April Update

A little bit of peace in the process of adoption.

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted something on this blog!  There has been so much going on that I don't even know where to start!

A couple weeks ago we had our interviews for the homestudy, and I must say that I talk a lot less than my wife! :)  The social worker came and asked a lot of questions of everyone in the family, to include our youngest (3 years old).  She has to ask all these questions so that when she writes the homestudy she can capture who our family is in just a short document.  That is a hard task and she has a ton of pressure because this is what the government gets to determine whether or not we can adopt.

When we were done with the interviews we had to hand over all the papers that we had been gathering (like a squirrel gathers nuts for winter), which was bittersweet.  This package was what we were holding on to with this adoption.  It allowed us to see and measure our progress, and now it is gone.  Now we only measure our progress by the amount of time we are waiting at each of the next steps.  The long part begins.

Funny story about one of the papers we were waiting on - the guardianship form.  This one document is the form that we have to give to the adoption agency that indicates who we want to take care of our kids (all of them) in the case that we should pass away.  Our will indicates some of our best friends in the world to take care of our children, but that was written when we only had three kids.  Now we are talking about 7, and things are not quite the same.  It is not an easy thing to say: 'Yes, I can take care of all 7 of your kids until they are all grown adults!"  Needless to say, our friends needed some time to pray about it and they decided that they could do it.

Our family 3 years ago on Easter Sunday.
We're praying that next year's family photo
will have 7 kids in it!

Now that all that is done we begin to reflect on this Easter and what it means to us and our family.  We have redemption in Christ because of His substitutional sacrifice on the cross.  We were bought with a price and then given the free gift of His grace.  Our lives are radically changed because of this (if you have known me for more than 10 years, you know that this it completely true!).  With this radical change in mind I cannot help but think about our kids that are not home yet.

We have been redeemed in Christ, but what is it going to look like when they come home and are redeemed from their current situation?  I have peace that they are being taken care of and provided for right now, but how radically different is their life going to be?  I know that these radical difference are going to lead to things that are hard to deal with, since we are ripping them from their culture and the life that they have known.  That is not going to be an easy thing to process, but man, the beauty that is eventually going to come from this.  Redemption is a messy thing, but it is so worth it!

Our family has been so incredibly blessed through this entire process.  People from all over the world have been sending us encouragement and helping us raise the funds for this process.  One of our teens actually started making hair bows and selling them (in complete secrecy) and raised a substantial amount of money that she gave us yesterday.  I was so overwhelmed at the gesture that I had no words.  I was and continue to be amazed at how God is working through all of these things to bring our kids home!  Please continue to pray for us, and if you feel led to help financially, click HERE.  God bless, and thank you to everyone who is helping, even if it is just reading this blog!