who will always protect them. We felt like Bethany had the same mission and so we are partnering with them in adoption to care for mothers and children right here in our state!
Yep, writing all that out it looks like a major roller coaster. And living it out felt like one too. But right now we are confident in that roller coaster that brought us here. We have seen God provide on so many levels and we can’t wait to move forward as a waiting family, to partner with a birth mom in providing for a child and be the family that introduces them to a God who has adopted us all into His perfect family! We will be doing a few updates here on the blog, and also using the Coming Home Collection in my shop to raise funds to complete this adoption. I hope you come alongside us to support and encourage us, we know we can’t do this on our own and that we need friends and family to be right by our side with each next step!