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“Are there a lot of boys and girls without Mommies or Daddies in Africa?” he asked me. “Yes,” I replied, “lots and lots of boys and girls without Mommies or Daddies in Africa.” Tuck sat up from under his covers and pulled my face close to his, “Then bring them all home from Africa when you go.” I laughed, and my heart skipped a beat with pride in his compassion and sadness at the plight of orphans. “We can’t” I said. And he looked at me with his piercing eyes, pulled me closer, and demanded simply, “Why not?” And as I cuddled him close and explained that we couldn’t care for millions of children by ourselves, I remembered how often God had whispered that very question to us this past year. He whispered it when we asked how we (a minister and a stay-at-home mom) could afford to bring home a child from North Africa, when we thought a major tax error couldn’t be fixed for the good of our adoption process, when we doubted that we could raise more than $1,000 at a yard sale, when we thought we couldn’t go from renting to owning a home without spending our adoption savings … HE was there responding to our answers based on human logic and reason with His question of “I am GOD and WHY NOT?” Recently, we have gotten lots of questions from others about where we are in our adoption progress. I hesitate to even write this because I don’t want people to stop asking questions. We LOVE questions about our adoption -- how things are going, how much longer, how we are feeling (most of the time -- a little overwhelmed about the money, rather sad about the length of time, joyful to be experiencing both of those emotions if it’s part of the journey of bringing our child home), etc. Questions show us you care, that you want to know us, that you are invested (even if it’s a tiny bit) in our story. Sometimes, it feels a little lonely taking this course. It is definitely not the “typical” way of bringing home a baby (I laugh at myself at how hard I thought it was not knowing EXACTLY when our first two kids were going to come into our world … nine months or less seems a lot less broad now). So, in our desire to share the journey (and we are so grateful that you want to) … here is the “predicted” path (the red is what we have finished, the underlined blue part is where we are currently) … though as we are learning, not much is predictable in adoption. *Submit application 1 *Submit application 2 *Complete homestudy *Work on government paperwork (Dossier) and raise $5,000 so we can submit it *Wait and wait and wait for a referral (information and pictures) of our child (the wait is anywhere between 6-14 months) And in the meantime work on saving and raising lots of money! *Receive referral (after accepting the referral we wait 3-6 months before we go) *1st trip- Meet child and go to court to finalize adoption (about a week long trip) *Leave our child there (return home and wait about 6-8 LONG weeks before going back) *2nd trip- complete an Embassy appointment and receive child's visa (1-2 week trip). *Bring our child home with us!!! As you can see, we are currently in a holding place. We can’t move forward until we have the next installment of $5,000. We have debated over and prayed about how to raise this next payment, and we finally have a few ideas. So here are our current fundraisers: PARENT’S Pre-Valentine’s NIGHT OUT! The details: Ben and Beth Edfeldt are hosting Parents’ Night Out. The children (3 months to 5th grade) will enjoy a Valentine craft, pizza dinner, and more fun! Space is limited. Sign up soon! ALL PROFITS will go to our adoption fund! When: Saturday, February11th, 2012 from 6-9 p.m. Where: TBD Cost: by donation Click here to register (be sure to put how many kids and ages)
As you can also see we still have a rather lengthy road ahead. But it would mean so much to us if you would stick with us, consider supporting our fundraising efforts, encourage us, pray with us, and keep asking us questions.
*Let me say, I am really impressed and grateful that you made it all the way here to the last line of this very long blog entry. Comments are closed.
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AuthorWe are a family of five (Ben, Beth, Tucker, Libby, and Zane). We started this blog during our 7 year journey to bring home a child through adoption. This is our story of how God is faithful in the good, the bad, and all the in between. 
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