When the Plan Changes

I'm a planner! I like to have a plan, and I can be a little anxious when we go into something without a plan. With Grant and Grady, I planned their birthdays to fall in October. Grant's birthday is in November and Grady's birthday is in September. Now, neither one is in October, but pretty close! God taught me to let go of the control, however, when we started Gillian's adoption process. But even then, the timelines were pretty consistent. We knew our referral would come about 3-4 months after we finished paperwork. We knew we would get a referral of an infant and she would most likely come home when she was less than a year old. There were several bumps in the road and at times we wondered if it would all work out, but it did. Gillian came home at 7 months old very attached to her mommy and daddy. The trips to see her proved to be helpful in the bonding process, and the fact that she was taken care of by a wonderful foster family made our transition fairly easy. She also attached very quickly to her brothers and they loved her instantly. We were a very happy family of 5!

Last year, in January, Gerald and I began to talk about having a fourth, through adoption of course. We were immediately drawn to Ethiopia because it was running very well and was a solid process. We eagerly started the process to bring home another girl. We broadened our age range and were ready to fly to Africa later that year to meet our baby/toddler girl. But, the wait times kept increasing, and so the year finished out without seeing our little girl's face. We knew, though, that God had a plan, and we knew His plan was for us to be patient because the time was not right yet. After Gerald's surgery in December, we were ready for 2011. A year of Gerald feeling better and the year that our little girl comes home. But the year didn't start off as well as we had anticipated. We found out that our agency had a delay and then later that cases were not going to be processed as quickly as before. Again, we knew we had to be patient. A couple of months later a friend and I were talking about our adoption processes at church and she mentioned that her agency recently opened to Honduras. I told her that I wasn't interested in a pilot program, even though the Congo pilot program she was in was about to bring her girls home. Yep, I have control issues! :) That week I joked with my friend Jenny, who was also adopting from Ethiopia, that we could switch to Honduras. And she informed me that our agency just started a Honduras program just 3 weeks earlier. REALLY? Hmmmmm..... interesting. But I left it at that and continued to be patient with Ethiopia. But I couldn't get it out of my head, so I called our agency. And after 24 hrs., lots of prayers, the story of Jonah, and letting go of lots of control, we jumped. So we left the comfort of being at the top of the waitlist to starting over on the paperwork. I can't say that it's been easy. The paperwork is constantly changing since it's a pilot program. Papers that were once done, now have to be redone. Our poor children are confused. Gillian told me one night, "Gia was in Ethiopia, but she flew to Honduras, and then she is going to Michigan." Ummmm, okay! Grady keeps drawing pictures of our family of 6 and asking when his little sister will come home. Thankfully Grant is old enough to understand that we are starting over and it will be quite a while before we even get a referral.

Why Honduras? Most of you know that Gillian is from Guatemala, which borders Honduras. Also, the orphanages that Gerald and I have visited are in El Salvador and Nicaragua which also border Honduras. We have big hearts for Latin America, and we are excited about the opportunity to adopt from there again.

What does our timeline look like you ask? Well, remember, we had to let go of the control. It's a pilot program that has yet to bring any kids home from Honduras. And just to let go of the control a little more, we broadened our age range even further and are now open to some minor, correctible special needs. And at the end of the process we have to spend 4-6 weeks in Honduras. So, we are throwing control out the window and are fully relying on God's perfect timing. I can't wait to see how this all turns out! Please pray for the paperwork to be done soon and that it will actually all be correct and acceptable when it gets to Honduras. And please pray for Gia who is now in Honduras, we think. ;)