Our Call to Adoption Part 2

So, I had wonderful intentions of immediately sitting down to write this, but the past week has been crazy!

Well, in my previous post (Our Call to Adoption Part 1) I ended with Lud and I praying about adopting. Now, 6 months later we are finally ready to start sharing what we've decided to do.

We really feel that God has called us to adopt internationally. A few months ago, I began researching international adoption agencies. We found an agency we really loved (they do mission trips, orphan care, and birth mother education/care in addition to adoption). We filled out a pre-application and according to age and marriage parameters, we qualified for Ethiopia and Bulgaria. For some reason we did not feel a strong pull towards either. Then, a few weeks later the agency announced a pilot program in Ghana. I cannot explain the feeling in my heart.....it was like it jumped out of my chest. ***Rewind to last summer, when I went on a trip with the Wesley Foundation to Rafiki Village, an orphanage, in Ghana. I fell in love with the children there! It is a wonderful, warm, and welcoming country.*** So, I immediately contacted the agency to find out what a pilot program is. A pilot program is like a trial run of a few adoptions for the agency to get a feel for the way the adoption process will work in that country and to give families in the program in the future a time frame of how long the adoption process takes in that country. Only families who have completed an adoption with this agency before could apply and they were only accepting 3 families into the infant pilot program. Obviously we did not fall into that category!

Now, to some this may have seemed like a deterrent or an answer from God telling us that this was a closed door. However, to us, it felt like this pilot program would allow us to watch the adoption process unfold for the pilot families and it would give us time to save up some money. Also, I am working on my Masters in Elementary Education degree while working full-time and hope to be done with that in mid-2013. We hope that the pilot adoptions will be completed with those sweet babies at home by the end of this year. If everything works out the way we are praying, then we would officially begin applying for the program in early 2013. *Talk about God's perfect timing!*

So, where does that leave us in the adoption process? We are waiting before we even begin waiting for a precious baby from Ghana! We hope you will join us in praying for the families in the pilot program. We are praying that God provides funds for them and a clear path to their children. Also, please pray for us as we prepare our hearts for this journey.