After the home study is turned in, I can begin on our Dossier paperwork. This will include our home study final copy, and other things like copies of our passports, 15 photos of us, our home & community, another medical form, financial information, etc. I plan to burn through that pile as fast as I can, because all indications are that Arnold's city will open back up to adoptions in May (please!!!!!) and we want to be ready to send our dossier in to be translated and registered.
Something else that has been on my mind a lot is the cost of the adoption, and different people's take on that. I have gone back and forth about having the "chip-in" on this page, and the Reece's Rainbow button as well, for donations. Yes, we need to come up with $10,000.00 more out of of the $35,000.00 estimated cost. I know when we started this process, we had planned on saving up, doing a home study, and then we would choose a child. But sometimes God doesn't work to our schedule. Sometimes, he says do it now. Sometimes he says have faith. And all the time, he knows what he is doing. We listened and leaped. We knew that if we wanted Arnold, we had to start now because he was set to be transferred in July. If we hadn't have made the formal commitment for Arnold when we did, his transfer papers would have been sent within days. Days!
Do you know what transfer means for an orphan in Eastern Europe (I didn't until recently)? It means almost certain death, 90% within one year of transfer. It means malnourishment. It means neglect. It means loneliness, isolation, fear, being treated as a number rather than a human being. It means laying in your own waste for hours upon hours. It means learning not to cry or be verbal at all because it gets you nowhere. In many ways, death would be a relief. So we took a leap of faith by not having the additional $10,000.00 already saved, but we trusted in God that since he had lined everything else up so perfectly, practically throwing this boy in our laps, that he would also see us through the last ten thousand dollars. Yes, we can put it on a credit card if it comes to that. I even took down the chip-in for a while, because anyone that knows me knows that I'm as stubborn as they come, and prideful too. But then I had people asking me how they could help. And I realized that leaving the donation option open allows other people to make a truly meaningful, life-changing decision to help an orphan, a child of god, go from certain death to certain happiness. Instead of being strapped to a toilet seat for an hour, he will be sliding down slides; instead of an aching belly and shrinking frame, he will fill out and get dessert. In other words, the donation box is there for you as much as for us. I know that the donations I have made to orphans have been the most meaningful for me, because I know I am helping to save a child. And now, I get to be the one to take this child home....as a dear friend said the other day, how often do we get the chance to actually save a life? This is our chance.
It reminds me of the story of the star fish. You've probably heard it: the boy who was walking the beach, throwing stranded star fish back into the water, one at a time. There were so many that a passerby laughed at his efforts. He asked the boy why he was doing this, since he couldn't save them all. The boy held up a star fish, and before throwing it back to the ocean said, "but I can save this one." I may not be able to save every orphan who needs a home (over 100 million of them), but I can save this one, my son who was born in my heart.
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