Category Archives: Adoption Preparation Ok mommas…whether you have adopted already OR you are in the process of adopting…or you just KNOW adoption is in your family’s future…this retreat is for YOU! I am so excited to announce we have RETREAT DATES for the VERY FIRST “Created to Care Women’s Retreat”! This year’s theme is “Love Will Hold Us Together”—and […]  I have thought about this post for a few weeks now–mostly as I drive in the mini-van to and from therapies…and many times in a mad dash from house to house to rescue each of my mommy friends who have graciously offered to watch one of my older children so we can go. I have […] Oh, Andrea…this post is so beautiful! Love your heart! Love that God called ya’ll to check yes to special needs…and I LOVE the miracles that HE is performing in Isaac’s life! Amazing!! I am just sobbing. I cannot go into all of the details, but my husband and I just recently changed our request from a healthy infant to a child with special needs child. We actually know who he is, as we found him on the waiting child list, and now we wait for all the details to get worked out to get to him. Thank you so much for posting this. Love your heart. God knew this was the post I needed today, as we just checked “yes” to our special needs babe on our application yesterday. Thanks for sharing. I LOVE the look Isaac has on his face looking at you cheering him on! Love this post.My youngest brother, who is 13, has major, major special needs. When he was born, people…even wonderful people told my parents he would make the other 4 of us kids “angry and bitter for life” and “destroy us”. Hum. Guess it has, because all of my sisters and brothers, and now their spouces, are not only NOT afraid to have a special needs child, but even want and LONG to adopt them! God gives a strength and love that connot be described! Thank you for sharing your heart! Wow… those pictures really touched my heart! I didn’t even recognize him! It is amazing how love can change a child. Just look at the light in his eyes in those last pictures! I think he just needed to be home with his family to bring out his true joyful spirit. 🙂 Thank you for such a wonderfully written post about Special Needs adoption. We have three adopted children with special needs which we were aware of prior to the adoption. You are right on and I believe that God equipped my husband and I to parent children with special needs. The very first picture of your son looks just like my Jacob’s referral picture. He has now been diagnoised with Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy. I was totally tearing up after reading the rice cracker part!! YAY for your miracle boy!!! Love how you poured your honest, heartfelt wisdom into this post! So good to read, even for those of us not checking “yes” or “no” on an home study right now. So important to remember that God only gives us as much as He KNOWS we can handle! And by the way, Kylie has a huge crush! She kept looking at the extra carseat all day pointing (trying to say “Frank”) and laughing 🙂 He’s such a sweet boy! Thanks for letting us “adopt” him from time to time!!! Andrea, Thank you for this thoughtful reflection on special needs adoption. I just wrote a blog on Monday called The Unloveable on this topic from the perspective of a family that is trying to discern how we are called to adopt. Your post is SO helpful with those tangible action steps to wisely determine what special needs your family is being called to. I truly appreciate learning for those who have gone ahead of us! PS Sewing more pads tonight 😉 great POST!! And yes. COntinue writing like this! You will be amazed at the HUGE strides that happen all at once. And the personality changes that coincide with physical strength. It is literally… AMAZING to witness! Hugs to you all Beautiful post. What an exciting week of developmental progress! I share in your joy and thank God for using you to help alleviate others’ fears of raising children with special needs. You are right on when you share that watching a child with developmental delays achieve baby steps towards milestones really makes us appreciate all the things we take for granted with our “typical” children. It is nice to be “made” to take time to savor the small joys and gains in the midst of our busy world… your vulnerability makes you beautiful. love you! Such a beautiful post Andrea…wiping tears as I type. You have so wonderfully presented an honesty picture…but never forgetting that God will give us the grace we need in the midst of the circumstance. I look at those early pictures of Isaac…I have never seen them…they are gut-wrenching…and then I look at him now – that sparkle in his eye. The transformation is amazing…truly amazing. Glad we can all pick in as your family travels this journey. Adoption has changed us…certainly…I think we finally “get it.” I LOVE your post! AMEN!!!!! I think in the beginning we were pretty open, but now even more so. We have taken in special needs- which have healed. Some more than others. Thank you LORD we did not miss our children!!! It may be hard, but soooo worth everything! Andrea,I feel the same way! I think that is why GOD sent me to work with special needs children in the schools. I love them and it is what he has called me to do for now. Love reading this and your obedience to follow GOD has been a blessing to me. Let me know if I can help you in any way. I work(PT)with all kinds of God’s children. Lisa Wilson Thank you for your heartfelt honesty! Beautiful! Hi Andrea BEAUTIFUL post! Do you mind if I copy some of your post here? Of course, I would give you full credit and link back to your blog. Several people have asked us how adopting families “pick” what kind of special needs they are willing to consider. You very eloquently explain the information and emotions behind it I think. Thanks for considering it and blessings either way! 🙂 Blessings,  There are TWO videos posted in today’s post…so please go ahead and turn the volume off up top so you can enjoy! FIRST–just in case you missed my post yesterday on Project 2, please check it out after you watch this… Operation Silent Night – Wiphan Care Ministries from Wiphan Care Ministries on Vimeo. NEXT […] I was wondering what size panties should we purchase for the kist? I know some of them will be going to younger girls and some to women so I’m not sure what size to buy. Would it be ok to put more than 2 pair in each kit if we want to? Thanks! Andrea ~ you just make me smile all the time when I read your blog. Even when your blog is talking about feminine pads – you know how to bring love and tenderness into life. Love, love, love ya!! Oh, I never knew they were wearing the same bib while at HH! How precious! Maybe Caroline Faith will wear it one day too! 🙂 Mailing my check to Wiphan today!! Thanks for sharing our video. I didn’t see anyone wearing the valentine bib when we were there, but it could have been in the wash. Hugs to you! Andrea I don’t know how I’ve missed all this! I guess it’s because our August got crazy busy and then I got really really sick last week… BUT now that I have looked back and figured out the deal I am SO ON BOARD! My heart is just bursting to start making these! I am going to talk to a couple of ladies at church that I know are sewers too and see if they would be interested in coming to a party. I definitely want to host one! We’d be aiming for the Dec. 1 deadline and I would ship to you since we’re East Coasters. I can’t wait to share this very real need and pray that others would get on board to help! I of course love Elijah’s video! 🙂 What if Tucker got to wear the V-Day bib? That would be the most amazing thing! If I have my head on straight when we go I will definitely take extra bibs to get you the Valentine’s one! 🙂 What an awesome project! I would love to see if I can organize a group to make some pads in time for the December trip. I had to leave you a comment about the bib…we just brought our daughter home from Ethiopia in July (in fact, I think we were in Ethiopia at the same time!) and I really wanted to bring home the funny little shoes {black patent leather with bows on them}that she was wearing in her referral picture. She had them on when we met her too…BUT, it just didn’t feel right to take them with us. It just felt strange..I thought that there were so many other little ones who needed the shoes…now I really wish I had them! They were so precious. Oh well. At least we have pictures to remember the special details… Just put the link on my FB…will try to spread the word. Does anyone have the pattern for this? I am very interested in helping with this. Please email me at marobinson2006(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you so much.  Earlier this month I had the pleasure to “meet” Abby, another adopting mommy, when she commented on my blog. Something grabbed my attention and we started cooresponding. THEN, the Holy Spirit must have just laid on my heart to LEARN MORE…so I started asking questions–and I am SO glad I did!!! I want to introduce […] yes! love the dockerys in real and bloggy life! thank you so much for spreading the word even further about them! what you wrote is so cool. i am gonna buy shirts for our family no matter what, but would love to win one too. i posted at our blog all about this fam. thank yoU! What an awesome family! I love the shirt! 🙂 Awww! They are sooo cute! I am now a follower, I blogged about it at http://www.campbellfamilypartyof3.com and I FB it:) i just became a follower of “texas petes” i think its wonderful what they’re doing and that they’re adopting from ethiopia!! and i absolutely love following along on your blog learning more about what its like to have an adopted child. i think you’re fantastic! I’m a new follower to their blog and yours, too! Love your heart in this, Andrea!! What a great idea. I couldn’t resist the t-shirt to add to my collection and I just put it on my blog, too! If I win on eof the tees I can;t wai tot give it away and share the love!! Love that shirt! You have no idea how much you may be blessing this family’s adoption fund by your wonderful post! So glad to get to now be a wee little part of their peanuts journey home:) i am now a follower of their blog and i also blogged about it!! EEEEEEEE I love those shirts!!! I love these shirts! I just entered on her blog! love your heart! and the shirts! and a new blog to follow! this momma definitely needed some happiness today:) I just signed up to follow their blog. I love the shirts! I also will be praying for sweet Isaac on Friday. love the shirts… Solomon (our 3yr old Ethiopian love) thinks the post office gives shirts away!! and everytime I go to pick up fabric for POPPY DIPS! he asks it they sent a shirt for him!! So needless to say, I bought him one… but would love to win another 🙂 so I’m following their journey blog and of course read yours’ every single day 🙂 Signed up to follow their blog – such cool shirts! I will pray for Isaac too! Hi Angela..I have been reading your blog for awhile now..since before you got Isaac…and I am loving it. He’s adorable..and I love the name…my baby brother is also named Isaac. I would love to ask you more questions about adopting. I am from Canada:) Have I mentioned how amazing I think you are??? Thank you for the link, I look forward to following thier blog. I am now a follower and I FBed their giveaway! thanks for introducing us to this family! How amazing and love their t-shirt design! LOVE this family! Thanks for sharing. We just got 3 t-shirts – can’t wait to see what God does in there lives and who He has planned for them. I posted about your friends on facebook. What an amazing family serving and following Christ! and LOVE the shirts. […] night awake–Frankie-baby and I decided it was TIME to draw to see which of my commenters from THIS post wins a free t-shirt! SO we got ready—I wrote out ALL the commenter names…PLUS we […] […] night awake–Frankie-baby and I decided it was TIME to draw to see which of my commenters from THIS post wins a free t-shirt! SO we got ready—I wrote out ALL the commenter names…PLUS we […]  One thing I have overheard in the past year from lots of people as they watched our family adopt say is, “We would love to adopt ONE day, BUT we want to have our ‘own’ kids first.” The funny thing about our family is that Richard and I actually started our marriage wanting to adopt […] Love this post! We are becoming parents by adopting FIRST! I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂 it’s always encouraging to me to see other families adopting first as well! we’re one of those families 🙂 http://aheritagefromthelord.blogspot.com Andrea – thank you so much for sharing and for encouraging others! My hubby and I are also on this road of adopting first and couldn’t be more excited! We also thought we’d adopt ‘one day’ but the Lord had different plans for our lives! That’s what I love about God – His ways are higher than our own and are PERFECT! It’s incredible to be able to tell people that this is God’s plan A for our family! Follow our journey at http://godetchedyourname.blogspot.com/. Love this post Andrea…I also cringe when people say “our own”! We origionally were going to adopt first…but were too young (by 5 years:) to be homestudy approved in our state. So thankful for the 3 bio kiddos the Lord has blessed us with thus far, and so, so thankful for the little one He is leading us to! My husband and I have been married just a year and a half, and we are thankfully on the waitlist for our adoption from Ethiopia! We agree with the points this couple made- adopting first has many great practical reasons! Follow along on our journey, yestoadoption.blogspot.com That’s US!! We came home with our first from Taiwan last Fall and we’re headed to Ethiopia for siblings this time! Maybe one day we’ll really put our efforts into getting pregnant, but for now, the Lord’s calling on our family and the way we should build it is perfectly clear! We are adopting first! We needed a little nudge by fertility struggles, but now that we are here, I feel so amazingly lucky, I can’t even express it! It is like striking gold! It is like winning the lottery! Adoption is like a direct line to God’s heart, and you won’t regret it! We don’t have our baby/babies yet, but we already know that we are forever changed, and LOVE adoption! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! http://whenwebelong.blogspot.com Thank you so much for posting this! So beautiful! We are first time adopting parent’s and feel so incredibly blessed to be on this journey. God is teaching and showing us some beautiful things! http://richardandbrantley.blogspot.com Enjoyed this post! I always knew I wanted to adopt – and like others, “assumed” we would choose to have bio kids first…then felt less and less like going the bio route, and ended up realizing there wasn’t really a good reason NOT to adopt first…so that’s what we’re doing! Thanks for sharing this story! Brandon and I are also called to adopt FIRST. When people ask us if we had trouble getting pregnant, we just smile and say “Don’t know!” They always look a little perplexed! Just part of our story. Africa is where our children are! Blessings to others on this journey, whether first, second, or even third choices- you are right where God wants you! As you know, Andrea, this is the route Aaron and I took even though our plan was to “make” kids first and then adopt. It never felt right to us though. Adopting first, I believe, truly was God’s calling for our family–I’d love to say that we jumped right in, but it honestly took us so long to listen and obey. Even after we started our adoption, God worked on our hearts soooo much! THANK YOU for posting about this; it’s so exciting to see this happening with couples…I feel like I’m hearing it all of the time lately! 🙂 There is no PLAN B is God’s leading. http://www.one27james.blogspot.com Thanks so much for this post! I wanted to adopt since I was in middle school, and am so thrilled to be able to realize this dream. There are so many ways to create a family, and I hope that soon, our choice of adoption FIRST will not be such a novel thing or a surprise. Feel free to stop by and share our story at: http://curdsandkimchi.blogspot.com Hi Andrea! I love your blog and I really enjoyed this post because we have decided to be one of those families as well! My husband and I are adopting our first from Ethiopia. It took us a year of trying to get pregnant to realize that God had a better plan for us! Please feel free to check out our new blog!! grafted-branches.blogspot.com What a great post and how encouraging to read all the comments from young couples choosing adoption FIRST! What an encouraging post! My husband and I have also chosen adoption as the first way to build our family, and to many of our friends and family it doesn’t make sense. Although Satan has tried to fill my mind with doubts about our less than “normal” method of building our family, I know without a doubt that God placed the desire in both of our hearts. I have not had contact with very many other families who have chose adoption first, so your bog and all of the comments are so exciting to read! We too are adopting FIRST- ah, how nice to hear of other called to the same as us. We believe that God wants us to build a family and our first will be a sweet babe from Ethiopia! We’re so blessed by where God has placed us in life right now with the resources, time, energy and heart to do this. Oh, you have no idea what this post means to me!! We are adopting first and at 24 years old, we find it hard to find other families that are also doing the same and around the same age. This is so sweet of you to post this, and I can see/read other stories similar to ours! You’re the best! Thank you for this post! We were called to adopt first and a year after bringing our son home from Vietnam, we felt God calling us to adopt from Ethiopia. Now, we’re waiting to bring our daughter home some time this fall! It is such an encouragement to me to read the stories of other families doing the same. Yes, please do your next post on older families starting again by adopting! I have been trying to convince my parents to adopt, or atleast look into it and see what God has planned. Even though I am 19 and my brother 15, I just have always longed for more siblings to fill my house! Thanks for all your wonderful blog posts! God bless your family. We are adopting first as well! What an encouragement it is to read about all these other couples doing the same. I believe it shows a clear picture to the world the spiritual aspect of adoption. My husband and I have received many strange looks, but we couldn’t be more excited about adopting first! We are an adopt first family!! We wanted to adopt first before we wanted to try for bio kids. After a few years of infertility, we decided to start the adoption process from Ethiopia. We are waiting for our referral for 2 little ones. Any day!!! Our blog is PlanAEthiopia.blogspot.com. Much love! I am so encouraged to see more and more families feeling God’s prompting and following His will for their lives. My husband and I started dating 9 years ago and one of the first things we talked about was our desire to adopt. We couldn’t pinpoint how and when this would happen, but we knew that’s what we wanted and what God wanted for our family. After the birth of our son, we found out some of our best friends were adopting their first child from Ethiopia. We were so excited to know that we were going to have other families like ours and begin researching more on how to make it happen. A short few months later God just smacked me over the head with the desire to start the journey NOW. Although it took some convincing in the financial area with my husband (fixer-upper house + debt + new baby = not a lot of money)…God changed his heart to see HIS plan for our lives. NEVER have for a MOMENT regretted this decision and are EAGERLY and (not so) patiently waiting to be matched with our Lil Miss. thisdomesticateddiva.blogspot.com My husband and I are also adopting first. This is our first choice because of God’s plan. It is amazing to look back during our process and see God’s hand opening doors for us and guiding us through this time. He has used this time as we are waiting to grow our faith and love for Him. He is showing us how to be better parents. We are hopeful to be bringing our son home soon. He is a year old and we are longing for him. After nearly 10 years of marriage, and thinking we would have bio kids first and then adopt, we now know that it was God’s plan all along to enlarge our family through the miracle of adoption. We are one month old now as a family of Four and we are madly in love with OUR kids. http://www.nystrandfamily.blogspot.com Thanks for bringing this to the forefront. So often, I think our culture views adoption as God’s Plan B and unnatural. However, I believe in the life of a believer, adopted as God’s child, it is a very natural lifestyle and God’s Plan A, just as growing a family through biological children is God’s Plan A. We are so thankful God saw fit to bless us with twins through adoption and we are excited to watch how He continues to grow our family! Blessings as you transition! Well, I wouldn’t say we adopted “first,” as we have no plans to have bio children. 🙂 However, the day we decided to adopt was the most peaceful day of my life, and now I have two beautiful Ethiopian princesses I am so thankful to be able to call my daughters. I wouldn’t have it any other way. THANKYOU so much for sharing this! I have had so many conversations with people lately about wanting “their own” first (cringe!) and have been able to ask why. I posted this link on my website as you have explained it so well and hope & pray that they will consider it! WE just brought home our son from South Africa and have LOVED every moment with him!! http://www.rileycandra.blogspot.com Me and my hubby are adopting first too. We went to Uganda last summer and fell in love and couldn’t think of NOT adopting first. We were just matched with a baby last week and are still waiting on a picture of our little guy but we couldn’t be more thrilled!! That is us!!! (www.aebrunk.blogspot.com) We chose to adopt years ago, and to say YES to the first referral. We were on the path to adopt a sibling group in Ethiopia (dossier almost sent) when our agency called to say 2 1/2 year old twins needed a home in 24 hours (in March). It was God Who led us down the path so we would trust Him and say YES. Like someone else said, if someone asks if we’ve had trouble getting pregnant – we just say, “We don’t know!” 🙂 God does. And He led us to the perfect little ones for us. Round 2 adoption may be another sibling group, or a single child, or back to Ethiopia where our heart is or domestic again, but we want to adopt again! What a privilege. I am SO VERY PROUD of my big sister Britney Cannon and her husband Jason Cannon for their incredible relationship with Christ. I long for the kind of faith, dependence and love they have for God. They have opened their hearts to hear His cry for them…they are taking a gigantic leap of faith and saying, “Yes, God, I hear you! I am following Your lead. Take my dreams, my hopes, my fears…take my life Lord, a living sacrifice.” How awesome is that?!? Y’all are my hereos. And I know that with the amazing faith and trust you have….God is going to see you and your baby through everything. I am SO stinkin’ excited to meet my new baby nephew/neice!!! And I promise, I won’t call him Bookie, haha. Besides, that’s Landen’s nickname. lol. LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Don’t forget to buy an adoption tee from them if you can!!! |
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by admin
Yea!!!! So excited and wish we could sign up today!!!!! (Feel free to just stick my name on the list:)
LOVE this!!! Wish I could commit to go, but chances are I will be traveling to Ethiopia around that time. Pretty good excuse not to come though, right?!? 😉 But 2012, I’m gonna get a group of my adoptive mama friends and we’re all gonna go together…so this better become an annual thing! =)
so excited!!!!!
Emily V.
VogeltanzFamily.com
I cant make it to the retreat but LOVE the shirt. I am going to have to get one of those!!!!
How much will it be? That’s just 5 hours from home! 😉
I am with Megan – hoping to be in Ethiopia (would love love love to go together:) – but definitely next year. Or, maybe if the list moves with lightening speed and we get a referral soon:) Never know!! What an awesome way to bring such an incredible group of momma’s together!!
Yep…if you get your referral by December 1st—it would be tight! But after December 1st…I think you are safe to plan a trip to the ATL!
What is the cost?
🙂 Okay a couple questions! Can any adoptive momma come? Our daughter is adopted but she is not from Ethopia? 🙂 ..Also can you make the shirts in reg. t-shirt so us bigger adoptive momma’s can order them! Reg T-s are so much better for us! LOL
You don’t mess around girlfriend! Love how you pulled this together! I have to figure out a way to come!!! Sounds like a great winter break from MN to me! 🙂
Jenny
Love this, and girl, I am so there! Just talked to the hubby and it’s on the calendar! Cannot wait!!! THANK YOU for doing this! We mommas need this and we need each other. Happy weekend – mine is now off to a GREAT start! 🙂
very very excited… cant wait to hear more details… this just might need to be my birthday present!
Just reading about this brought tears to my eyes. Sounds like heaven to this tired adoptive momma. Plus, my in-laws live only 15 minutes from this place! Perfect! I’m definitely there!
Talking to one of my besties (who is also an adoptive mom) about heading to GA for this! So excited that you were able to pull this together!
Wait! Exciting! This looks awesome! Where can I find more details? Is this for already adopted moms…or moms like me in the middle of an adoption? Where in GA is this and when?
Oh wow! Somehow I MISSED the whole first have of the post! Sorry!! Don’t know where it was on my computer. 🙂
This sounds wonderful! Can’t wait to hear more!!!
I would love to be there!
Planning to be there Andrea!!! Now to find a roomate! (:
I am very excited to be a part of this!! Please send the info as soon as you get a chance!~
Sarah
Sooo excited! Can’t wait to hear the rest of the details!
please let me know when registration opens!
I can’t wait to hear the details!
I may not can make it, but I would love to try…what about foster moms??
hi. i am an adoptive mama who would LOVE to purchase one of these shirts. do you happen to have any left?