Why International Adoption?

Many of you may be wondering what lead Matt and I to adopt internationally. Many of you know that we have 2 beautiful biological boys, and have no problems with fertility or labor and delivery. Because of this, we have answered many questions about why we have decided to adopt at all. This blog may help you understand our decision.
A special verse in the book of James tells us : "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." (1:27) That doesn't mean that adoption is right for everyone, we realize this. But this scripture lead us to adopt. As Matt and I grew up in the same chuch, we got to experience many international mission trips together, and through these we met many beautiful children that were in desperate need of food, shelter, love, and most of all forever families. During these trips, on many occasions, we felt God tugging on our hearts to one day adopt a child.
Matt and I married in 2002, and right away we began praying about adoption. We prayed that God would show us when the time was right to start the process and lead us down the path He wanted us to go. We started our family by having 2 precious boys, Izaiah and Braylon. Even during our pregnancy's, we continued to research international adoption; the countries, adoption agencies, the process, ect... We gathered as much information as we could. Finally, when Braylon turned 2, we decided we were ready to add to our family. We continued to pray for God to show us His will for our family. Through MANY confirmations, we knew God was calling us to add a daughter to our family from Ethiopia. We decided to adopt an infant girl, and have chosen to use Children's Hope International to help us through this process.
We know this decision to adopt will not be easy. We have already witnessed some of that through this long and difficult process. We have been researching Ethiopia culture every chance we get to help our daughter have a respect for her culture. We have become members of an Ethiopia adoption support group that meets once a month in Cincinnati. We are trying to prepare ourselves for the negative comments and strange looks we will get. Still, we know we can't be prepared for everything, but know that God will be with us every step of the way. He never promises that everything will be easy, but does promise to never leave us.
Often people comment on the blessing we will be to our daughter. But, we know she will be more of a blessing to us. We have already been blessed through this process. Just hearing our boys pray every night for their baby sissy and listening to them talk about her is such a blessing!!
Another question we recieve a lot is, "How do you bring a child into your home that has nothing in common with you?" Different skin color, culture, language, ect... The answer to this is we know we will have many differences, but know we have the same Christ, and we believe, that is more than enough.We're aware that her Ehiopia background will be important one day to our daughter. As such, I've researched Ethiopia, got Ethiopian recipes, have connected with other Ethiopian adoptive families, and have began purchasing Ethiopian children's books. But more importantly, we stress the fact that our primary heritage is not in our ancestors or family genealogies or birthplaces, but at the cross, in Christ alone.
We know that we can not change the world by adopting one child from Ethiopia, but we do know that we can make a difference in this 1 child and prayerfully will help others answer that calling to adopt. Adoption is truly a miracle and does make a difference!!

Adoption Update

Oh what an exciting month this has been in our adoption journey!!! We are moving right along in the process, but not without a few road blocks along the way. We have been so busy getting paperwork ready to send to Ethiopia. I never dreamed this would be so hard! We sent our first dossier draft to our adoption case worker last week. This is a huge milestone for us in this process. It just gives us hope that we are almost ready to send everything to Ethiopia and wait to be matched with our daughter. Our caseworker noticed that Matt's passport reads Matt Oaks Robison, instead of his full legal name, Matthew Oaks Robison. This is our little road block that we have stumbled upon. Ethiopia is very strict about all the documents matching exactly, and each will have to have our full names. So, Matt has applied for a renewal passport, and it should be here within 2-3 weeks. We will have to wait to correct our dossier documents until we have his new passport number. This has been very frustrating, but we know this is ALL in God's plan in matching us with the daughter of His choosing.
We have also been concentrating on raising funds to bring "Layla" home. We had a yard sale in Harrodsburg, the first weekend in October, and it was a HUGE success! We were so blessed by all the generous donations we recieved to put in our sale. Thanks to everyone who helped in any way!! We raised over $1,000 in one weekend! Thank the Lord! We have now applied for 2 adoption grants and are praying that we recieve them! We still have around $15,000 to raise counting travel and all adoption fees. Thanks to all who have supported us through monetary funds and prayer. We really appreciate everything! We know that this is God's plan for our family and know that God will provide everything that we need.
Please continue to pray that we raise the remainder of funds needed and we get all our paperwork completed and ready to send by January 1 (date we are shooting for). Also, pray for Layla, and her birth mother who is possibly carrying her now.

Why Africa???

I have had many people ask me why we chose to adopt from Africa...
The answer is...
*Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world.
*There is a huge need for people to step up, and take these needy, orphaned children into their homes.
*The mortality rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world, which leaves thousands of orphaned children in need of loving homes.
*Over 5 million children are orphaned due to poverty, war, and drought.
*Life expectancy: Men 46 years Women 49 years
*1 in 3 Africans have clean water.
*2,000 people die everyday, mostly children.
*Hope to raise awareness of Africa's orphans, so others may feel the calling to adopt.
*I just have a huge passion for Africa!
*The Ethiopian people are beautiful!!
James 1:27

I Would Gather Children

Some would gather money Along the path of life,

Some would gather roses, And rest from worldly strife;

But, I would gather children From among the thorns of sin,

I would seek a golden curl, And a freckled, toothless grin.

For money cannot enter In that land of endless day,

And roses that are gathered Soon will wilt along the way.

But, Oh, the laughing children, As I cross the sunset sea,

And the gates swing wide to heaven I can take them in with me. 

-unknown

Shrek and Dronkey!!

Braylon at the pool.

This is Izaiah's 1st day of preschool! He is really enjoying it.

Potty!

Good News!!
Braylon has started using the potty! I finally stopped procrastinating, and started working at it very hard this morning. In the beginning he showed no interest in it, but once he used the potty, he was so proud of himself. He went all day and only had one accident (that was when daddy was watching him, LOL!). I am very surprised that he is doing so well. If you know Bray, then you understand why I'm surprised! Hopefully he will keep this up. I'm ready to be out of diapers for a little while!

Ethiopia Bound!

Hi All,
Just wanted to keep everyone updated on where we are in our adoption journey to our daughter.
We have completed our homestudy and are now starting our dossier. Hooray! For those not familiar with the adoption process, the dossier is all the paperwork that will be sent to the country you are adopting from. Documents included are birth certificates, police letters, doctor's letters, employement letters, financial statements, pictures, ect... We had to have most of these documents in our homestudy, but these are just more detailed and have to be notarized. We are having to move slow through this because a new law is going into effect in Ethiopia this October. This law requires 3 years between your youngest child and the child being adopted. We can't get anything notarized until November, when Braylon is 2 1/2 yrs. We won't be able to send our dossier to Ethiopia until January, which means we could get a referral by May, and could travel in July!! We are so excited! We can't wait to get her home! It is amazing to think that our daughter is probably now in her birth mother's womb, and that God is creating her just for us. Izaiah is getting so excited. He prays for her everyday. It is so sweet! Please specifically pray that we raise the remainder of the funds needed, $15,000. Also, pray for the birth mother's health. We appreciate all your prayers!