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!
Brady was holding down the toilet. 
Mya and Sydney were having fun on the counter.
Abram and Callen were toddling around.
And Greysen had his paci, so life was good for him.
That was the story of this past Friday. I was watching all six kids at my sister's house. The two littlest boys were upstairs sleeping and the rest of us were downstairs playing when sky got very dark and the siren in Huxley went off. I freaked out for a moment, called Jason, hung up with Jason, raced upstairs with Brady so he and I could each get a sleeping boy and herded everyone into the bathroom downstairs!
Cute girls being silly.
Sydney brought her dress-up clothes into the tent and put them on. My mom made this (and matching one of course) for Kate and I for our towns centennial celebration many moons ago.
Just have to show off more of Kate's work. She painted these sticks on her basement wall. There is usually something sitting in front of it (but it was being used for the tent!).
Brady was holding down the toilet. 
And Greysen had his paci, so life was good for him.
That was the story of this past Friday. I was watching all six kids at my sister's house. The two littlest boys were upstairs sleeping and the rest of us were downstairs playing when sky got very dark and the siren in Huxley went off. I freaked out for a moment, called Jason, hung up with Jason, raced upstairs with Brady so he and I could each get a sleeping boy and herded everyone into the bathroom downstairs!
Cute girls being silly.
Sydney brought her dress-up clothes into the tent and put them on. My mom made this (and matching one of course) for Kate and I for our towns centennial celebration many moons ago.
Just have to show off more of Kate's work. She painted these sticks on her basement wall. There is usually something sitting in front of it (but it was being used for the tent!).
This is Abram's idea of fun at the pool . . . walking around. I think he had more fun playing in the rocks than in the water.
