Adoption: Sacrifice

Adoption has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I thought I'd share with you a "revelation" I had this week. . . Adoption is going to require sacrifice. Here is what I mean:

We have two different countries that we are looking at adopting from: 1. Ethiopia and 2. Honduras.

Let's start with Ethiopia. Originally, we thought this would be our only option because of our age (many countries require you to be 30 years old or older), and because we have three children. If we adopted from Ethiopia we would use Bethany Christian Services. When adopting internationally you are always required to go to the country to pick up your child. Ethiopia requires 2 trips, each 5-7 days long. So, part of the sacrifice would be leaving our three children behind for that time to go Ethiopia to bring home our fourth child. The other part of the sacrifice is that on the first trip to Ethiopia, you meet your child, then go to court to testify that you will indeed parent that child, and then you leave your child in Ethiopia until you return for the second trip to bring your child home. Can you see how a mother's heart would be torn in this situation?

How we found out about Honduras adoption was definitely a "God thing". We were having our house re-wired and our electrician "just happened" to be adopting from Honduras through a new program with Living Hope Adoption Agency. Again, for me the greatest part of the sacrifice is the trip to the country because it means leaving my three little Hess girls behind. The trip to Honduras is just one trip, but it is a minimum of two weeks up to four weeks. I think I could handle two weeks, but four weeks? That is so scary. How would we manage on so many levels (our children, our home, our bills, etc.) for that long away from home.

Sacrifice.

Dictionary.com describes it this way, "the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim."

Once again, I am realizing that I want to do things when they are easy.

Of course, there is the sacrifice of money. Somehow I am not as concerned about this. Isn't it strange how one can have such faith and confidence in one area of ones life and be utterly fearful in another?

As I thought more of this I realized that I will have to depend on someone else to take care of our children, and that is a scary thought for me. I love being home with our girls and the thought of leaving them for 2-4 weeks is awful.

Of course, Trent's concerns are different from mine. "Oh, the girls will be fine" he reassures me. But what about work? How can I leave work for 2-4 weeks? The girls are my work, BCF Group is his work.

Psalm 37:3-4 "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

I would love it if you would pray for our family in the coming months. We have decided to pray about this and consider our options until Magdalena turns 1 in August. I'm sure I'll post more about our progress before then!!