Our Journey Begins

Hello Family and Friends! This is my very first ever blog post. I am exciting to be writing about a very cool topic, and to be sharing our journey with our nearest and dearest. Nathan and I are pleased to announce that we have made a decision to start the very very very long process of international adoption! We have received acceptance from an agency called American World Adoption (www.awaa.org). We did a lot of research and contacted a lot of references before choosing an agency. We also did a lot of praying and researching about which country our hearts were feeling drawn to, and based on the countries that we qualify for, we feel a strong pull towards to Africa, specifically Ethiopia. The number of mother and fatherless orphans over there is daunting- about 5,000,000. The age we applied for is 0-3 years old, and we had the opportunity to also chose gender, and decided that since Addison still wishes little Chase was a girl, we'd bring her home a little sister!

We want to give a child the love and support of a family that we are so blessed to have! We know that there will be many challenges and risks, but we know that God has chosen us for this task, and that he would not abandon us! We also realize that we have 3 biological children, and that this will affect their lives as well- we are excited for them to experience a deep connection to another part of the world. Skin color should not matter, and we, as a family, are going to help the world to learn this basic truth.

This process will take approximately 3 years, give or take a few months. There were some unfortunate events surrounding the adoption process in Ethiopia, and their program has slowed down by 90%, making the waiting time almost unbearable. We are okay with this, as we know that things will happen in God's time.

How did this craziness all come about? Well, I have always had the desire to adopt, I just never thought I'd actually do it. When I brought it up to Nathan, thinking he would not feel this same "calling", I was pleasantly surprised when he expressed the same desire. I am so thankful that we are on the same page! Since I had no knowledge about the process, I started some research about 3 weeks ago. After what we learned, we were able to be confident in our decision for an international adoption over domestic. And once we learned how long it would take, we felt a real urgency to start the process!

It's funny to think about the fact that our daughter most likely isn't even conceived, but yet, we already love her. And while I won't carry her in my belly like my other children, I already carry her in my heart, and that's pretty special! I know with all of my heart that this little girl is going to change our lives, and our family forever- we won't look at things the same. I look forward to experiencing this with my family- including our siblings, and the grandparents!

There is an excerpt from a book that Nathan has been reading with his early morning Monday men's group at church. The book is called S.H.A.P.E by Erik Rees. It says,

"Don't ask yourself, How?' How? is never the right question; how? is a faithless question. How? is God's department. He is asking you what? What is written on your heart? What makes you come alive? if you could do what you've always wanted to do, what would it be?  

Sometimes dreams get buried by jobs that are unfulfilling, situations that are unraveling, "to do" lists that are unending, and finances that are overwhelming. When our attention is on all of the "stuff" in life, our dreams get stifled."
 

This was the question we kept asking over and over again. How? How will our kids adjust? How will our new daughter adjust? How will we pay for this? How will we fit a 4th child into our 3 bedroom house? And the answer we keep receiving is that it will all work out, and stop asking how. (Another question we've asked is 'are we crazy?!') Currently we have signed the agreement, and we will be sending that in along with our first payment this weekend. Once that is received and processed, we will be assigned a Family Coordinator, and then the Home Study, training, and insane amount of paperwork begins. I will post throughout our journey to our little girl and then after as we become a family of 6.

We appreciate all of the prayers, love and support from our amazing family and friends as we begin this process!

We will be running a fundraiser throughout this process. There are some pretty cool t-shirts you can order, and we receive a commission for each one sold, AND you would be raising awareness for adoption and orphans around the world!

www.adoptionbug.com/thegronberg6