Adoption Journey-2

Searching for adoption agencies can be very overwhelming. It's hard to know who to trust. I got some great advice from friends that are in the process and friends who have already been through it. But what is even harder than picking an agency, is picking a country! We had no idea where to begin. I was instantly drawn to China. For some reason, when I think of adoption, I think of China. I know--weird. But after doing some research, we found out that if you want to adopt a healthy child from China, you will be waiting at least 5 years. That was out. I'm not raising babies in my 50's. So, now where? I really had no preference and neither did J. One day, I wrote down all the countries that we could adopt from--surprisingly there aren't that many--put them in a hat and told London we were going to play a game. I shuffled them around and told her to pick a country. She excitedly put her little hand in the hat and pulled out a piece of paper. She pulled out Honduras. Okay, I thought, that sounds good. Let's go with it. We began to research Honduras and their policies. At first, all I read was that your family had to live there for 6 months to adopt. But I looked a little further and found an agency that did not require that. It's a Christian agency and is based in Tulsa but has a branch here in TX! Perfect!

Just days after we decided on Honduras, we were in our Sunday School class discussing service projects. Our class leaders informed us that they were feeling led to go on a mission trip. They felt that God wanted us to go to....you are never going to believe...Honduras! And you would never guess what we were going to be doing there...BUILDING AN ORPHANAGE! The good Lord knows exactly what He is doing. How crazy is that? Now, J and I felt very confident in our decision with Honduras.

Our class did end up going to Honduras in November. J went and I'm so glad he did. It changed him. He had been on board with the whole adoption idea but him going down there and seeing first hand the many abandoned children--well, let's just say he may be more excited about this than me! When our class went, it ended up being only the guys. They started the building process, worked hard, helped out, met many people, and got to visit several orphanages. J sent me lots of pics and I cried every time I got one. The conditions they saw were devastating. At one orphanage, the babies are allowed only one diaper change a day. Can you even imagine? Only one diaper. A day. Just one. They have minimal food, and several babies to a crib were just a few things he saw. These children are in desperate need for love and affection. J said the children would cling onto the guys. They desperately wanted to be held, to be touched. Their innocent faces still haunt me. When J came back, he was different. He has a heart for these kids, and I love it. It makes our adoption journey so much easier when I see that he wants it just as badly as I do. We are ready for this! Let's do it!

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7