The Switch ~by Bill

So here we are.  Redoing paperwork, changing agencies, changing countries.  To Ukraine!  Of all places!  Sometimes a door opens and you know its the one to walk through.  We don't really understand why this has turned out the way it has.  We started our adoption journey planning to get our next child from Kazakhstan.  Reading books about Kazakhstan.  Working on Russian.  Checking flights to Almaty and apartments.  Seems like a crazy way to spend time but its just one of our hobbies.....  Then progress slowed to a gel in Kaz and we started looking elsewhere.   All the waits seemed sooooo loooong.  Then we heard about a lawyer in Springdale AR that could get you speedy quick referrals to birth mothers from the Marshallese community in Springdale.

 To good to be true!
 Its not!  We were matched with a birth mom almost immediately.

 It is!  She backed out almost as fast.  Just time to sink enough $$ into it to make it really sting.

So.  We wait for another referral.  Our lawyer wants to match us with a birth mother that is due soon.  He is very persuasive that that is the thing to do.  "I can match you with a birth mom immediately but I think you should wait...."

We don't know why Marshallese adoption didn't work out for us.  Maybe we jumped ship too soon.  Maybe we should have asked Vaughn for the next available birth mom no matter how long till she was due.  For some reason it seemed like we started to question more and more if it was right for us.  Neither of us have ever liked the aspect of domestic newborn adoption that you feel as if you are 'competing' for babies.  The simple fact is there are less healthy newborns born and placed for adoption then there are adoptive parents.  At any rate it seemed like everyone else we knew that was signed with Vaughn was moving ahead  and we were stalled.  We checked into other options but nothing seemed to work out.  Those were dark days.  To make matters worse it seemed like everyone that adopted through Vaughn had reports on how totally chaotic his operation was.

Then one of Steph's adoption friends signed on with the agency we used when we adopted Peyton to adopt from Ukraine.  Ukraine!! For some reason I had always had a negative impression of the adoption process from there.  Not interested.  Not me.  But somehow we couldn't forget about it.  Especially not with the updates and glowing reports from the friend.  It seemed like we were thawing to the whole Ukraine idea.  We started doing some research and I realized some or all of my fears about the Ukraine process were out dated or unfounded.  Suddenly it seemed like the door swung open.  Light came in.  No question what to do.

So.  Here we are.  I just filled out a pile of paperwork and there is much, MUCH more to come.  We have HOPE!!!  Our agency says travel as soon as June or July, depending on how fast we can get all of our paperwork switched and re-done.

It will be a lot more expensive than adopting with Vaughn would have been.  It will take us further out of our comfort zone.  But it seems to be where God wants us.  Maybe God wants some people to adopt internationally.  Maybe it has something to do with taking his word to other nations.  Maybe God so loves every child that he has one in Ukraine that, in His special plan is meant to be a part of our forever family!!

WHAT A JOURNEY!!!!

-Bill