Our Adoption Story Part 1

Scott and i have been working through the paperwork and the process of decision making for over three months...praying and talking with other adopting families & VERY few friends and family. We have gone through all of the questions that i am SURE are going through your head! Such as the following: 

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND???  Yes, next question. 

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME????  No, but who does. 

WHY NOW????  Because God said so. 

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY???? No, but when have we. 

HOW WILL YOU DO IT????  The same way we would when i had Elizabeth, Alexandra, Victoria, Catherine and Sophina....one day at a time with the Lord EVERY DAY being faithful to us AND with the friends who are willing to support us through this. 

HAVE YOU GUYS THOUGHT THIS THROUGH???? Many many many hours, days and weeks. 

WHY?????????????????????????????????? Let me tell you some facts that kill Scott's and my heart AND our children's.   Have you seen my FB wall??? Those are just a SMALL and i mean a SMALL portion of the faces of children who are living in situations that if it were in America for a DOG or CAT, there would be outrage! In just Central and Eastern Europe alone (SO NOT including Russia or Asia), there are 1,500,000 orphans! Of those orphans there are 2,046 children that have Down Syndrome!  These countries don't look all too greatly at their orphans but when those children have Down Syndrome then it is even worse for those children. 

NOW, remember that we have Sophina. WE CAN imagine our precious daughter/sister being in those places and being treated like she was worthless! We CAN look at those sweet children and put that face on our daughter and ask....WHY NOT????  All of the answers that you can give me have to do with our having it easier, our well being, our having it nicer.....NONE of those reasons could ever be a good enough answer if one of these children need us to be their parents! Scott and i could NEVER go on with our lives as if we did NOT hear us being asked to be parents to one of these children. 

Yes, we could have the new roof that we desperately need, Liz and Nate could have a fancier wedding, our girls could have more things, we could go out to eat at a sit down meal instead of appetizers after hours or at Arby's with coupons once a month and go on vacations that have been missed SO greatly, but tell me what is more important here on this list than a child??? Are we giving this up with no feelings of regret...to be honest, NO BUT are we STILL willing? YES! For EACH of these people involved! Believe me we have talked with each of the girls! My husband and children have amazed me and blown me away!!!

WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMETHING IS WRONG???? We have seen some very very hard things in these months.  Children who have been brought home completely malnourished needing to go into hospital care immediately to get the children's bodies used to nourishment. We have also seen and know that there are bad things done to these vulnerable children. Also,many children don't even know how to chew their food because they've learned to just swallow their food whole due to how quickly they are fed. BUT we also have seen the difference these same families have made in a very short amount of time. Children gain weight, they struggle to learn new things BUT. THEY. DO., they yearn to be loved and treasured and Scott, i and the girls can't wait to do exactly that!

DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS GOING TO BE???  This is one of the things that is hard for me. I KNOW that this is going to be hard BUT i don't want to hear "we told you so" when the child does come home and have people wag their fingers at us. WE KNOW THAT THIS IS GOING TO BE HARD!!!  SO if next year you see us struggling with a child who doesn't understand something and is losing it completely and i am looking exhausted and overwhelmed...instead of the wagging of fingers....i am asking- will you be the one who comes and lends a hand or a hug? 

THIS is the SHORT version of what i HAVE been writing but with all of the grad parties and my children who are here right now needing me.  I thought that i would just send this one out first! The next letter will be giving you details! Where we are adopting from, who we are adopting, and when and how and so forth! I will also let you know about the little girl named Constance that we said YES!!!! to. 

Also, letting you know that this week we will be coming out with a blog...which i am NOT looking forward to but my girls told me that if we are adopting that we HAVE to have a blog! SO i am;}  They say that i was made to be a blogger;} 

THIS 'note' is to ask that we are asking for your support, YOUR PRAYERS and also asking you to keep the negative questions to yourself because we have already gone through MANY more of them than what i have written here....myself for six months and Scott for over three months. The decision has already been made, our families have already been told and a lot of money has already been sent;})  IF you would have been standing in line at the Post Office on Friday, you would have seen me BEAMING! We are so excited, nervous, hopeful, terrified, full of joy, peace, crazy, and more but we are going to do this!!!!!

Love to all of you! AND yes, we understand your fear for us, your reservation for us and the shock but we just can't see it, for our sake THUS we are giving you this warning so you can get it out of your system before you see us next;})

 Connie for Scott, Elizabeth, Alexandra, Victoria, Catherine, and Sophina