How We Ended Up Deciding to Adopt Three Kids from Africa

Below is the timeline of what happened. It is a story only God could write so I feel like I need to write out the details so we can remember what God did. (And if there is one thing you should know about me by now it is that I only know how to deal with details!)

January 2010 After the Haiti earthquake Jason was motivated to research to see if we could adopt Haitian orphans. We did not fit their requirements. He began researching where the most orphans in the world are. Of course they are in Africa. Eithiopia has the most, followed by Nigeria and then C Country. For each country he Googled adoption agencies and then the country. Many agencies came up for Ethiopia. None for Nigeria. The only thing that came up for C Country was a blog post which mentioned the only agency in the US doing adoptions from C Country, MLJ Adoptions, based in Indianapolis, IN.

{Let me be clear that we were not looking for adoption opportunities at this point. But, since we began our first adoption journey we have both desired to adopt - at some point - a sibling group from overseas who were orphaned. But we both figured it would be several years down the road because international adoptions take so long and are so expensive.}

Jason immediately checked out the agency, MLJ Adoptions, and loved what he saw. They were doing adoptions from C in 6-8 months. That appealed to us. I wrote the C program director (Sonja) that Saturday afternoon with a few questions and heard back from her within 3-4 hours (on a Saturday night!). By Sunday morning we were friends with her on Facebook and able to see pictures of some of the kids in C Country from the orphanages they are working with. The promptness of her responses, in addition to what we learned about the agency from their website gave us the hunch that this was an awesome agency. So, we began considering this possibility. (Which means that I started to get excited right away!)

February After we crunched the numbers, we realized that it was just going to be too expensive. The government would give us a $13,170 tax credit (per child) over five years, but since we just adopted Abram, our tax money was being used for that adoption tax credit. There is no way we would ever pay enough in taxes to get back the $13,170 per child in the five-year window.

March We updated our homestudy and started the process of waiting for an infant from Iowa through Avalon Center (the agency who did our first home study.)

April Jason found out that with the passing of the new Health Care Reform Bill, the government changed the adoption tax credit. The $13,170 was now FULLY REFUNDABLE (PER CHILD) the year after you finalize your adoption. This means the amount you get back is no longer dependent on how much money you paid in taxes. And there is no more 5-year window. The government will literally give you a check for $13,170 after you file your taxes the year after you finalize your adoption. If you adopt two kids, you will get $26,340 back. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!! And UNPRECENDENTED in the history of our country!! However, this new adoption tax refund is set to expire at the end of 2011 (it could be renewed, but there is no way of knowing if it will or not).

May I called our tax accountant (Chris Hicks) to make sure this new adoption tax refund is truly for real. It seriously seemed too good to be true. He confirmed that it is, indeed, for real.

Due to some other circumstances, Jason decided that we should not do the C Country adoption but stick with adopting an infant from Iowa. I was disappointed, but trusted God and my husband that they knew what was best for our family. It was not easy because the next several weeks I couldn't get the picture of two African kids riding in the back seat of my car with Abram out of my head. But I kept hanging onto this verse from Isaiah 30:15, "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength'."

June 9th I organized an Adoption Info Meeting at Cornerstone to let people know about the new adoption tax credit (because it is so amazing!) and to give a list of recommended agencies, MLJ being one of ten or so on the list. Jason helped me lead the meeting. We both talked a lot about the very unique window of opportunity there is for adopting from C right now (more on that later). We went home from the meeting and talked until after midnight. During that discussion God made it crystal clear to Jason that we should obey Him now and adopt two kids from C Country. I could hardly believe what I was hearing my husband say!

During and since our discussion that Wednesday, Jason mentioned a few times, "I wonder if we could adopt three." I didn't think it was possible, so I didn't think too much about it. After a conference call with Sonja from MLJ, we found out it is possible to adopt three kids. After praying about it, we decided on three. The day after I totally freaked out and thought there was no way I could do it. But after a couple more days, God made it clear to me that yes, we could do it. It won't be easy, but by God's grace, we can do it.

I mailed in our application, contract and initial payment on Tuesday. Yesterday (Friday) I got the next 3-4 steps from Sonja. They are almost completed!

Because of the enormous number of orphans in C Country (more on that in the next post), we get to choose what ages and genders of kids we want. (They will not be siblings. Because of the staggering number of abandoned kids there is no way to know if they are siblings or not.) Here is what we are choosing. Drumroll please . . .

5 year old boy
3 year old girl
0-2 year old either gender

Initially, we wanted all very young kids. But, I was concerned about ending up with three 18 month olds or something like that. So, we threw out the idea of older kids. We thought about getting a 6-7 year old boy (close to Brady's age) but I didn't want to have to think about school so soon. So we landed on a five year old boy.

We are in for the ride of our lives!

But, we are not in this ride by ourselves. There is one other couple from our church who have also just started the process to adopt two kids. A second couple is very close to starting the process (and would also adopt two) and several families are thinking about it.

God is moving!

An Adoption Twist x 3

I'm not feeling very creative, but I don't want to wait any longer, so I'm going to cut to the chase:

We are no longer adopting an infant from Iowa.

WE ARE ADOPTING THREE KIDS FROM C---- IN AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THREE. That was not a typo.

Yes, we are we out of our minds.

But God has made it very clear this is his will for us so we are going for it. And trusting Him for all that lies ahead.

And we are incredibly excited!!

(Of course there will be more details to come.)

Main Level Renovation

When you walk into our house, here is how it looked BEFORE:And here is how it looks NOW:Before, with all white walls:

Now, with 'high-speed steel' (name of paint color) walls:

I absolutely LOVE the dark grey color. It just makes it all look so different and better.

Another BEFORE:

And AFTER:

I got the outdoor lanterns at Kmart. A different kitchen table (probably black) is on the wish list.I got this shelf at Ikea about a year ago for $20. It was grey and I painted it black. I don't have much cabinet space (and we have a renter who uses some of that cabinet space for her food) so this shelf helps a ton with storage.

This is what our living room looked like some time back. I move furniture a lot so this is not exactly how it was right before the remodelling, but it gives you the idea.Here it is now:Since we needed our office room for another kids room, I made my office in this little cubby space (and Jason's is now downstairs). I love it! We weren't planning on painting the living room/my office space, but the other color we painted it turned out to be too close to the dark grey. So, I found this silver color called 'pewter luster' at Lowes. It is a great contrast to the dark grey and it lightens up the room.

For a long time I have wanted Kate to draw something on one of my walls. She drew the branches on this wall and I painted them (with the same dark grey color as the kitchen).

Here is a picture of our living area before (several months ago, actually):

And now (not the same view of the room, but it gives a better feel for the room):We got this great furniture on Craigslist for an awesome price several months ago. Found the rug at TJ Maxx. I am quite happy to finally have matching furniture!

This may be my favorite thing in my house right now . . . the hanging lantern (thanks, Allie for giving me the lantern for my birthday!). And thanks Hobby Lobby for the cheap hook. I love that from any point in my kitchen I can turn around and see outside. And there is so much more light in the house now that it is open.

It really does feel like we have a new house!