Why are we adopting?

Thank you for visiting our adoption blog! We hope to use this space to keep all our friends and family up to date on our adoption process. As of October 19, 2022 our home study is officially approved! We ask for your prayer and support as we continue this journey. Below I’ve included some answers to frequently asked questions that can fill you in on how we've reached this point!

Why are you adopting?

We have both wanted to adopt for as long as we can remember. Since getting married this desire has only intensified. We have both committed our lives and our family to God. We feel that God places great value on orphans and children. Our moving to adopt is simply a form of obedience to a calling we believe He has placed on our family.

Why are you adopting internationally?

There are many reasons for our wanting to adopt internationally. First, as we've researched adoption in Washington over the last year, we’ve learned that adoption can only happen through foster care and through private agency infant adoption. We do not feel that our family is in a place to do foster care at this time. We believe in the family reconciliation work that foster agencies do and while we want to be a part of this we feel called to adopt right now. We also did not feel that private infant adoption was for us.

We believe in God’s Word which places great value on orphans and children. We also know that God loves people of all nations. We desire to support an orphan and their family by giving them a safe, loving home. The greatest reason it took us so long to land on international adoption is the cost. However, as we kept looking at all our options, international just felt like the clear path we were supposed to take.

Why AGCI?

I think much of why we have chosen AGCI is in their name, All God’s Children International. We believe that all people are made in the image of God and are precious to Him. We wanted to work with a local agency if possible, and ideally we desired to work with a Christian agency that has a similar heart for adoption as we do. And we hit the jackpot!

Why Colombia?

We are so excited to adopt from Colombia. AGCI has several international programs, but their Colombia program is the best suited to us for several reasons.

First, they are AGCI’s only international program that works adoptions for children as young as newborns. We desire to adopt a child or children that are younger than our youngest who is currently three years old. Many programs adopt children only as young as 3. This could potentially make our adoption process longer since children younger than three are not often ready to be adopted. However, AGCI requires and we prefer that we adopt a child younger than our children.

Secondly, we hold a special place in our heart for Latin and South America. Sean and I met in Guatemala ten years ago. We love the culture and speak comfortable Spanish. While we’re only starting to learn about Colombia, we are excited to have at least some knowledge about that pocket of the world.

Lastly, Colombia offered practical conveniences that other international programs did not. Colombia is in our hemisphere which allows for less travel time and cheaper flights. We would be able to speak and navigate the country. Also, Colombia offers a shorter in-country period, only 8 days with both parents, plus up to three or four weeks with at least one parent. This is still challenging, but way better than 8+ weeks or two separate trips with some programs!

How much?

This is the painful part. AGCI approximates that an adoption from Colombia is about $32,475. This can fluctuate depending on certain circumstances and could be more if we end up adopting more than one child. This does not include travel fees. This was a huge hurdle in our agreeing to international adoption and still is probably our greatest source of anxiety. We’re hoping to raise support, fundraise, and apply for grants. We pray that many people will feel led to partner with us both in prayer and financially.

How long?

The adoption process for Colombia is usually about 6 months to two years but we have been told we are likely to wait a while since our age window is so small and young. We are not in a rush, but it’s also hard to wait!

What about…?

We’ve heard all the adoption horror stories. We know that there is risk that comes with adopting. What about the birth parents? What if our child feels like a foreigner in the U.S. or even in our home? What if they have special needs? What if they’ve been abused, neglected, malnourished? How do your resident children feel about it? The list is infinite. We cannot possibly list all the feelings we have about it. We’re so excited to see how God is going to empower and equip us. We’re also nervous about the many unknowns. We can only trust that God is going to provide for us each step of the way. No matter what happens, God is faithful. He’ll be with us through the journey and will equip us in ways we never thought possible. We also have an incredible support system in our family all over the country and our church, school, and friend community locally. We trust we’ll be supported and taken care of.

Where are we in the process? What’s next?

We have completed our home study and psych evaluations and both have been approved—this is a huge step! The next step is to finish up our dossier paperwork that will be sent to Colombia—this should be done around the end of November. Unfortunately, we are still waiting on some paperwork from the government. This is taking a long time. We’re hoping that our paperwork will be in Colombia getting finalized by the new year. Then, after 4-6 months of processing and translating in Colombia we could get matched with a child at any time.

Please pray with us…

·       Please pray for the child or children that will eventually be placed in our home. Pray for their families going through hard times and that their hearts, minds, and bodies will be protected while they await coming into our home.

·       Some of our New York paperwork is taking about 5-6 months to process. It’s our last thing we’re waiting for. This is frustrating! Pray for patience for us and that this will be processed sooner than we’re expecting.

·       Our biggest request is that God will provide the funds in so much abundance that we do not even have to worry about this step.

·       Please pray for our family as we prepare for this big change. We know it’s coming but it could be any where from a few months to several years, it could be a newborn or a Kindergartener, it could be one or two children. It’s difficult to plan our lives with this uncertainty.

We’ve included the AGCI link below for the Colombia adoption program if you would like to learn more.

https://allgodschildren.org/international-adoption/adopt-colombia/

Thank you for partnering with us. We are BLESSED to have such a huge support system of friends and family all over the place. We love each of you!

Grateful for you,

Jess