Lots of people have asked for a little information regarding adoption details. Here are some of the most common questions (THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you who have asked-what great support having people being interested has been!)
How old is the child you are planning to adopt?
We are planning and pursuing an infant adoption. For the make up of our family and with all members of our family in mind, we've chosen to stick with adopting according to birth order (meaning we won't adopt a child older than our biological children).
Will you adopt a boy or girl? Can you even decide that?
We actually can decide that. But, we don't care. We are open to either gender. We figure we wouldn't get to chose if we got pregnant, why chose now?! From what we've been told, this probably means that we will have a sweet baby boy to welcome into our home.
How long is this going to take?
Well, we don't really know honestly. The shortest I've heard is a year, the longest is three or four years. From what we've heard from our agency, things seem to be moving pretty quickly right now so hopefully it'll be a shorter wait. But, that doesn't mean things will continue to move quickly so while we are praying for a shorter time, we are preparing for everything.
Will you have to go to Ethiopia?
Yes. Twice. The first time we go we will meet our son or daughter, pass court (hopefully!), and then have to come back home. I am already praying that the time back home is a very busy time so that I (we) aren't crying and distracted the whole time. The second time, we will go for an embassy appointment and then bring our baby home forever (our first extended amount of time together will be on a super long flight-already praying for that too!).
Where are you in the process now?
We've applied, been accepted, signed a contract, and sent half the agency fee to our agency. We are starting the home study process now- our first meeting is on Feb 1. It'll be at least a few months until we are done with the paperwork side of it. Unfortunately, each part in the paperwork process costs more money (that we honestly dont have) so our process may be a little slower than it could be just because each step will be getting the appropriate paperwork and appointments ready as well as fundraising.
How much is your adoption going to cost?
$30,000ish
Yikes! How are you going to pay for that?
Lots and Lots of prayer.
We truly believe that all are called to support orphan care. While all may not be called to adopt, there are lots of ways to support orphan care by supporting people adopting (financially and emotionally), kids in orphanages (child sponsorship) etc. So, we are planning on doing lots of fundraising and giving you opportunities to support orphan care. :)
Please check out the 'fundraising' tab at the top of the blog. We are doing a fundraiser through Just Love Coffee: www.justlovecoffee.com/babyabell and will be doing a Scentsy fundraiser soon as well as tshirts and anything else we can think of! We are accepting donations if none of those fundraisers sound appealing to you-feel free to use the paypal button on the side of the blog if that is easier for you. We are praying and trusting God for His timing and His plans with this. Following Him will end in His perfect timing and plan, we've got to believe that even when it seems hard and overwhelming.
