OUR STORY

Mission Trip to International Adoption

This story probably begins back in the fall of 2006 before I (Andrea) went to Africa for the first time. Africa had always been a very intriguing place for me, so I was extremely excited when the opportunity came available to go to Sierra Leone, West Africa and stay and work in an orphanage. (more information about the orphanage and our trips to Africa will come in later posts) I had no idea how this trip would really change our lives. Prior to going to Africa, I had always had a passion and a compassion for international children and had thought off and on about international adoption. In preparing for Africa, I began to have a very strong, compelling desire to adopt internationally. It was like my heart was about leap out of my chest when I thought about the children I was preparing to meet and work with. It was quite overwhelming and caused a lot of tears! After returning from my trip, the desire for international adoption increased exponentially.

Fast forward about 6 months (Spring of 2007) and Kevin and I are talking about starting our family because I was set to graduate from graduate school in May of ‘07. In talking about our family, we had always planned on biological children, and that was very important to Kevin. Our conversations started out with discussions of having biological children and then looking into adoption. At that time, I was in a place mentally and emotionally where adoption was on the forefront of my mind and more of my desire than having biological children, but I definitely agreed with Kevin that we would have a biological child and then pursue adoption. Well, before I graduated, Kevin began mentioning that he had been thinking about adoption more and more. He would mention every so often that he thought and wondered if adoption was what we were supposed to do first. I kept reassuring him that we would try to have a biological child and then adopt. A few weeks after graduation, I remember looking over at Kevin while we were driving and telling him that I truly had a desire and felt very excited about having a biological child, and this was the first time that I can remember having that desire in a very long time. Kevin very calmly looked at me and explained that was nice, but he really thought that we were supposed to consider adoption now. WOAH! This really caught my attention, and I took him VERY seriously at this point. We decided that we would take the summer to pray about it.

In August, we went to Vancouver, British Columbia for a mission trip with our church and to see Kevin’s younger brother, Bruce, who was serving in that area. I had been praying that God would make it very clear what he wanted for our family as far as adoption. We had worked at a camp for children a couple of days that week, and the children were of different ethnicities. I remember vividly a moment where Kevin and I were walking back into the building with one of the little girls who was of a different ethnicity, and it was just the three of us outside. As I looked at the three of us, I had a very strong sense that this was what our family was supposed to look like. I can’t put into words what that moment was like, and it was exactly the direction that I needed to confirm what I felt God was calling us to do. A week after we returned from Vancouver, Kevin shared with me that adoption was all he was able to think about and truly had a peace about pursuing adoption to start our family. We knew at this point that not to pursue adoption would have been disobedient and not following God’s will for our lives and the life of a sweet child somewhere in the world. So, the journey began….

Prayer:
A young woman in Ethiopia is likely pregnant at this time with the child that will be our daughter or son. We may never fully know her or her families' situation leading up to the need for our child to be adopted. Children in Ethiopia are orphaned due to extreme poverty (Ethiopia is one of the ten poorest countries in the world), poor health conditions, preventable diseases, residual effects of war and an extremely high maternal mortality rate, just to name a few. This will be a very difficult time for her and her family. We respect her deeply. We ask that you pray for her and that she is able to take the best care of herself and her unborn child that she can, and that God will provide for and protect her and her family.

We are praying for the health of our child, and that they will receive the immediate physical and emotional nurturing that they need.

We are prayerful that our child will bond with their caretaker in the orphanage so as to lay a good foundation for forming a bond and attachment with us.

We want to use our time waiting very wisely and effectively, so please pray that we will be good stewards of our time in reading material on international adoption, Ethiopia and meeting with couples who have adopted.