The most accurate description of the adoption process that I have heard so far is the term “adoption adventure” and that has certainly been the case in our family. Our adventure began in June 2006 while I was surfing the web looking for something fun to do. I was looking for a Christian concert or something similar, however, God certainly had something else in mind.
While looking at a calendar on a radio station’s website, I saw a link that said “host an orphan.” I clicked…and now we have two kids.
OK…so it wasn’t quite that instant and there was a lot of thought and prayer involved. The Sunday after we applied to host a child, the Sunday school class that we visited studied James 1:27.
“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.”
It certainly gave me something to think about.
In August 2006, a darling little girl from Ukraine came to Fort Wayne as part of a program that brings orphans to America for a vacation with the hopes of connecting them to a “forever family.”

Khrystyna spent 3 weeks in our home and by the time she left, we knew that God was calling us to pursue adopting her.
Our next 6 months were spent fulfilling the necessary requirements to adopt in Ukraine and trying to come up with the money necessary to adopt. We were so blessed to have family and friends who participated in our adoption process both prayerfully and financially. During the process, we prayed that God would make His will clear to us.
We prayed about the possibility of adopting a second child and through some amazing circumstances, we felt God leading us in that direction. Unfortunately, we were looking to adopt a 5 to 7 year old girl and the orphanage did not have any who were free for adoption.
I felt like God was closing the door on a sibling for Khrystyna, but again God had other plans.
When we arrived at the orphanage in May 2007, the orphanage director informed us she had the perfect sister for Khrystyna, an 11 year old named Amina.

We were a little hesitant to adopt a child who would soon turn 12 and who we hadn’t spent extensive time with, but during the time we spent with her over the next few days, we really felt like she was supposed to be part of our family.
Even now we are amazed at how God in His sovereignty matched us with the perfect children for our family. Don’t get me wrong…they are certainly not perfect…no child is. We have our struggles just like every other family, but the evidence of God’s grace is so apparent in the midst of our struggles. Although our children have experienced the grace of adoption, we too have experienced it on a much grander scale. We were held captive by our sin and fear, but are now God’s adopted children. (Romans 8:15) We were dead and now we’re alive. We faced a horrible future in hell and now we anticipate God’s abundant grace being poured out on us. (Ephesians 2)
God is the Father of the fatherless and He has made Himself that for us.
Both of our children were old enough to understand the benefits of adoption, however we did not bring them into our home just so they could live out the American Dream. Don’t get me wrong…nutritious food, good medical care, and quality education are all very good things…and they have made a huge difference in the girls lives. But hearing the Gospel, being reconciled to God, and bringing glory to Him are infinitely better.
Although God does not call everyone to be adoptive parents, He does call all believers to care for orphans in their distress.
If you are a prayer warrior, by all means, please get on your knees and pray for children who may be without family and without hope. If God has blessed you financially, consider helping a family who wants to adopt but lacks the resources. We would not have been able to adopt our girls if it were not for people who partnered with us in this way. If you have construction skills, consider a mission trip to an orphanage to raise the quality of living conditions.
Although people often comment on how blessed our kids are to have been adopted, we have been more blessed to have them entrusted to us. What a privilege it is to parent our dear girls.

Since this is National Adoption Month, DaySpring will be giving away 25 packs of “Gotcha Day” cards to folks who leave comments today. Just leave a link to an adoption-related blog you read or share the link to a story of a family trying to raise funds for an adoption. We’d love to help spread the word.
By Lisa Thompson, Simplified Saving
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http://promoteokadoption.blogspot.com/
My favorite local adoption site. Adoptive mothers actively working to change the laws in our state to be more supportive of birth mothers and the entire adoption process.
I love http://147millionorphans.com/ . It’s a non-profit local to Nashville, TN and it’s sole purpose is to raise awareness about adoption and help families fundraise in preparation!
My favorite adoption blog right now is… mine!
http://thefarmerswifetellsall.blogspot.com/
We are adopting a baby from Ethiopia. After completing the mountains of paperwork, we have been on the waitlist for about six weeks now!
To support our adoption, visit my blog and check out our t-shirt fundraiser!
http://www.bereanbaptist.com/ChildrensHKA.aspx
Not exactly a blog, but this is something my church does. It seems a very large poportion of the families in my church have adopted children (some of them have adopted a LOT of children)
My best friend and her husband just completed a domestic adoption and brought home baby Levi (which means “united”!). They learned they were the chosen family 3 weeks before his birth, then 1 day before his birth, the birth father decided to parent. 7 weeks later, the birth mother asked if they’d still be willing to adopt the baby, and Levi joined my best friend’s family!
She blogs at: http://babysuereth.blogspot.com
I’m a mommy to four, two by the gift of adoption. I’d LOVE those cards! We JUST finalized on Oct. 29 and TODAY is their dedication at church– FINALLY!!!! Special service and BIG party afterwards. Our church is gonna be packed because of those two little cuties!!!
My friend who has adopted 7 and a great encouragement to me is:
http://wingerteam.blogspot.com/
We, too, were called to adopt. It is quite an adventure!!
http://iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-magadan-russia-with-love.html
http://iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com/2009/11/lord-gives-and-lord-takes-away.html
We are so blessed!
One of my favorite adoption blogs – and the one I’ve learned the most from – is Our Little Tongginator. http://ourlittletongginator.blogspot.com/ It’s the most wonderful blend of humor and incredible insights into an adoptive family’s journey. Highly recommended reading for anyone in the adoption community.
Then, of course, there’s also the fabulous Ni Hao Y’all – stories from an adoptive mama of nine kids and one of the co-founders of Wild Olive T’s – Don’t miss this one http://www.nihaoyall.com/
One of my friends is in the process of adoption and has been writing about her journey: the highs, the lows, the hope and the struggles. I’d love for you all to visit and (in)courage her at: http://mylifeofmisconceptions.wordpress.com/
[…] I’m sharing my story over at (in)courage…and there’s even a giveaway! Come by and check it out! While you’re there, be […]
thank you for sharing your heart. your journey. adoption keeps coming up in my life???
We’re in the midst of our adoption journey right now, and it’s been a blessing and a source of encouragement and support to have access to online journals/blogs of other families on this adventure.
Two of my fav blogs:
http://randclan.blogspot.com/
http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/
just returned from seirra leone last week. my heart is still there….i am drawn to adopting children with HIV/AIDS….may God continue to give us strength through this process…
This website is about a family who is trying to raise money to adopt.
http://sixseeds.tv/s/content/adoption/629-adoption_the_litton_family
This website is about an organization that provides grants to people who need financial help with adoption.
http://www.showhope.org
My favorite blogs about adoption are Grown in my Heart (www.growninmyheart.com) and Rage Against the Minivan.
Thanks for bringing more awareness to adoption!
My favorite adoption blog is http://nohandscurrentinfo.blogspot.com/ – it brings so much awareness to special needs adoption and helped us decide which special needs our family could handle. As a result, we were matched with our wonderful daughter Lily who has been home with us for 7 months now. We are truly blessed! Feel free to check out our blog for our story too!
Just shared your link at http://hannahshopebook.blogspot.com/2010/11/win-gotcha-day-cards.html
Thank you for this beautiful story. 🙂
I started a series of blog posts on November 15 about orphans and Orphan Awareness Month. I will continue blogging about orphans for another couple of days. Here’s a link to the first post:
http://grandmaslettersfromafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/november-orphan-awareness-month.html
This site, http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/, is definitely one of my favorites about how mighty and powerful our God is. I hope someday I get to meet this young lady, because she is such an inspiration to me. Although my husband and I are not currently planning to have children any time soon, adoption has always been close to my heart, even when I was kid. I will be praying for the orphans and their “forever families.”
May God bless all of you are in the process of adopting or considering it.
~a~
My favorite adoption related site is http://blessedby10.blogspot.com/. I would also love those cards. We are in the process of adopting our 10 month old foster son and would love to be able to send those out on his official “gotcha day” when he is “legally” a permanent member of our family!
http://teamhuss.blogspot.com/ – a family adopting from Ethiopia
Our family came together in God’s hands. We were put together piece by piece in His Time. There are 3 children in our family, and I forget which two I did not give physical birth to…they certainly were born in my heart. A few years after adopting I found myself pregnant. No one was more surprised than me. (and my doctor:) It simply confirmed my belief that the Lord put our family together.
http://www.helpanton.org
I’m on 21, so I can’t adopt this little boy, but I would in a heartbeat if I could. He is living with EB – a rare genetic skin disorder that causes his skin to blister (sometimes to the same extent as a 3rd degree burn) at only the slightest friction. He was born a twin, but only his healthy twin brother was taken home from the hospital. Anton was left, alone. Please, help raise awareness and help this little boy find a home. It absolutely breaks my heart that he has no one to hold him or care for him.
I love your story because so many older children are not considered “adoptable.” Out of five adopted and permanent foster children, I only had one newborn, James. I adopted Mia when she was 3. My foster kids Dan and Grace each came into our family when they were 14. And I adopted Lily, who grew up in an orphanage in China, when she was 15.
Like you, I was “surprised” by the arrival of some of my kids, in the sense that I wasn’t seeking to have more children, but they somehow landed on my doorstep in clearly God-directed ways.
Several of Lily’s friends were adopted by other families in the US, and we had a wonderful reunion for four of them. It was a miracle to see all these lovely teens who grew up together on the other side of the world, now in loving families of their own.
We were called to adopt two little boys six years ago! What an adventure!
http://iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-magadan-russia-with-love.html
http://iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com/2009/11/lord-gives-and-lord-takes-away.html
I posted this this morning but it didn’t show up, so I hope it doesn’t show up twice now.
We are in the process of trying to adopt and created a blog to help birth parents learn more about us. Our site is http://www.markanderinadopt.wordpress.com.
We’ve experienced so many ups and downs with the adoption process over the past few years, but we know someday we will be blessed with the child meant just for us!
We are a ministry that helps raise $ for the 18 (going on 22 possibly in the next few days) adopting families that we sponsor!
You can check out our fundraiser as well as the links to these families blogs here:
http://worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com/2010/05/chosen-child-adoption-band.html
Thanks for spreading the word about the awesome calling of adoption and God’s command to take care of the orphans!
http://adoptionstory.org/category/blog/
A friend of mine has been trying to raise money to adopt a child. They have had a couple of miscarriages and felt like that led them to this path. I loved reading this post and hope my husband and I can adopt one day.
I have two favorites. My friend Amy from Filled with Praise who brought home their son from Ethiopia just a few months ago http://filledwithpraise.blogspot.com/
and my friend Lauren from Living By Faith who just got her referral a last month and will be going to see their son in January and then going back soon after to bring him home. http://laurenalexis1.blogspot.com/
I think they would both love the gotcha day cards 🙂
You must check out
http://thefarmerswifetellsall.blogspot.com/
It’s a wonderful blog by Lara about the journey her and her family are on towards adoption. I have been blessed by reading their blog and getting to know Lara!
Thanks!
Nicole
Lisa,
Thank you for sharing your family’s adoption story. Isn’t it amazing that it all started with one little click? There are times when I wonder if this whole cyber world is all that it is cracked up to be, and then I hear a story like yours. Amazing!
Thank you for sharing such a caring and wonderful story. What a blessing you are!!! :0)
One of my sweet college roommates and her hubby are in the process of raising funds for adoption. He is so amazingly musically talented and has created a CD of lullabies, “Hope Prayers and Lullabies”, to help with the costs. Here’s the website of their journey…
http://russellandmeagan.blogspot.com/2010/11/adoption-update-1.html
http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster/index.html
Orphanage in China, outside Bejing; they foster, provide surgeries, and also adoptions!
sidistblessings.blogspot.com/
http://www.ourgrowingfamilyadoption.blogspot.com
My sweet friend Missy is in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. She is a truly gifted writer – please check out her blog at http://www.itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com
I am an adoptive mother of 4…very blessed indeed.
My husband and I hope to adopt and will most likely start pursuing it in the next couple of years, so I’m always interested in reading other people’s stories. An old high school friend of mine at http://dagerhart.blogspot.com adopted a son a couple of years ago and their families story is pretty amazing. Amazing what God can do! 🙂
Adoption has really been on my heart and mind lately, as I’ve prayed about whether or not God would have us adopt. This post was really touching for me. Thank you for sharing your heart in adopting your girls.
Some of my friends are in the process of adopting and have a really great blog you can find here:
http://donandsarajones.blogspot.com
Blessings!
My friend Ashely of Putting God First Place writes a lot about adoption, because her and her husband are pursuing foster-to-adopt right now. http://puttinggodfirstplace.com/
And my pastor’s family recently announced they’re beginning the process to adopt from Ethiopia and raising funds for that. Their blog: Adoption for the Rest of Us http://a4us.org/
Thank you for sharing your story here! Thank you also for including how each of us can get involved, whether it be through adopting, through serving, through financially giving, or through praying!
I don’t personally know anyone who is in the process of adopting, but I have read about Meg Miller (the daughter of Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) and her family adopting a child from Uganda. She has a lot of neat resources and links to sites about adoption her blog: http://www.meghmiller.com/help-us-bring-our-baby-home/ . They are currently raising funds to adopt their child.
Also, Tom Davis, writer and president of Children’s HopeChest, will talk about adoption some (and saving others from modern day slavery) on his blog: http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/
We are currently in the midst of our Russian adoption adventure. The journey is long but the reward is so sweet.
I have friends from church who adopted a little boy (whom his family and our church now affectionately refer to as J-boy) from Guatemala. They are currently waiting to bring their second forever-child home from Ethiopia. You can read about them at:
http://onlygodcouldwritethisstory.blogspot.com/
The Lord led us to adopt two little boys from far eastern Siberia six years ago, to add to the five children He had already blessed us with.
http://iliveinanantbed.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-magadan-russia-with-love.html
I actually did a post on my blog about adoption, http://amblessedbeyondmeasure.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/adoption-day/, because my brother is adopted from Mexico. He has been with us since he was about 9 months old and I cannot imagine our lives without him.
What a sweet sweet post! My favorite adoption blog is from my dear childhood friend, April. http://planaethiopia.blogspot.com/ By the end of the year, April and Brian will be bringing home Judah and Addise from Ethiopia.
Nihaoyall.com, She lets us peek in on the journey of her CRAZY FUN life with her 9 kiddos, 5 of whom are adopted from China, (and in process to bring home #10) She is honest and open about the blessings and the challanges of the miracle of adoption. She also advocates for special Needs kiddos on her SNAdoption website, nohadnsbutours.com, and through An Orphans Wish., and helps families fundraise through the sale of adoption fundraising tees through her Christian tee company,Wild Oive Tees.
147millionorphans.com. Gwen and Suzzane started 147 to help families fundraise for their adoptions, and to help bring attention to the plight of the orphan. They are 2 mamas, with 13 kiddos between them, and they take time away from their families to travel all over speaking about the orphan crises . They also help manage Amazima ministries, which helps to feed and educate children in Uganda!!
and kissesfromKatie.blogspot.com. I will not even tell you about this precious girl. You need to go read and get to know her yourself. You will be blessed.
🙂
one more… aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com. Linny is a treasure. She has 10 kiddos(so far), and she is PASSIONATE about the orphan. She just celebrated her 52nd birthday, and while most of her friends around her are empty nesters, Linny is busy filling up her house! Head on over to aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com, and be blessed!
You have a beautiful family. I loved reading your adoption story. Isn’t it amazing when we watch God’s plans unfold? Thanks for sharing your story! 🙂
What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. My friends, Lauren and Ken, adoption blog, http://luadopts.blogspot.com/, is the main adoption blog I am reading right now. Thank you for praying and believing that they will raise enough funds to bring another precious little life into their home!
Thank you for this post! It was very encouraging to read.
We are also in the process of adoption. You can check out our blog at:
http://www.utechtfamily.blogspot.com/
We are currently doing a t-shirt fundraiser to help raise the money to bring our little one home.
Our family fosters and we have had the unique gift of seeing Jeremiah 29:11 walked out in 6 children’s lives. All three sets of siblings we have fostered have moved on to adoptions. This month our first two sets get to finalize their adoptions. What an awesome story God has allowed us to be a part of!
I’ve known Lisa for over half my life via her younger sister, but I LOVE hearing her story more intimately! I would LOVE a packet of these cards, too. 🙂
Beautiful story! Every family created through adoption is a miracle!
Sara
Mother of 2 daughters born in Russia
We are answering the call to adoption again. We adopted Marcus & Macey, both with Ds, from an orphanage just 18 months ago. We went for 1 child and came home with 2 children. That’s how our family Grew by 2. Today because we heard His call again we are going back. We’re going to adopt a little girl, 3 years old with Ds from a different orphanage in eastern Europe. Thanking the Lord for His people who are willing to Help Bring Masha Home! Your prayers are welcomed & appreciated.
We are in the final stages of preparing to leave and fundraising for our adoption. We are adopting a 13 year old boy named Sergiy and a little girl between 6 and 8 we don’t know all her info yet. We leave in 10 days (9 by the time you read this) and we DESPERATELY need help to get the funds needed – we are still $18,637.00 away from our need. We have 10 days to raise this money! PLEASE Pray for a miracle!!! We KNOW God can and WILL Provide!! We need to see him come thru for these precious children that are waiting for us in the Ukraine! Thank you for sharing your blog with us!
Our blog didn’t show up.. sorry! It is http://NewHornerFamily.blogspot.com Please stop by! ! 🙂
We are foster parents and have fostered 15 children mostly special needs over the last 4 years. We recently Nov. 1st 2011, adopted a special needs little girl that we have fostered since she was 6 months old and being discharged from the hospital. She is now 2 and the joy of our life. We have two grown daughters and 2 grandsons so this was not an easy decision but a God lead decision that we are forever grateful for. God is faithful to his children and will sometimes ask us to do what we think is the impossible, but he will always provide the way and means. We thank God everyday for this special little girl and are so glad we obeyed God. Please open your hearts and reach out and give the gift of a forever home to some much needed children. Thank you
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