A few weeks ago I asked Brent to update the blog. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's not that I am in denial, but I've had a difficult time putting any words to this. There's something final about posting a blog and then sharing it on Facebook. I like to leave my options open. However, we are far enough along in the the domestic process that we really needed to send out an update.
We have always desired to adopt BOTH domestically and internationally. While well meaning, this didn't "make us aware of the kids here". I don't know how to explain this at the moment, but I will one day.
Brent here. Some of you have asked...some of you are not aware. I guess publishing this tonight is kind of an official announcement concerning our family and our hopes to expand it through the adoption process we were trying to get started in the DRC (Congo). When we first looked at adopting again we looked long at hard at where to pursue adoption, and after prayer and discussion the Democratic Republic of Congo rose to the top of the list. So many of you got behind us and supported us, whether through prayer, or even financially in some cases. We had a yard sale that was a great success and we were able to pay for our application fees, home study, and initial government background check items easily.
Sadly, even though our hearts were open and ready to take the next step and get into the referral process, things began to quickly deteriorate on the other side of the ocean in the Congo. Last year, two Congolese government agencies involved in the international adoption process got into a game of cat and mouse and effectively halted the process for anyone involved. One agency grants the adoption, but the other agency grants what is called an exit letter. This exit letter allows the adopted child to leave the country with their forever family. This resulted in hundreds of families and children being stuck in the Congo, legally adopted but unable to go home. The government has given all kinds of excuses for their behavior, but in the end the children are nothing but casualties of political bickering.
I think it's one of those things that when it happens you go..."Let's wait it out and see", hopeful that the situation will resolve itself but maybe knowing in the back of your mind, "This is never going to be worked out." Months have passed and there is still no resolution. Hundreds of children are still waiting. There are parents that went there to get their children, were not allowed to leave, and have chosen to stay there until they can bring them home. It has now been a year or so since everything crumbled in the adoption process in the DRC, interestingly enough a picture of the entire system of government there, where personal agendas and struggles for power stifle any movement forward.
Because of these circumstances and further discussion within our own family, we have made the decision to stop pursuing an adoption from the DRC. First, we want to thank everyone who has had a kind word of support for us and taken a genuine interest in this with us, supporting us in prayer as well. Secondly, to all of you who gave a dollar or ten or a thousand...I hope you will know that it was not wasted. Where one door closes another opens (cliche I know, but true). We entered into this in faith that God would take us where we needed to go and provide for us to make this happen, and he did. He ended up showing us that this time around, we need look no further than our own area for a way to give a child a home to come to. We are in the midst of partnering with the American Children's Home in Lexington to be licensed to foster and foster to adopt. We ask that you pray for us as we finish this process up and that the child(ren) God would have for us to show love and a real sense of home to would be brought into our family.
