Frequently Asked Questions About This Journey... with some answers

We've had lots of people asking questions about the adoption so I thought 

I'd try to answer a few of them in this post...

1.  How much will this adoption cost and can we help with the money aspect?  

I've been overwhelmed by the willingness of people to help us financially in order for us to get the necessary funds.  It's been fun to see God work - I listed our adoption fundraiser garage sale on craigslist and a lady messaged me saying she's interested in hearing more about adoption herself and would like to donate to help with our adoption.  WOW!  

The adoption is estimated around $33,000.  That's a lot of money but we know a BIG God is in control and He's bigger than those numbers.  We're trying to let this area be an area of trust rather than a burden or stress.  We lean on the fact that this is something God has called us to do so we're trusting Him to provide.  We have added a Paypal donate button to the right side of the blog if you feel called to help us on this journey.  

2.  What age/gender of a child will you get?

We are requesting a boy that is around Xavier's age.  We hope to have 2 little, rambunctious twin boys from different parts of the world.  

3.  Why Africa?  Why the DRC?

Like I said in the first post, we don't have a good story for how we ended up deciding on adopting from the DRC.  However, we do know that we're right where God wants us.  We truly believe there is already a little boy sitting in Africa who God has picked out for us.   We don't know his story, we don't know where he's living or who is taking care of him, but God does.  We're putting him in God's hands to take care of him until we can have him in our own arms.  

4.  What does the process look like and where are you in the process?

Rather than breaking this down and listing 10,000 steps in terms that you (and I sometimes) don't understand, I'll summarize and say that we're in the middle of our Home Study process.  We will then file some papers and wait for approval from those forms.  We then will wait for a referral of a sweet little boy.  Then there's more paperwork and waiting until we can wrap him in our arms on African soil.  The entire process is estimated around 12 months which means by hopefully next August we will be bringing home our little boy.  I think this is where God is going to grow me in this process - "waiting patiently" isn't something that I do well.

5.  What do your kids think about adopting a child into your family?

Addison is beside herself excited about bringing home her brother.  She has enjoyed telling everyone that she's getting a brother from Africa.  I find her talking about both her brothers each day and we've had many conversations with me trying to explain why we can't hop on a plane now and go get him (although, I am wondering the same thing :-).  Xavier is mainly into eating these days so he's pretty cool with the idea too as long as he's been fed.  

I hope this answers some questions.  We love talking about the adoption and sharing our journey so feel free to ask questions.  We want to be transparent throughout the journey so you can also enjoy the ups and downs and the waiting with us.  

Kristen