Together For Adoption Conference
Come hang out with me and my wife for a few days…
It is going to be amazing…
How has adoption touched your life?
Los
Come hang out with me and my wife for a few days…
It is going to be amazing…
How has adoption touched your life?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
My wife and I have always talked about adopting and would love to eventually do so. It just seems financially it will be difficult. We would love to adopt internationally, but it is just so expensive…
Adam-
Consider adopting in the United States. It is FREE!
Kids here need families and love just as much as kids internationally.
Saint is right. If you do feel called to adopt internationally know that there is lots of financial help. First, there is an adoption tax refund of around $12,000. There are grants and interest-free loans.
My husband and I live debt free and had no idea how we were going to pay for the adoption of our two kids from Ethiopia ($28k by the end). But we committed to doing it debt free and God totally provided through a lot of different methods from garage sales to freelance work.
You can read a little bit more about it on my blog: http://juliegumm.com/wordpress/?p=1106
Adoption is the best thing we have ever done. I have learned so much about God and how much He loves me.
We are on the waiting list right now waiting on a referral. Not sure how much longer we will have to wait but I know it will be worth every minute!
It has also opened my eyes to how much we have here and how little other people have. I have a huge desire to raise awarness and to help in any way I can but I just don’t know what to do. Every thing I do just makes me want to do more.
My wife and I have felt called to adopt. She always has been and my heart caught up with hers on that about a year ago. We’ve had so many hesitations…how would the family dynamic change with our 2 bio-kids, finances, our jobs, etc… but when it comes down to it, we trust God to provide. So we put the wheels in motion.
Then, we heard a seemingly endless stream of adoption horror stories. Kids that were adopted at a relatively young age that have a significant amount of “issues” due to prior neglect or abuse. We began to question our call. We decided it was not the right time in our lives, that maybe when we were older, when we had more debt paid off, when our kids were older, our jobs more secure, the pace of life slowed down…at some point in the future of our lives, maybe it would “make sense” again. My question is, do leaps of faith ever “make sense”? Particularly the biggest ones. If I waited until something “made sense” before I acted, I wouldn’t be married, I wouldn’t have 2 beautiful kids, and I wouldn’t know Christ.
So this week we were in a prayer room when we received a prayer request about a child that needed parents. What are we supposed to do with that? For us, we feel like it’s snapped us back right into the middle of it all again and we’re acting. We’ve once again put the wheels in motion to see if we can help this child. We don’t know many details, but we’re pursuing. We’re praying. We’re moving in faith. God knows where it will lead.
Your prayers for us and for this orphan will be appreciated and treasured.
We just adopted our first child, born September 8. He is the light of our lives! A perfect blessing.
We adopted our daughter from Southeast Asia almost 4 years ago.
Now because of God’s leading through that journey, and since that journey, this year we formed a non-profit organization called “Vision To Becca”. Our Goal is to raise prayer and financial support for our family of five (2 boys and our daughter, very similar in age to yours Los) to move to the City our daughter came from so that we can care for the medical needs of special needs orphans from the local orphanage and foster care program.
Hope the conference is great!
Be blessed! <
My wife and I tried to have children biologically for years. They were dark times where we felt God had forgotten us…or were punishing us…or just didn’t seem to be listening to us. It wasn’t fun.
When we reached the end of our fertility treatment journey, we started wrestling with the concept of adoption. It seemed so foreign (literally) and like something we simply couldn’t do…only other people could do that. Or so we thought.
As we read so many blogs, we began to slowly realize that God could use us in this journey. Maybe He had been speaking all along…but what He was saying wasn’t what we wanted to hear. We closed our hearts and minds to the possibilities because it didn’t seem to fit into our own plans.
We started down the adoption road in China, and ended up doing a concurrent in Ethiopia. All of the heartache and pain looked different as I viewed it from the windshield of a beat up Toyota truck, driving down a bumpy road in Ethiopia on November 1, 2008, and pulled up to the gates of an Ethiopian orphanage.
Adoption has transformed the way our family looks…the number of people as well as literally the color of it.
Adoption has transformed my spiritual life as I saw God provide money for us and show us what it’s like to pursue someone who doesn’t know you at all…but ultimately needs you very much.
Adoption has transformed the way I view American life, our culture and our materialism.
Adoption has transformed my daily life in immeasurable ways…from being greeted in the morning by an amazingly beautiful little girl to spending time teaching her to pray ever night.
I’m grateful…very grateful…that we weren’t able to have biological children, because I have no doubt that I would have missed out on this amazing blessing.
We adopted two amazing children from Foster Care just over 4 years ago. We are wrapping up our homestudy process right now and should be waiting to be matched again, this time next month. Adoption has expanded our capacity to love in ways we never thought possible. God has weaved all four of our children together as siblings and changed us all forever. We attended Together for Adoption last year and look forward to meeting you there Carlos!
Amber, would love to hear about your experience some time!
In 2003, after the birth of our second child, I LOUDLY declared I was done having kids. Had my boy, had my girl, we were good.
Unbeknownst to me, God was laughing hysterically.
Through a long and winding journey he began to work on both my husband and I separately until we were so convicted by his call to care for the widow and the orphan that we had to do something.
For us, the beginning of that something was the adoption of siblings from Ethiopia – Luke and Beza (9 and 8 at the time).
At the same time God called my husband into full-time orphan care ministry with World Orphans.
Luke and Beza have been home almost two years and I can’t imagine our life without them.
Their addition to our family has caused all of us (including the kids) to become less selfish.
It has made me confront some of my own personal shortcomings that are not so pretty.
It has expanded our worldview and we live more for others than we do for ourselves.
In January I actually got to join my husband in ministry, serving as World Orphans director of communications.
So quite literally, adoption has changed our entire lives!
(Hope to meet you at T4A!)
Adoption made me momma. Twice.
Pretty much fullfilling my purpose that God created me for…
Mary Anne
Mom to Jack 10, Korea
Sarah, 8, Korea
Katy Lou, 3, “homegrown” and proof of
God’s sense of humor, and answering the
prayers of a certain little boy, who was 5
at the time.
We are knee deep in it now!! We plowed through the approval process and are waiting for a birth mother to choose us. We chose a transracial baby and have been taking the classes @ Bethany on everything from hair care products to dealing with ignorant responses from people that are sure to happen.
Were just pumped about how this step of faith will bring about more joy than we could ever ask or imagine!! It was great hanging out @ Whiteboard @ your FREE lunch!!
Keep on rockin bro!
We adopted our son two years ago here in the states. We are now beginning the process to adopt internationally.
Wish we could be there for the conference!
I WAS adopted from India when I was 6 months old. Naturally, I’m a strong advocate for adoption!
I’ve always been very passionate about adoption and have LOVED seeing other families close to me go through the adoption process to bring home their new babies. Although it’s not an easy process, I’m super glad my parents went through it so I could be here!!
Saved my life… I was born to an unwed teacher in 1961 (she probably lost her job by allowing me to be born.) Adopted at age 2 into a family surrounded by love and the oft reminder “we love you – in fact, unlike other kids, we picked you.” My parents had 3 natural children and then adopted 2 more.
I never have known my birth parents, but it did not matter. I have parents that love me.
Carlos: That conference is taking place at my church, HCBC! I can’t attend the conference itself, though I’d love to meet up with you and your wife this weekend if you have some time.
I’ve been feeling some “nudges” toward adoption for a while now, and my wife and I have had some discussions. Would like to hear your story.
I’ve sent you a separate e-mail and DM to see if we can coordinate a meeting!
Click the above blog to see how its touched our lives. You see we said no to God on adoption, on going around the world to get or first child and definitely no to special needs. Well, you can guess what happenned. March 13, 2008 in a small room, they handed me joy. I have gotten glimpses of God and His love and there is no way I can exaggerate this amazing experience and the experiences I have seen in others. I am so thankful for the years of infertility, the years of waiting. God was just getting our hearts ready and then BOOM! He showed us a love that is beyond amazing.
we adopted our first son in 2007, and are about to be done with a 3 year custody battle and will adopt our second son in November. we have seen the hand of God move on these two little boys lives, and are so thankful that we are able to be their parents. we tell people we have two “home grown” kids (our biological daughters 13 and 10) and two “hand-picked” ones (our adopted sons ages 5 and 3)
i would certainly tell people that domestic adoptions through CPS are not easy, but they are typically free and there are an amazing amount of children who need homes right in your city. we are passionate about any adoption, but most passionate about helping children who are in need of homes in the US. right now in Houston, TX there are anywhere from 800-850 children who have no temporary or permenant placement. you can make a difference. you can know the Father’s heart and how He views His adopted sons and daughters.
God has opened our eyes to the beauty of adoption. My husband is adopted and we have always been open to it . After having 2 biological bundles of boy energy we knew god was leading us to adopt. We are the proud parents of the most beautiful girl ever born in Bangkok, Thailand. We have been home almost 1 year and are still open to whatever God would have for us in the area of orphan care.
We have had our baby girl one month tomorrow! She is from Ethiopia and even though she is only 6 months old, she has completely changed our lives and so many other already. So cool to see God work through this beautiful picture of redemption.
Are you my friend from TN? If not there is another Jen who adopted from Ethiopia 1 month ago!
yep amy, it’s me:)
We adopted our son, Isaac about 18 months ago. My wife and I had always wanted to be parents and felt that God had called us to be. We found out after nearly 2 years of infertility tests that we had issues on both sides of the plate. Pitching and catching were issues for us. We knew then we only had one option. We worked through a local agency and were paired with a birth family about 2 hours from our home. We’ve had an amazing journey with open adoption. We share our lives together and through it all I see so much more of God’s character than I ever thought possible. He’s chosen us the way we’ve chosen Isaac. And we’ve been blessed in the relationships we have with his birth parents and three bio sibs. It would be too simplistic to say that we’re connected. It’s more like we all adopted each other into one big, odd connected family. It’s kind of a beautiful picture of how the church should be. We wouldn’t have it any other way. And, we’re in the thick of it again for number 2!
God’s plan is always bigger.
I have been married to the sexiest man alive, Dean, since September 18th, 1994. Our first child, Evangeline, was born on July 17th, 1996 and she is our miracle of birth. At age two she was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes.We pray there will be a cure one day. Our first adoption miracle was Steele, born on May 21st, 2004. We adopted him at birth from here in the U.S. Our second adoption miracle was Abel from Ethiopia. He lost his parents to AIDS when he was two, he became part of our family in January 2009. He was given a birth date of March 26th, 2002 (his age is a guess and his actual date of birth is unknown).
Here is the long version of our adoption journey so far.. http://www.carolesmithturner.com/p/our-adoption-story.html
Wish we could make it, but we’ll be in California visiting the birth parents for our adoption! Our baby boy is due November 17th!
If anyone’s curious, here’s how adoption has touched our lives: http://dearbabyguard.com/
our two sons, deacon and masamo, joined our family via 2 different adoptions from ethiopia. their stories are totally different and each experience was totally different. but still the best thing ever.
i’m going to be at that conference! i think i signed up for the track that you might be leading a session in. see you soon!
My wife and i are currently expecting our first biological child. It is an exciting time for sure but the adoption conversation has happened in the past. My wife was adopted as an infant and we’ve long considered it an option. We’re waiting to see how this first one goes but have definitely considered a blended family of biological and adopted children.
My two amazing biolovable children were adopted through our local county fost-adopt program. We were looking into Russian adoption, and just kept running up against the fact that there are local children who need forever families.
We (my now-ex-husband and I) got our son when he was six months old. His mother had attempted suicide while pregnant, and abused him physically after his birth. We got our daughter when she was three months old – she was born addicted to methamphetamine.
Their biological parents all had their parental rights terminated. My son’s bio-father did try to get custody, but couldn’t stay away from meth. It was an amazingly challenging time to try to help that young man learn to be a father to the son that we wanted to keep. He eventually signed over his rights. The other parents (my son’s mother and both my daughter’s bio-parents) all just walked away without trying.
It was a long, emotional time…both kids’ adoptions weren’t finalized until they were two years old.
I cannot imagine having any other kids in the world. They are amazing, and fill my heart with song (my daughter’s favorite expression) every. single. day.
My wife and I talked about adopting before we were even married. Little did we know that we would struggle to have biological children. Then we knew we were going to adopt to start our family. We went through Bethany Christian Services while we were in Pittsburgh. Our son was born in the Chicago area (where we’re originally from). He is now 3 and the biggest blessing of my life. Additionally, his birthmom was INCREDIBLE. She told us from the beginning that this was OUR child. Her incredible sacrifice forever changed our lives and we are so blessed for it. I have a heart for diversity and as a white couple raising a black child, our hope is to adopt more children of other races to be a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all.
My wife and I really wanted to go to the T4A conference. I’ve talked with several people who will be there and am grateful for people like Johnny Carr, Andy Lehman, & Jason Kovacs. I’m starting an adoption ministry at our church. We kick off in November. I’m hoping to get others from the church to join me in starting a fund to help offset the costs of adoption that frequently deter people from it. We’ll be partnering with Bethany to bring informational meetings for those interested in adoption & hope to partner with Andy or Jason to start a fund.
Thanks for your public story and raising awareness. You are awesome!
My Adoption Story
In 2000 I found out I was pregnant. My first thoughts were that, while I was not in an ideal situation, my boyfriend & I would take responsibility for our actions and raise the child we had co-created. But, after a series of incidents, my eyes were opened up, and I realized that co-parenting may not be in the best interest of my child.
About that time, I was introduced to a term I had never heard before….Open Adoption. Curious about the concept, I researched it. To be honest, I had never considered adoption. The thought of carrying a baby for 9 months and then giving them away to strangers to never see or know how your son/daughter was doing was just something I didn’t think emotionally I could do…But this open adoption thing…that intrigued me. That, maybe I could do.
After much thought, consideration, and most importantly – prayer, I felt that open adoption was in the best interest of my son.
Long story made short(er), my son will be 10 yrs old this December. His adoptive family is simply amazing! I love them sooo much! I’ve been super blessed with having a really open adoption…calls, cards/letters, pictures, visits – even staying the weekend at their house several times. And my son….well, he is growing to be an absolutely amazing young man of God! I can’t wait to see the plans the Lord has for him. I love him and am sooo so proud of him!!!
Adoption has touched my life in a profound way. I was adopted at the age of 10 weeks. I was quite young when my parents told me I was adopted but I don’t believe I truly comprehended what was happening. For many years I struggled with addiction with one of the core issues being my adoption. I operated out of a deficit due to my rejection issues. Thankfully, I have received inner healing and I continue to work through rejection issues but I know whole heartedly God is using this area of my life to reach out and help others. There is a great Facebook Page which was started in Canada regarding Adoption. Here is a link for it. Hope it helps.
http://www.facebook.com/group/adopted
I was adopted 29 years ago from Korea through Holt. My husband and I are hoping to be able to travel to Korea in December to pick up the son we are adopting…also through Holt. Can’t wait! God is so awesome!