Adventures with Andrew: Our Adoption Story

It’s no secret I love children.  It’s no secret I love being a mom.  Children are a blessing from God, and I am so blessed and grateful!  We are extremely excited to be adding to our family again, and eagerly look forward to the day we can bring Andrew home.  I wanted to take some time to share our adoption story.

My sweet family!

The story started about six years ago a few months after our youngest, Samuel, was born.  I felt even though our family was full and wonderful, it was still not quite complete.  So, I began to pray for “Andrew” and “Abigail” because praying for a him or a her just didn’t seem right.  Time passed, yet still in my heart I felt our family was not completed.  So, I kept praying for God to bring Andrew and Abigail home.  There were times I wondered if having more children was nothing but a pipe dream, but I continued to pray.  There were times I wondered if God’s answer was “no”, but I continued to pray.  I knew God heard my prayers.  I knew He loved me.  I knew that He knew what was best for me and our family.  I also knew God had a plan for our family.  I still felt deep in my heart there was room for more children, room for more love.  So even when it seemed God was silent and still in this area, I kept praying.





Corn on the cob was a huge hit!

During this time of prayer and waiting, we moved to Illinois where Brad began a preaching ministry.  While here we met a lot of new people, and many of them had adopted or been adopted.  It was amazing to me.  I kept praying.  One of the families we met had not only adopted a little girl from China, but Mrs. McGowan, the mom in the family, was the head of a ministry called In His Hands Orphan Outreach.  We were invited to an orphan banquet at the Crown Plaza here in town spring of 2013.  It was a wonderful night, an inspiring kind of night.  We were in a room of hundreds of people hearing updates on what In His Hands had done the year before and through their summer hosting program.  We also learned a lot about orphans and the great needs that they have all over the world.  I kept praying.  Another year went by and we were again invited to the banquet in the spring of 2014.  It was during this event that Brad leans over and says, “I think we should host an orphan this summer.”  I about fell out of my chair!  I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.  It was hard not to jump all over that and pounce on the poor unsuspecting man!  However, I kept praying.  I had to make sure this was God’s leading and His plan…not the Mary Plan because while the Mary Plan seems really awesome, I have learned God’s plan is always better!

I love this Scripture!
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When we got home that night, I quietly left the hosting papers from the banquet on the counter and waited for Brad to take the lead.  I am thankful that he did and we began a wonderful adventure.  We began the process of filling out forms and doing the necessary things to prepare for our summer house guest!  During that time we were able to have some very serious conversations about where all this was leading.  It was during this time I was able to share with Brad how I had been praying to adopt for several years.  It was during this time Brad shared that for over a year he had been praying about adopting!  I will never, ever forget that conversation.  God had been working, he had been listening, and he had prepared us both for this exact time.  I was overwhelmed by what God had been doing all those years when I thought he was silent.  It was very exciting to know we were going to add to our family.  We just weren’t sure if it was going to be one of the children from the summer program or not at that point.  So now we both were still praying, but now we were praying together! 

Adventures with Andrew continue each day.  I eagerly look forward to an update soon.
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July 4 finally came and “Colin” as he was called during the summer hosting program was finally here.  It didn’t take us long to know he was our Andrew.  While I can explain the process of conceiving a child physically, I cannot explain to you step by step the process of how Andrew was born in our hearts.  I wish I could because it is truly an incredible thing that God does.  What I can tell you is that without a doubt we knew that Andrew was our son.  The love we have for him is no different than the love we have for Neil, Maddie, Sarah, or Sam.  And so a few weeks into the hosting program, we officially began the process of adopting him.   And….we kept praying! I will let you know that putting him on that plane July 31 was perhaps one of the hardest things I have ever done.  I miss him so very much.

Going back to China day.  This was a hard day for Brad and me.  Miss our sweet boy!

I cannot even begin to tell you how my heart yearns for “Gotcha Day".  Right now it seems like it will never get here as we continue in the process of adoption, the legal process to adopt a child.  Many have asked very good questions about the process and are very surprised to learn how long it takes, but to fill out all the appropriate paperwork, have that processed, raise the funds needed, complete the parent training, required readings, etc…  it is a 9 – 12 month process from start to finish for our particular adoption.  We are hoping by early summer to bring him home.  Every adoption is different and the process varies by country and different situations.  Some friends we know who are adopting internationally have been in their process three years and hope to bring home their little boy very soon. 

 

We had filled out hosting papers, but this was the night we began filling out the adoption papers!

There is a lot of waiting in the journey of adoption.  You begin by filling out forms and gathering documents or copies of documents and mail those in to where they need to go.  Then you wait.  Then you fill out more forms and gather more documents, mail those in, and again you wait.  There is a lot of waiting.  Waiting for the papers to arrive at their destination, waiting for the proper people to review your papers, waiting for approval, and waiting to have those reports returned.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting some more.  Then there are holidays coming up where important offices are going to be closed and so we will again wait.  Just so you know…waiting is very hard and I’m not very good at it!

This is so very true! 
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We are on an incredible adventure with Andrew.  There are ups and downs and unknowns, but we are seeking to be obedient to the plan God is revealing to us for our family. The latest update is that we have mailed in our immigration papers, they were received and now we wait for our appointment for fingerprinting we assume in St. Louis.  So, we keep waiting and praying.  We pray for Andrew, his foster family, our process, and for God to provide for our needs because we trust God has a plan for our family.  I’m so excited to be on this adventure with God to bring Andrew home.   And….I keep praying!

Waiting and praying!