Yes, we are still WAITING for our adoption to happen. People have almost stopped asking. It's been 2 1/2 years since we started the process to adopt from Ethiopia. It's not that there aren't kids to adopt. They are sitting in orphanages, waiting to be chosen, waiting for a third-world country to process their paperwork. We are over here, waiting for the phone call, the referral of a child who will forever change our lives... and we wait...
and wait...
and wait...
And then, we realize after months of listening to conference calls that update us on the process that the wait is going to keep getting longer and longer. You see, when we started this whole crazy thing back in September of 2012, the wait time was 18-24 months (in which case, we'd have our child now). But now, in July of 2015, the wait time is 36-48 months. That's right, we are not moving at all...
In the meantime, our biological kids are getting older (oh, and so are we, darn it). At this rate, Chase (who is 4 now) will be at least 8 when we get that referral for a child 0-3 years old. Now, those with older children can attest. Once you are out of the baby stage, you are OUT OF THE BABY STAGE!! We have our big toes out of that stage already. Ah, no diapers. No nap times. It's a lovely season, actually.
With that being said. I have some news to share regarding our adoption journey. Just when we were discussing throwing in the towel, giving up on our dream to adopt, we received an email from our agency, encouraging us to open our hearts to a different country. We'd received this email before, but decided to stick with Africa, as we felt a strong connection to our child waiting for us there. However, God's plan isn't usually our plan, right? After much prayer and discussion, we've started the process to adopt from the Waiting Child Program in CHINA.
Do you know what this means?! This means that we are STARTING OVER. Arg. Sigh. But this time around, we've already done all of this, so we KNOW what we are doing (mostly). The Waiting Child program consists of boys and girls ages 0-3, and 6+ who have minor to major special needs. We will be selecting very minor (repairable) needs in the age bracket of 0-3. The kids typically have cleft lip/palate, club foot, limb differences, etc... We still need to decide what needs we are willing to tackle. If we end up with a baby, expect my plea for your baby hand-me-downs!
The wait for us is unknown, but once the paperwork is submitted (hopefully not more than 6 months), it will be a short wait. We have a cruise planned with my family (thanks, mom and dad) in February, and I imagine us receiving the referral shortly after returning home from that. I'm getting really excited thinking about being a family of 6 this time next year!
For now, we will be up to our ears in social workers and paperwork. Please pray for our family as we gear up for what's to come in the next year. We are thankful that we've been called to this mission, and that while one door has closed, another one has opened!
I'm sure we'll do a fundraiser once the paperwork is completed to help raise the funds we'll need to finish this out. In the meantime, if you feel called to, here's the link to donate towards our adoption. Prayers are the biggest need at the moment, though.
http://www.awaa.org/give/eternal_family_program.aspx
For designated family name, that's us, Nathan and Jennifer Gronberg
