WE.ARE.ADOPTING!!

This is the thing I have really been wanting to write about for the past six months!! 

Yes, we have decided to adopt! and we are super excited about it.

Dallas and I have always had adoption on our hearts, since we first married and before we ever began having kids. It was something we dreamed of and hoped to do sometime in the future. 

Both of us have hearts for people living without hope and without belonging. 

And this is what draws us to church planting - people may have good families and good jobs and good lives on the outside, or they many not at all, but so many people we meet in life are empty inside, living in fear, despair, and with a sense of hopelessness for the future. We long to see people restored to a relationship with God! Being tools to bring people to a relationship with Jesus and a belonging to God's family is what our purpose here in Guadalajara is all about. 

This is the same reason we are drawn to adoption. We long to see the lives of kids that no longer have families be restored, so that they can live with hope and belong to a family that loves them. 

That said, living here in Mexico we weren't able to adopt as we were Temporary Residents for the first several years. We also couldn't adopt through Canada as we aren't living there. So, we had to wait until we were Permanent Residents here in Mexico, and that is what has now made it possible!

Last year Dallas and I were saying that we really needed to decide once and for all if we were going to pursue this. Our boys are getting older and we felt that it was the right time to make a decision. 

To be honest, the fear of the unknown made me unsure about pursuing it - what if we weren't accepted? What if we put our hearts into this and it fell through? The government and adoption can be a very long and tricky process!! But I have learned to trust God with my heart and know that it's worth the risk to fall in love with a child and pursue this. These kids are worth it.

So, there is so much I could explain about the process, about the orphanages, about adoption, but I will try to answer some of the basic questions that we get asked and if you have more, feel free to ask.

Is this an International or Domestic Adoption?

This is considered a Domestic Adoption since with our Permanent Residency we follow the same process of adoption as a Mexican citizen would. All adoptions in Mexico have to go through the DIF (Mexico's Child & Family Services), as private adoptions are not legal. So we work with them directly and we also have a lawyer working with us. Both Mexico and Canada are part of the Hague Convention , which regulates how adoptions must be handled, and this should make the process of dual-citizenship easier when the time comes.

When did you start the process?

We officially began the process of getting certified to adopt in Mexico in February 2017. It took two months for us to get all of the documents together that we needed and we handed all of this in to Child & Family in April 2017 and our process was underway. After that we had to go for interviews, do a home study, attend an adoption workshop, and have a psychological evaluation.

Where are you at in the process?

We received our certification to adopt on August 3, 2017, our 15th Wedding Anniversary!

Are you waiting to be matched with a child?

We actually began this process when we did because of a child we met at the Orphanage we volunteer at! Both Dallas and I knew pretty well immediately that now was the time. So, we know who we are hoping to adopt! 

However, it is a long process of paperwork in order for children in orphanages to be adoptable, as it is similar to a foster system in that many of the kids have families but were removed from their families due to many factors, or are abandoned, and I'm not going to get into politics, but the truth of the matter is is that the paperwork is usually not put into place until someone comes forward wanting to adopt and the paperwork is a really long process. It will be several months yet before we would have anyone actually in our home with us, but we are already doing visits. 

We probably will not share specific details about any child's personal background but will share a bit more in another post about who we are hoping to adopt!

Is adoption common in Mexico?
It isn't. Taking in a child that is blood-related is done, no questions asked. But adopting a child that is not related to you is not common at all. We have met about 12 other couples now that are in the adoption proces and they are all couples that aren't able to conceive. In that case they are looking to adopt newborns, which is great! But this also means that older children already in orphanages usually grow up there. We would love to see more families consider adoption here.

What do the boys think?

We have shared everything with the boys right from the beginning. Before we began the process we talked to them about it and so it has been something they've warmed up to and understood more and more as the months have gone on. They are completely accepting of it and excited about it.

Those are all of the questions I can think of right now....as I said, feel free to ask away and we will try to answer if we can.

We are so thankful for all of your support and prayers and while we know that this will mean more work and money and time and energy for us with more kids, we feel that it is right for our family. Prayers appreciated!