Our Journey Begins!

After almost two years of talking, praying, researching, comparing agencies, etc. we finally are in a position to begin the long process of adoption! It has been a very exciting week for me. We have been so busy moving into our new home, cleaning out the old one, and just general crazy life with 5 children that I hadn't been actively looking through adoption information. I saw a FB post from an agency I had "liked" months ago saying they had referals for new children in Poland. I hadn't ever considered Poland but saw that they do not have restrictions on family size. I sent for information from this particular agency on their Polish and Bulgarian (which we have had much interest in) programs. That email got the ball rolling unexpectedly fast! I immediately received an email back from a lovely consultant who asked me what ages we were looking at and if we had considered Latvia. Latvia? I honestly wasn't even sure where exactly Latvia is. Between Lithuania and Estonia, across the Baltic Sea from Sweden if you are wondering. :) She had just seen a waiting child listing pop up for siblings in Latvia. A 3 year old girl and her 2 year old brother. I immediately felt my heart skip a beat. We were already talking about specific children! Now, you can't ask for them to place a hold on the children per Latvian rules/law until they have reviewed your dossier and cleared you as perspective parents. We have reviewed the children's file however and are praying ardently for God's leading. The application, homestudy, dossier completion will take months and another family could be chosen. I cannot share information about these two precious little ones but it seems like this would be a perfect match for them and us. Is Latvia where God is leading? I don't know for sure yet so I am trying not to get emotionally attached which is quite hard to do! As I pray for a speedy process and hope that we will be matched, I also pray that a family would be found for these babies no matter what. They deserve a loving mama and daddy so very much. So this is where we are so far. We are applying for the Bulgarian, Latvian and domestic (U.S.) programs. My goal right now is to persue these specific children in Latvia but if they are matched before our dossier is approved than we will probably focus on Bulgaria or U.S. adoption as it is less travel time and expense. We are so excited to see what the future holds. We both have a huge fear of flying but it doesn't even matter to me right now. All I can think about is that we have a child or children waiting for us to rescue them! Needing us desperately RIGHT NOW. And I only wish all it took was to jump on a plane and get to them and I would do it in a heartbeat. It's no different to me than if Finley and River ( or any of the kids) were thousands of miles away. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to conquer my great fear to get to them as quickly as possible. Please pray for us. We need your prayers more than anything else! Please pray for a speedy process that we are in the very beginning stages of. Specifically for the homestudy to go well so we will be approved; for fundraising efforts; and for the Lord to bless this matching process so we will be the right family for the child and vice versa. Thank you for reading and for your support and prayers! And if you feel so led- thank you for donating to our adoption fund. We will keep updating as things progress! Blessings to you and yours- Amanda (with Jon and family) http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/take-my-hand-parker-family-adoption-fundraiser-/66661