It's official!

Well, we had our phone appointment with AGCI and it went great! We were highly impressed with the time she took with us to answer our questions and how thourough she was with her information. The great news is that we can be only on a boy wait list and they are now Hague accredited!! These were the only two things that gave us pause so now that those are cleared up, we're in! We have decided to adopt using AGCI so the process begins. Neil has to get a doctor's documentation about his Melanoma so that Ethiopia doesn't reject us with the word "cancer". She said it shouldn't be a problem as long as we have dr. documentation on record. Then it's filling out a financial worksheet and doing our phone orientation before we officially sign the contract. WOW - this is really happening! I will tell you that we are so excited but so nervous! We are trusting that God's hand will be with us all the way and give us exactly what we need at exactly the right time. He has always been faithful so there is no reason to doubt Him now. This is going to be a huge leap of faith and I look forward to how He will be working through us and everyone else who will be on this journey with our family.

Neil told his parent's last night and I had talked to my parent's on Friday. We'd tried to tell everyone we could but I was bursting at the seams to announce to our church family and friends so last night I was up sending email after email! I asked for specific prayers for our baby boy who is probably already concieved and for his birth mother. To be with her and baby brother's health. To be with her as she is probably having to make the hardest decision of her life to give up her child. I couldn't even imagine. Our joy is someone's heartache...

A Big Week

Well, it's been an eventful two weeks with our decision to get started =) So exciting! We were busy telling family and friends before we announce it on a wider scale to the blog and facebook world. But today was really big as we did our first submission to an agency. We filled out the pre-app for AGCI tonight and I just hit the send button! Wow - this is really happening! We have a phone appointment Monday with a AGCI consultant to go over the pre-app and get any of our questions answered. No fee and no obligation. I really love this agency and for so many reasons. Our only hesitation at all is having to be on the boy and girl wait list when we really want to bring a baby boy home. We'll see how it goes on Monday!!

AGCI - First agency packet

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
John 14:18

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed."
Psalm 82:3

We got AGCI packet last Thursday and I was like a kid on Christmas opening up the package! I had the kids by myself all day (Neil was out of town) and didn't get to it till about 10 at night but I read cover to cover. It was very exciting to have the info right at my fingertips when there is so much that you can't access online. It came with a book that I just started and a DVD that Neil and I will watch together.

Wow - this is just another step in this exciting journey of research. I continue to ask God for His guidance so I don't pass on what exactly He wants for us. The one thing that the packet kept saying is "the child God has chosen for you". LOVE that!

"We're committed to uniting your family with the child God has chosen for you."
"AGCI believes that, if God has called you to adoption, He has chosen a child for your family."
"We strive to assist families in detereming which program is right for them and ultimately, where God has chosen your child"

It was so amazing to think that even now, God knows all the details of this journey and ultimately the child who will be ours one day. He knows them by name!!

Someone else is embracing our family's desire to adopt - big sister Claire!!
She pointed through and said "I want to bring that girl/boy home." When she saw the Ethiopian page she asked "Is that Haiti?" So sweet. (She asks to pray for Haiti every night) Last night before bed she said "We're going to have a brother someday." I laughed and said I prayed we would. So she said "If he wants to play with my blue purse, I'll give it to him. And if he wants my star purse, I'll let him play with it." This is her new purse from Grandma that is sparkly and attached to her all day. I said "Your star purse?!" and she looked at me and said "mmmmmmm.... maybe not my star purse!" We talk freely about it around her and she will say things here and there that encourages me that her heart is as open to bringing someone into our family as we are.

First info packets

SO excited to get our first info packets from the two agency we will be looking into - AGCI and AWAA (American World Adoption Agency). We requested the AGCI packet three weeks ago but never got it so I'm about to request again and we are getting the AWAA in 3-5 business days. I also looked up seminars but could only find one near Dallas. Heard from someone at AWAA and he told me they will have their schedule up soon and should have one in SA this Spring.

So cool... in corresponding with Sara Matheny about their adoption process, I asked her about the two agencies above and she said those were the two they were looking at using as well. They are going to be using AGCI and I wanted to remember this list of reasons because they are awesome and will give me something to base my research and questions for other agencies. They really seem to have a heart for orphans and taking care of them as well as possible while they are waiting for their forever families.

There are several reasons AGCI is our favorite agency:


1) They're mission is bigger than just adoption.....they are about orphan care. They take care of the ones that don't get adopted, too.

2) In several countries they have their own orphanages. That way you know your child has been cared for and loved in those months that you're waiting to get them. In watching some "gotcha day" videos from AGCI, you can just see how much those caretaker women love those children. Other agencies might get your child from a government run orphanage where, in some cases, there are too many children in the orphanage to be properly cared for and loved.

3) They offer other options for mothers, like sponsorship. That gives me comfort in knowing that they didn't manipulate the birth mother into giving up her child, but if possible, offered her other options. Then I know their babies are there because they truly need to be adopted.

4) When Guatemala put a hold on adoption, many adoption agencies left because they could no longer work there. AGCI stayed because there are still children who need to be taken care of, even if they can't get adopted. I love that they are not about the business of adoption but about taking care of orphans. Sadly, there is a difference.