A month has passed since we cried and hugged and said goodbye to two great boys and sent them on a plane back to their homeland. Not a day has gone by that we haven’t thought of them, prayed for them and wished they were still safely here with us.
Our family has prayerfully considered our possible role in the boys’ future. One option is to just consider this past season as one great memory and leave it at that. One option is to rehost them again in the summer through New Horizons For Children. The last option is to try to adopt them.
The implications of even considering that option are huge. It would change everything forever. One daughter said, “But I like our family the way it is.” My husband and I realized immediately the falseness of that statement. Families are not static.
For example, in the fall, our oldest child Jake will be leaving for college, leaving only daughters at home. That will be a big change. After that, one by one all of the kids will leave home. And then, without anyone else’s consent, one by one the kids will begin bringing new people into the family. Families constantly change. We need to embrace that.
So, we have decided this is a forever change we can joyfully embrace. By God’s grace we will share our love and our home forever with a couple guys who lack a most basic need: a family.
Please pray for us as we embark on this adventure. The road ahead is uncertain and long and arduous. And exciting. As long as the doors are open, we are walking by faith through them. God has plenty of opportunities to close a door at any time.
Where we are in the process: We are in the midst of the home study as well as preparing paperwork for our dossier. Adoption laws require we make three trips to their country once our paperwork is approved. So there’s much to do before we become a family of…cough…eight.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:8