And the journey continues....

So last night's blog was brief, so I thought I would fill everyone in on how we got from our previous posts, to here....grab a cup of coffee, a warm blanket, and hopefully you will continue to enjoy our journey...

After Mikey and Liam were adopted we were really lost on where to go, and what to do.  We had already been preparing our lives for these two boys.  We were building their room, stocking up on supplies, planning on which schools they would go to.  We know it was a possibility that they could get adopted before we got there, but we really didn't think it would happen to us.  We really, really thought that we would be traveling to their country in November-ish to get them just in time for the holidays.  We kept warning people that they could get adopted before we got there, tried to convince others not to get too attached...just in case....but somewhere along the line we forgot to warn ourselves.  Don't get me wrong -- we are very, very happy that they have a family.   We are so happy that they are reunited, and that they have a home with a family (that I know) truly loves them! But selfishly we were heart broken.  It was a loss of something that we never had, but desperately wanted.   We know that they are not the only children available for adoption so we decided to find another sibling set and just push forward. 

It was hard to smile every time someone asked about them, or about our adoption plans.  Everyone immediately wanted to know what was next -- but we couldn't even figure that out for ourselves.  Honestly I think we were grieving over a loss of what could have been.  It took us a bit to pick ourselves up an begin again.

We started our search but could not find any siblings set that we would be approved for with our facilitator and were leery of committing to another set of children that could get adopted before we got there, so we decided to check out our options. 

We asked friends, families and complete strangers for assistance in finding ways to adopt while we are stationed overseas.  Every suggestion was researched, every contact was emailed and called, every avenue was taken -- but we kept getting nowhere.  We found a few "agencies" that wanted a lot of money up front, and had horrible reviews.  We found a few facilitators that made us grand promises (that we got hopeful about every time we heard them...) but after researching found out what they were promising wasn't possible.  We contacted the states about foster care, and every state told me that Oklahoma has a great program that helps military -- but no one else wanted to help.   We added ourselves to lists, upon lists.  The children that were offered to us were too old (we are only approved to a certain age), or had special needs too great for us to handle, or were from too large of a sibling set.

A few weeks ago, we officially gave up.  We said we were going to stop looking, stop researching, and just wait a year.  Next fall we were going to start the process over again, once we found out where our next base was.  We would find a program that would help us wherever we ended up.  We were not going to contact anyone else, if something fell in our laps, then it was meant to be. 

We decided we would just save money this year and take advantage of living in Europe by taking a few trips, spending time together, and just relaxing.  The adoption journey is a long and stressful one.  Plus the more money we saved the less we had to borrow or raise.  We would wait another year before expanding our family.

Last week an amazing lady named Shelley I met while working with our previous facilitator (Reece Rainbow) told me about an adoption agency called About A Child.  They work with military families stationed domestically and abroad.  They have also worked with our social worker (who did our home study) which made us feel great!  We decided to adopt through Bulgaria.  Bulgaria is a Hague country and is a very stable program. 

Right now we are working with About A Child, and looking through files at children.  This is really hard! We have already seen a sibling set that we are very interested in.  They are living in separate orphanages as well, but we keep going back to them.  There is also a set of boys -- not in the same orphanage, but they have been raised together.  It's so hard to decide.  I know our path has already been chosen for us, and our children are just waiting for us to arrive.  I can't wait to meet them!

We are waiting on our home study agency to update our home study for our new country and situation, waiting on our FBI check to come in the  mail (yes, still).  We are also filling out our application for About A Child, and sending them a check this week. 

So much is happening right now, but we are eager, excited, and ecstatic about our future.  Everything works out the way it is supposed to, and everything happens for a reason.

Thanks for supporting us, loving us, and cheering us on as we continue on our journey.  We needed your words of encouragement, your support, and your prayers during these past few weeks.  We struggled, but you all kept pushing us forward.  With family, friends, and honestly strangers like you all, we couldn't and wouldn't be where we are right now. 

Thank you!

Love,

Lura