First, let me say thank you to the many of you who have written to say that you're partnering with us in prayer. I am blessed to have so many friends who would approach the throne of God on behalf of a little girl and the family who loves her. So many of you have written with your questions, I will do my best to answer some of them.
How much is this adoption going to cost? We're estimating around $20,000. I'll wait for you to catch your breath before I continue. Okay, better? Moving on . . . because she is special needs we will save a few thousand dollars on facilitation fees. Kristina's adoption was around $24,000. We didn't have the money for Kristina's adoption two years ago and God provided then. We are trusting that He will make a way again if this is His will.
How much do we need to commit to her? About $700 at this point.
What is "our" girl's condition? She is diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I have been reading everything I can and speaking with other adoptive moms about the condition. Because FAS is a spectrum disease, we won't know how affected she is cognitively until she is little older. The information we have about her indicates that she is delayed, but we believe she could blossom with the love of a family. She also exhibits some of the physical features of FAS. The first time I saw her, I thought she was perfect. And I still do!
Will I post her picture? Soon, hopefully. I don't feel right until we have committed to her and she has been removed from the waiting list. Oh, you're going to love her too! She is precious!
What do the kids think? They're as excited as we are. Kristina insists that she must accompany us back to Ukraine and serve as our official interpreter for the little one. The girls are thrilled about evening out our numbers. The boys initially tried to convince us to adopt a boy ("girls are too much drama, Mom"), but they came around. Nathanael had a report and presentation for science class last week. He was assigned the topic "mental retardation" to research. As he was doing his research and learning about the causes, he made the connection about our girl's condition. He asked permission to talk about her when he gave his presentation to the class. Love him!
Any other questions?
Posts
9 comments:
OK... If...no WHEN you make it over here... you must contact me. Serriously.... we must finally meet face-to-face after crossing paths SO many times!!!!!
Pray for God's guidance in this adoption as with the last one.
None here! Just so excited to see how God is going to work all this out! It is much easier to believe for other's processes instead of our own at times! HUGS and PRAYERS!
I stumbled upon your blog and I am looking forward to following your journey. We have a 6 year old adopted from Ukraine when he was 19 months - he has a speech and language disability - undiagnosed of course when we adopted him :) We also have a little girl from China with a heart condition. (and 2 bio. kids too) Blessings on your journey!
I am so happy for you guys.
The whole idea of adoption all starts out about the child--as it should. But it's funny how, somewhere along the line that child we wish to bless, for whom we have given of ourselves, becomes the biggest blessing to us. What great treasure can be found in sacrifice! Somehow when all is said and done, "sacrifice" seems like such and inappropriate word.
I pray for you. God will provide. He will! He puts the lonely in families.
Blessings to you all.
I have been praying for you guys and this little girl. I heard you were considering her and have been praying since. :-) The Lord will provide if He wants to place her in your family--I can't wait to see what He does! Through your journey to Kristina, He opened our hearts to adopting older children, as He showed Himself faithful and mighty. I'm so excited for you!
I will start praying, too. Not just the kind like, "I'm praying but I don't really think anything will happen", but, "Go God! Show how amazing you are to those who are watching!". We just got home with our 3 from Slovyansk. They teach me so much about God. Just by being kids. Hook up with bdnp and Nadia. They will bless you tremendously.
- Rolan
Your entire family is so amazing and an encouragement to my faith. I'm in the trenches with you!
Glad to have found your blog (Via Saundersgang). Congratulations on your decision to let God be in charge.
I know your heart is in the right place, and you are relatively new to the idea of special needs, so I'd like to gently point out that the child you are hoping to join your family HAS special needs. You wrote that she "is" special needs. That is not what defines her. She is a little girl who has potential--possibilities--a future. There is a big difference between letting her differences define her, or letting the differences just be a part of who she is.
Anonymous-
I completely understand what you're saying and I'm sorry if my word choice confused you. We utterly believe this child has tremendous potential! We are studying how God led us to adopting a child with special needs and hopefully helping others look at adoption with a broader lens.
Post a Comment