My name is Laurie Frost, and I am adopting a little girl child from India. I expect that she will be around the age of 4-5 years old by the time she comes home. This journey begins with the biggest act of Trust in God on my part. Faith is a big part of this, and my story is no where near done. 

I know for many women going through pregnancy and child birth is a lifelong desire; a desire that never really resonated with me, yet I did want children. I can't explain why, but adoption was always something I was going to do one day. When I was little and planning my future, I thought I would have 25 children (Hey, when you're a child and planning your future, you go for broke) and the majority would be adopted. When I became a pre-teen, the number was reduced by half. I loved the movie Cheaper By The Dozen, the original; because of that movie, I wanted twelve kids; six boys and six girls. Even then, the plan was to adopt most of my brood.

As a teenager I loved babysitting toddlers. I loved their imagination and listening to their stories or listening to their reasoning behind why they are doing what they are doing. Also when I was younger, I loved hearing my mom and her siblings talking to my grandma. It always made me smile when I would hear them call her "Mamma". I knew that I wanted to be called Mamma. When I hit my late twenties into early thirties, I was faced with a realization and had to accept that being a mom was not going to happen for me. This was a very painful unmet expectation in my life and I shed a lot of tears over this fact. I may have accepted I wasn't going to be a mom, but I also knew I wanted children in my life. I decided I will be Auntie Laurie The Greatest! Whenever the subject came up about having children, I would just defer to my Auntie status. When people asked if I would consider adoption I had the standard excuses such as, "If I had the money, I totally would adopt" or "If I had a bigger place I would consider fostering a child." 

In October 2016, a team of six from my church joined a group from America World Adoption Association (AWAA) on a Storyteller Mission to China where they visited orphanages and advocated for children who are waiting to be adopted. Most of these children in the orphanages are older children and have a special need. This can range from something as minor as albinism to a severe medical need like an untreated heart defect. All six individuals are friends of mine and through their advocacy posts, my heart ached for each child and I wanted to do something to help them. 

Then a post about a beautiful little girl in China showed up. The name given to her was Allie-Jo. The post was about how she was close to aging out of the orphanage. In China a child ages out of the orphanage at age 14. A child who requires care when they age out will most likely be transferred to a skilled nursing facility to live out the rest of their lives. If the child can reasonably care for themselves, they could potentially be hired on by the orphanage as staff, otherwise they will be put on the street. Per the post, Allie-Jo, who has Cerebral Palsy and is in a wheelchair. As part of her assessment, she was working with buttons and during her assessment it was reported that she broke into a sweat determined to complete the task. When asked why she didn't stop, her response was, "I know this is my last chance for a family." She was 13 at the time.

Up until that post I was seeing pictures of my friends with these wonderful children and praying for them and their future families. Yet it was Allie-Jo's story that broke me. I wept hard. My heart hurt so much I had to ask God if I was supposed to be her mom. This was a terrifying thought for me; I had come to terms that it was not in His plan for me to be a mom. I needed my own mom. I remember turning into the parking lot at work and calling my mom in tears asking her to pray because of Allie-Jo. I cried and struggled for almost two weeks. The beautiful smile on Allie-Jo combined with a few soul-searching sermons at church, made me realize I had to find out one way of another if I was supposed to pursue adoption.

November 13, 2016, I completed and submitted the pre-application with AWAA to see if I qualified to adopt. Now would be a good time to explain, that I have never felt a direct call to go to China. Even though it was Allie-Jo's story that made me ask God if I was supposed to adopt, I still never felt like China was where I needed to go. When I applied, I selected 8 countries that AWAA works in, and when I hit the submit button I was OK if the answer was no. I figured if the answer was no, then it meant I was just supposed to help support in another way, or possibly go on a mission trip like my friends. When I hit the submit button, I received an automatic message that said i would hear from them within 3 days.

One week went by, and I didn't get a response. I justified the delay convinced it was because I had selected 8 countries and they need more time. Then another week went by and I still had not received a response. I started to feel disappointed and the sadness started to creep in because I started wanting the answer to be 'yes'. I made the mistake of getting my hopes up. I really didn't want to have to go through the depression again of realizing I was not going to be a mom. I knew I needed to know for sure so I bit the bullet and called AWAA to find out. I learned via that phone call, that a response was sent three days after I submitted my application and that I had been pre-approved for China or India. (Turns out the response was sent to my spam folder.) After may tears of joyful crying the next mental debate began. I had to choose, which program to join, China or India.

I went back and forth between the two countries. When I would fall on China, I never felt at ease with that scenario. I mean it made sense that I should choose China. I kept thinking I just needed to get used to the idea. After all it was because of my friend's trip to China, the post about Allie-Jo and other posts about the children in China wanting families that prompted me to ask if I'm supposed to adopt; I even have two cousins that live-in China, but I never had peace with China as the answer. My pastor commented that once I made my decision, I would have total peace. I was praying, my family was praying, my church family was praying and finally I got my answer. My answer came when I went to hear Nic Vujicic, https://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/. He shared a story about a colleague of his in Mumbai, India who started a Christian Camp that helps young women who were victims of the sex slave, human trafficking industry. This gentleman bought the freedom of 28 young women and brought them through his Christian camp providing medical care, spiritual care as well as provide vocational training to get a job. As a result, these women started saving money to buy freedom for others and to go through the camp like they did. As Nic wrapped up the story by sharing the news that his colleague received a letter from the Indian government that they were going to bulldoze the brothels in Mumbai and he will be allowed to build his church, that's when I knew my daughter was in India. 

My pastor was right, as soon as I heard that story, I had total and complete peace with my decision. I submitted my formal application to the India adoption program and on January 6, 2017 I received the welcome packet.

After crying tears of joy, I cry a lot these days, I found a bible verse that summed up why I was about to do what I am doing: 

    "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy" ~Proverbs 13:12

God has been so faithful in this journey. I know it is going to be long and hard and that I will want to give up, but I am, weirdly, excited to be on this journey and though I don't know who my daughter is or where she is in India, I cannot wait to meet her. She has already taken up residence in my heart and I ache to hold and love her.

If you are inclined to donate through PureCharity.com your donation is 100% tax deductible and will go directly to the America World Adoption Association for my specific adoption process! The average cost, from beginning to end, to adopt a child from India ranges between $33k – $42k.

If you are interested or would like to follow my journey, please feel free to contact me via email: lcfrosting@gmail.com. Or feel free to follow my blog: https://lfroblog.wordpress.com/. I am starting the home study process this week, (July 13th), and once I have completed the home study, I will be able to begin the matching process and once I accept a match, I will have a picture of my little girl. This thought brings me so much joy. Please feel free to share this with anyone you know who may be interested in donating or who may have questions about International adoption. If you are interested in other fundraisers I will be working on, please feel free to reach out to me and I will be sure to include you in any events I have.

Please know, I completely understand if you are not ok or unable to donate money, I will not be offended. But I would like to ask you to pray for me on this journey!

“… and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

On behalf of my daughter and myself, thank you for supporting our journey and for helping to bring my daughter home.