So, now that I have rediscovered my blog name and address, I can proceed...ahem.
Ugh. I'm sitting here scratching my head trying to figure out where to even begin this post. So many things have been happening in our hearts over the last few months. We have been able to witness God doing some things we never thought possible. And we have been stirred to do more than we have ever before in our lives. The last few months have been exhausting. Both emotionally and physically. I really can't even start to explain everything, because I am afraid I would a) end up boring you and you would quit reading before the really good part, b) I would not be able to find a stopping point, there is just too much to say.
So, I will skip straight to the good stuff (and by "skip" I mean tell you a really long story)......
We were moving right along with finishing up our home study and beginning our immigration approval. Because of Mitch's business, our taxes got a little complicated and our financial part of it was taking longer than I would have liked. Amidst the waiting for a portion of that to be completed on someone else's end, I began hearing more and more about some corruption happening among the orphan care/adoption process in Uganda.
To make a long story short, this is what the current situation is:
When Ethiopia slowed their adoptions down (quite a bit) a while ago, many families (us included) decided that maybe they should look else where to adopt. Many families went other places, but many have started looking at Uganda. Perfect! Awesome! There are lots of orphans in Uganda. Lots. But, here's the deal....most of those orphans are above the age of 3. Or they are sibling groups. Or HIV+. But that's not who people want to adopt. Most US families want babies. And, honestly, there aren't many of those.
So, here's the ugly part.... where there is a demand, the supply will always rise to meet it. Even if that means unethically. Impoverished families are being talked (coerced even) into relinquishing their children, specifically babies and toddlers, because westerners (even good-hearted westerners) want them and there is money to be made. These families don't realize they may never see their babies again. That they will leave the country and never come back. Ugh. Makes my heart sick.
Now, this is not the norm. But, it IS happening. I have basically annoyed our agency to death asking five million questions about their policies and what they do to ensure that their adoptions have NOTHING to do with this. They have some really good things in place to prevent this, and I trust them. But, there was still this nagging at my heart.
Mitch and I were called into adoption because we wanted to love a child that had no one else to love them. To give them a family and a place at our table. We wanted them to feel the love that only a mother and father have for their child. We were not called into adoption because we wanted a cute little baby. We were not called into adoption because we thought, as middle-class Americans, we could give them a "better life" than what they had in Uganda. I'm pretty sure there are a million families in Uganda that have dirt floors and one shirt each and they still live lives of joy and love. But, there is the big difference....that word....."families".
God asked Mitch and I to adopt to give someone a family. And we knew that we wanted no part of a child being coerced away from theirs. But, what did that mean for us? Where were you pointing us God??
Wellll......after talking and praying and submitting.......we called our social worker and asked her to change our home study to say....gulp....sibling group.
Yes, that's right. We have officially lost our minds.
Now, we did limit the sibling group to just two....because I'm pretty sure MItch would walk right out the door if we had 6 kids. But, we both felt like, after much reading and research, that most sibling groups get over-looked for adoption. Why? Because bringing home two kids, that are two different ages, with two different problems is probably one of the craziest things you can do. BUT....this made us know that because it wasn't the most popular choice, that maybe it was the right one. That these were the kids that needed a family. That by choosing this, we were not being part of the problem, but an actual part of the solution.
There are many many many cons on the list for adopting a sibling group.
#1-The price goes up. A lot. Do we have that money? Nope.
#2 - #15 - Ummm....Hello?? FIVE kids. I will possibly lose all sense of myself. I will most likely lose all privacy. And I will definitely lose my sanity.
But, the pros list just outweighed the cons every time.
Now to be clear, our home study now says EITHER one child under 4, or a sibling group under 8. There are truly still some abandoned baby/toddler/preschool age children, and we know they need a home terribly too. We don't believe that we know every single thing about the way things are happening over there. We know there are lots of legit adoptions of little ones taking place, and praise the Lord for that. But, we also know we can't hide our heads in the sand and pretend we haven't heard the things we have just because we would prefer a younger child. We will still be very thorough when we get a referral. We will ask the tough questions, making sure this child is a true orphan, whether it is a single child or a sibling group.
Warning: Shameless Plug...
Do you want to help us bring our child(ren) home? Do you want to help the Baker's and the Menn's complete their journey as well?? Well, then sign up for our race NOW!!! It's going to be an amazing time and you won't want to miss it!!
Katie, what exciting, wonderful, awesome, EXCITING news! Keep walking in faith, and all will be well! (I know I don't even need to say that sorta stuff, 'cause you know it. But it's always good to hear... ;)
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