So this is the follow up to my last post. Sorry it took a few weeks to get it out here. Life gets crazy when school let's out, you know?
So after we contacted our social worker and told her we could not move forward with the sweet boy we loved so much, we were confused. We started asking ourselves if Colombia was still the best country for us to adopt through. What were our other options within our adoption agency? They work in a total of 14 (I think) other countries, as well as a private, domestic program. If we were to ever make a change into where we adopt from, we will not lose any money we have already invested by staying with Lifeline. It would just be a matter of updating some paperwork and transferring some information over (I make it sound easy, it's probably not).
So we began our "country" research over from square one - looking at each program and crossing them off of our list one by one. This research had two purposes: one was to (hopefully) assure us that Colombia is where we needed to say and the other purpose was to create a "backup plan" of sorts if we ever do have to leave the Colombia program.
We were actually able to mark all but 2 programs off of the list of countries Lifeline works with: one international country and their domestic program. At one point over the last 2 months, we have seriously considered both. But we really don't feel led, at this point, to change countries. We were told, however, by our in-country representative that we needed to be prepared for a 1 to 2 year wait before receiving a referral. Okay - we can do that....maybe not with great enthusiasm, but we can do it. He also told us we should be seeing some major improvements and upswing in referrals over the next few months, so we are praying HARD that these things will happen.
So we are back to waiting and praying. This week, we are praying specifically that we would receive a grant from the JSC Foundation. They are a wonderful ministry that awards generous grants to adoptive families. Would you please, please, PLEASE join us in prayer that we would be a recipient of one of their grants? It would be a huge help.
We've recently decided to travel to Colombia as a family (can't remember if I told you that). This is adding about $7,000 to our travel costs because of plane tickets for each kiddo, extra food, and having to rent an apartment while we are there instead of staying in a hotel. This wasn't an easy decision, but having our family split for 6 - 8 weeks on two separate continents really didn't seem like a fun thing to do. Our original plan had been for Jacob and I both to travel for the first 2 weeks, then I would return home and Jacob would stay in Colombia with our new son. But I know my kids and I know how much they would miss their daddy....and I don't know how I could leave the son I'd been longing for and praying hard for after just a few days.
I'm planning on doing a post soon about the many grants that are available to adoptive families. There are so many ministries out there who want to partner with these families - in the same way that so many of you have partnered with us through our fundraisers and donations. It truly is incredible to see so many people come together for one family, one child. Whenever this adoption journey gets to heavy for me to bear, I remember that we are not doing this alone. I look back at my list of people who have offered us encouragement and prayer, donations, participated in fundraisers....and i think, "Wow...they are with us." It is an incredible encouragement.
It makes that possible 2 year wait a little easier knowing that each of you are waiting with us.
So,, immediate prayer needs:
1) That we would see the improvements and upswing in referrals from Colombia soon
2) That we would receive this much-needed grant
3) That God would continue to direct our path on this treacherous journey
Thank you, friends, for hanging in there with us...