Several years ago, Phil and I watched a documentary about children who have been orphaned in Ethiopia via illness and/or poverty. We were both so troubled by a story of a young boy who was left to raise his even younger brother. At the time, all we could see were the faces of our own children and the despair they would feel without us (and visa versa). I know that my own heart broke open that day, and I'm pretty sure that Phil's did too. So ... last December, we committed ourselves to adopting, and immediately looked at agencies with programs in Ethiopia. Just as we finished our home study, and began learning as much as possible about the country, the Ethiopian and US governments announced their intention to investigate inconsistant adoption practices in country. With the potential for a major slow down in Ethiopian adoptions, and our concern that the extended time line conflicted with the reality of our ages (48), we applied to the Russian Program and began the process of orienting ourselves to a second country. We did receive a referral from Russia (I'll write more on this in another post), but heart-breakingly her needs went far beyond what we are able to meet. And then, in early August, we saw photos and a brief description of "H" and "F" on our agencies "Waiting Child" website.
Do you believe in fate? The girls are from Ethiopia! They meet our request for siblings. They fall within our preferred age range. Their ages allow us to keep the natural birth order of our older kids. Most importantly, they need parents and a family... We contacted our agency and requested a match right away. Them we held our collective breath(s) while the agency decided if we were right for the girls. We are overyjoyed that our agency honored our request to become parents to these beautiful children. It feels SO right... and we are SO grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment