Our Adoption Journey

Kristi and I decided to start a blog to keep our friends and family updated on our upcoming adoption from Ukraine. Most of you know our story already, but I thought I'd just quickly get everyone up-to-date. We've wanted to have children for over 12 years now and tried most everything possible to have a child biologically (a very emotional journey). But in December of 2007 we realized that God was leading us in a different direction and we decided to adopt.

My father was adopted, so I've seen first-hand the incredible impact it had not just on his life and the lives of my grandparents, but on the lives of his family and now on his grandchildren. I've had a heart for adoption ever since Kristi and I were dating. On one of our early dates, we even went into a curio shop where we saw a Precious Moments figurine about adoption and I got rather misty eyed. (Yes, I'm a softie inside...) Adoption is so much more than just having a child, but maybe I'll talk about that in another post sometime.

We're big fans of musician Steven Curtis Chapman and knew his passion for adoption and his web site dedicated to adoption, Shaohannah's Hope. We talked with several of the adoption agencies listed on his site, but really felt drawn to the awesome people at Christian World Adoption. From there, we had to choose a region of the world and we felt drawn to Eastern Europe which meant Ukraine, Russia, or Kazakhstan. We picked Kazakhstan because we wanted a child as young as possible.

The next step was to pick an agency that would help us with the Colorado processes and requirements (for example, Colorado requires 24 hours of education about adoption). Again, we interviewed several agencies and finally picked Adoption Alliance in Denver.

So all was set and we started down the path of our education, our home study, and our application to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for a visa to bring our child home. The paperwork was amazing and at times overwhelming: fingerprints, Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) background check, medical forms, proof of employment, proof of living arrangements, etc. It was challenging at times, but nothing more than we could handle. Thank goodness for Kristi's amazing organizational skills!

Mid-way through the process, Kazakhstan went through some changes in their government that really slowed down adoptions ... especially new applications. We waited for a couple months to see if things would change, but came to the conclusion that it was best to change countries. We considered Russia, but our home study agency wasn't accredited there. That meant we'd have to go to Ukraine and adopt a slightly older child ... 2-4 years old. We'd already been approved by the INS for Kazakhstan, so we had to get our home study changed and re-submitted for Ukraine. This set us back a couple months in mid-summer, but we were excited about the change.

As Kristi and I have thought about it, we can see the hand of God directing us every step of the way. We truly believe that this has been His best plan for us from the very beginning. It was not His plan for us to have children biologically. Instead, he has a child somewhere else for whom we are perfectly made, and who is perfectly made for our family. He guided us to CWA and the regions they serve. He then led us to Eastern Europe, and then narrowed down our choices to Ukraine. Slowly, but surely, He has been revealing his plan and narrowing down how, where, and when we would meet our child. We are convinced that He is guiding us to the child that has been chosen for us from the very beginning and that it won't happen a moment before or a moment after it is supposed to.

We'll use this blog to keep everyone updated on this incredible, life-changing journey. We love you all very much and appreciate all of your continued prayer and support!