CHANGE of PLANS

After many conversations and much prayer, we’ve decided not to pursue the adoption of a little boy.

Instead we really feel called to adopt a sibling group! Did I scare you for a minute there!?

We always said that we wanted a little guy and were open to the possibility of a sibling group. Well now we’re going solely in that direction.

Obviously it took a lot of prayer (which hasn't stopped) as this changes things quite a bit. I contacted our family coordinator yesterday to get a better idea on the new situation. My main concerns were in regards to finances (duh) and a new time line. The whole being an instant mom to TWO kids is in a whole other league! HA HA!! But I figure when my mom was first pregnant it ended up being with TRIPLETS! So I’m going to assume I’ll survive.

As I suspected, the expected wait time for two children is hard to say. They generally don’t place unrelated children together who are that young ~ we’re requesting under the age of 4yrs. So we’d be waiting for two siblings…. under the age of four….. I wonder what the odds are on that!? I’d be fine with going a little older …. But Boz is more hesitant (and I can see his point). We still have a little time before we have to ‘write in stone’ what we’re requesting, so it’ll get figured out. We do know one thing, the WAIT will be LONGER than the wait for an infant. That’s disappointing, but it’s something we knew (still sucks though!). If we were going for one child, it was looking pretty good for us to travel around next summer! But as Emily (our family coordinator) said, “sibling group wait times can be surprising and difficult to predict.” This time next year we could’ve possibly had our son home. But now…. who knows. Well, God knows.

SO we are now looking at a sibling group with at least one boy. We would LOVE to have one around a year old with the other being older. We’ve talked about going older (and some day we would like to, if that’s ever possible with the whole birth order thing) but we don’t want to have to put them in school right away. We’d much prefer to keep them home, so we can “cocoon” and bond with them before sending them off. Which we would do REGARDLESS of age…. But I think you know where I’m coming from.

One thing we’re in prayer about, and would love for you to join us in, is in regards to the Adoption Tax Credit. As most of you know, it was scheduled to sunset this year and go back to its pre-2001 dollar limit of $5,000. However, it’s been extended until the END OF 2011. And the amount was increased to $13,170 – which is a HUGE blessing to so many adoptive families! This is where we start to get a little concerned though. In order for us to get this, we have to have the adoption COMPLETED and KIDS HOME by the end of next year. We weren’t worried before, but with the additional child…. We’re not so sure anymore. Tax credit or no tax credit, WE WANT TO BRING OUR KIDS HOME! But the credit would be helpful in getting some previous crap paid off, so we could at least entertain the thought of me staying home with them! If we have two kids, we really would love to work it out where I could stay home full time.

Now for more of the ugly side of adoption – Money.

In the grand scheme of things, according to Emily, the funding for our additional child won’t be *that* much extra. The only “extra” costs would be an additional $3,750 (due at the time of our referral acceptance) and then the fees associated with travel – airfare and visa. That’s not bad!!

Okay, wait......

I just looked up the Cost breakdown on our agency’s website. I’m wondering if she was mistaken. Because according to this, it’ll be more than just the Visa and airfare. Looks like it could be around an ADDITIONAL $9,000. ICK, that made my stomach drop.
But you know what, it’s just money, right? … and it's really not even ours, it’s God's money. If this is where God is calling us, then HE will PROVIDE. If $9,000 is all that’s standing in the way of bringing home a little boy/little girl, then who am I to stress about it!? Will I feel better saving that money?? Knowing that a child who is alone in this world and could remain that way all because i didn't want to find a way to get the money!? If I’m going to base a decision solely on this amount, then the “Why Ethiopia” on my sidebar would mean nothing to me. Would I HONESTLY let that amount keep me from opening my home to an orphan!?

HELL NO!

This is simply another hurdle. We’ll get through it, and it will BE SO WORTH IT!!! There is NO DOUBT in my mind we have TWO LITTLE ONES WAITING FOR US!

I am so thankful we aren’t alone in this. We have an amazing support system of friends, family and new adoption friends!! And above all, we have a FATHER who loves these little ones MORE than we can even imagine! i don't think HE'S going to let MONEY stand in the way of us bringing home HIS kids.