At A Glance:

We are adopting!

We think that God’s been stirring our hearts to grow our family through adoption. Both of us have felt for some time that our journey would include adoption. Ben is a Student and Family pastor and Karaline is currently a stay-at-home parent. Now, with daughters who sleep through the night, are out of diapers, and obey perfectly without a second’s hesitation (this account is inspired by true events... sort of), we feel that this is the right time! We are pursuing adoption through an organization called All God’s Children International (AGCI) and will be taking steps to adopt from Colombia! Our application for the program was accepted, and now comes the involved and expensive process. We are asking for our community around us to help in the ways they can: chiefly through prayer and financial support.

Our Process in Choosing Adoption:

Before we were married and had any children, we talked about how we wanted to adopt one day. Shortly after we got married, we were surprised to find out we were pregnant with our first daughter and, shortly after having Posy, we got pregnant with our second. After having Posy and Felicity and experiencing parenthood, we felt a greater joy and burden looking towards adoption and began researching how adoption might look for our family.

Much of what we learned of adoption was beautiful and encouraging. We talked with adoptees and adoptive families around us and saw the way that God can turn something so tragic (a child traumatically losing their family) into something redeemed (gaining a permanent family and beginning their journey toward healing). We also learned more about our own history and story of faith. Reading the Bible, we see that God has woven adoption into His redemptive plans— culminating in our adoption into God’s family through the work of His Son who was adopted by Joseph. If adoption is important to God, it’s important to us, too.

While adoption became even more beautiful to us, the dark and disturbing realities of the adoption world became exposed as well. We learned about the deep corruption that has tainted and added trauma to already traumatized children and families. Whether it’s through coercion or kidnapping, children have been taken from stable and capable families and adopted by well-meaning families who didn’t know that the child was not, in fact, one who needed an adoptive family! We knew we wanted to adopt, but it became so overwhelming to know if we were truly helping children or harming them. We continued to research and talk with people about ways to care for orphans responsibly in a way that puts the child first.

While we have been interested in domestic adoption & foster care in the past, our hearts have been turned to international adoption. We recognize that there is a need for adoption both in America and throughout the world, and personally we feel drawn to international adoption. An adoptive father Ben spoke to recently said: “The hardest part of adoption is that you can’t adopt every kid who needs it.” Because of this, we feel confident choosing a path knowing that we aren’t solving every need for every child, or even every need for any child; by God’s grace, we can at least provide a loving, safe, and stable family for a kid who needs it. After researching international adoption for a time, we found AGCI as an agency through which to pursue adoption. AGCI is a wonderful organization and provides so much care (not just adoption) to kids who need it. Check them out!

What Our Family Is Doing Now:

We are now a part of the Colombia program at AGCI! We are nervous about all that this entails but ultimately feel very encouraged that this is where God is calling our family. In the application process, we felt like God was leading us to be open to a special needs adoption — also something that feels a little scary but it seems right for us. There are so many children waiting in institutions for a family to love and care for them that don’t get a second glance because they have disabilities or health conditions. We prayerfully and realistically went through the (extensive) special needs list and ultimately felt God was calling us to be open to a variety of issues and to prayerfully consider who He wants for our family — a boy or girl with minor or more challenging special needs. We went through the list with our current daughters in mind, knowing these decisions will also change their lives (for the better, we would argue!). Both Posy and Felicity have been enthusastically on board with the prospect of gaining a new sibling, and have started pretending to get on an airplane to go adopt! We are now approaching the part of the program with home studies, orientations, and paperwork on top of paperwork.

Ways to Support:

Adoption requires a great amount of money that we are trusting God to provide. It is easy to be overwhelmed but we feel confident that He cares for each life and is faithful to provide. Plus, Jesus paid the ultimate price to bring us into His family… we are willing to pay a large sum to give a home to someone that doesn’t have one! Yet we truly can’t do this alone.

It is hard to come into something knowing you can’t do it on your own, but we are becoming more comfortable with that as we have seen God provide so wonderfully from our community already. We’ll need that support in actually getting our child home, but we also know that a village is required for all aspects of parenting - practically, emotionally, spiritually, culturally, and more!

We know that not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone can contribute to orphan care. Practically, we need help financially. We would be so grateful if you would donate whatever you can to help us bring our child home! We know that not everyone can contribute financially, but may be able to contribute support through emotional support, encouragement, or watching our daughters while we go to appointments or travel to bring our baby home. There are many ways that people can support and we truly, truly appreciate all of it.

Most of all, please pray for us! We believe that God hears every word that people speak to Him and so it means so much to us when people commit to praying for us and our family. We anticipate our lives to change a lot and so covet prayers getting our child home and everyone’s adjustment (Posy and Felicity included!).

Thank you so much for being the village for our family, including our new child! We are so grateful for the people God has placed in our lives. We can’t do it without people coming around us and we thank everyone in advance for considering donating. We are already so humbled by the support!

Questions?

If you have questions about our adoption, adoption in general, or what your money will be going to specifically, feel free to connect with us. We'd love to answer any questions!