Why Wednesday #2

Whew, I was afraid I was going to miss my deadline for Why Wednesday. It almost became Why Friday or Saturday!! Luckily Little K is sleeping and Big K is watching Calliou so I have about 10 minutes, give or take, to try and write this before we head out to Mimi's house :-)

Why International Adoption?

Many people have asked us why we decided to adopt overseas rather than here in the United States. They bring up the fact that there are thousands of kids in the U.S. who need homes just as much as those elsewhere.

We have prayed very hard about where God wanted us to adopt from. He gave us a vision (coming in another post on Why Wednesday) so we knew our child was in another country. But after putting the natural (research on the Internet) with the supernatural (prayer and the way God lined things up) we had our pros and cons list:

Pros:
-Usually goes much faster due to the number of children available and being ready in orphanages
-Most of the time, costs less due to not having to take care of birth mother's medical and living expenses
-Can specify gender of child
-Giving a child opportunities that they may never have
-Since we have children of our own, getting a child under the age of 2 is almost impossible in the U.S.
-We don't have to wait to be selected by a birth mom
-There aren't any chances of a birth mom backing out or fighting for custody 3-6-9 months down the road
-Showing a child God's love and impacting him for eternity. Unfortunately most countries are not Christians and therefore he/she may never hear the gospel
-We are doing our small part in "going into all the nations and preaching the good news." (Mark 16:15)
-Some countries, the statistics for child and baby deaths are 3 or 4 out of every 5 due to malnourishment and living conditions
-We will not only gain a child but also an entire culture

Cons:
-Most infants are at least 9 months to 1 year of age. Almost impossible to get an infant baby
-Lots and lots of paperwork that has to be authenticated by your state and United States then the country you're adopting from
-Have to deal with the other countries laws and court system and sometimes corruption
-Travel (can go either way depending on where you're going. Since we're going to Congo, it's a very dangerous place to travel, so no sight-seeing or witnessing or mission work for us).
-Obtaining visas, immigration fingerprints, etc.

Overall, FOR US, we felt as if the children who are in the United States waiting to be adopted will have opportunities. Our little +1 is just trying to make it to it's only meal of the day or wondering when it might get it nexts' bath of cold, dirty water. Our little +1 is just trying to beat the statistics and live past it's 5th birthday. Please know that in no way are we putting down domestic adoptions. If the opportunity ever arose for us to adopt domestically we would do it in a heartbeat. But for our family circumstances and what God has called US to do, we have peace about "not leaving our orphan but going to him."