Adoption

Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know and holds us responsible to act.  Proverbs 24:12

Our Story:

In August of 2008, Courtney and I ventured to Honduras on a mission trip as chaperones on a youth trip. This was my first trip internationally, but one of many of Courtney's. There was one girl named Katherine whom we both fell completely in love with. She had recently lost her oldest brother to gang activity. Her brother was high ranking in one of Honduras' most notorious gangs. He was stabbed to death in their home. I can remember weeks after we returned home, I would lay down in the bed at night beside Courtney and say, "I wish I could have brought Katherine home with us." I think for me this is where the adoption seed was first planted.

It would be almost a year later when Courtney and I would go on our next international mission trip. This time it would be all the way to Africa. South Africa to be exact. This single trip would have the most profound impact on our lives than any other single event so far. We witnessed people dying with HIV/AIDS. We witnessed first hand the huge numbers of orphans that you hear the statistics about, but never actually see. What you hear on CNN is real, and truth be told, in reality its even worse. When we returned home from this trip, our priorities did a total flip flop. We realized that we don't need the new cars or designer clothes. There are literally people out there who don't know when they'll eat their next meal, or how much longer their shelter will hold off the weather. We are beyond blessed and we take it for granted every day.

I actually made a return trip back to South Africa about six months after our first trip. I had to leave wifey home for this one. My main purpose on this trip was to fix medical equipment in a government hospital in the Hlabisa district in Hluhluwe, South Africa. Just a side note, the Hlabisa district has the highest AIDS rate in the whole world. I say my purpose was to fix medical equipment, which I did, but I think God's purpose for this trip was different. God used this trip to reveal to me how much love I truly have for the people of Africa, and that I can make the difference in the world of a child by giving them a loving, nurturing home. When I say "love" for these people, I'm talking deep, heartfelt, to-the-core LOVE. There's not a day that goes bye, or a minute in the day for that matter, that I dont think about the people of South Africa.

Our hearts were broken for the children of Africa who had no families, homes of even food. One morning, in my car, on my way to work, God slammed the vision of the orphans I had seen in Africa into my mind. I feel like He almost audibly spoke to me and said, "You're going to adopt a child from Africa." I could not get this out of my head the whole day at work. Several times during the day at work, it would hit me so hard that my lip would start to quiver, and I would almost break into tears. All I could think of was how was I going to tell my wife about this, haha. We had said for so long that we didn't want to have kids anytime soon, and now I'm wanting to discuss adopting a kid from Africa. My wife came home from work that day, and there I was at the kitchen table smiling. She's like, "What are you smiling about?" I said, "I've had an epiphany today. I want to adopt a child from Africa." She said, "Where is my husband and what have you done with him?!" I think Courtney was in shock at first, but we both have a strong desire to be Christ in the world and that means caring for the "least of these." Adoption quickly became our plan A. We assume that we can have biological children but we wanted to start our family through adoption. There are millions of orphans in the world and our heart has been broken for them. We are excited about this new journey. A journey to one less orphan in the world.

Timeline To Our Little Girl:

• June 28th, 2010 - Began to fill out application to AWAA
• July 8th, 1010 - Acceptance from AWAA, Offically begin the adoption process
• July 11th, 1010 - Began telling friends and family our news
• July and August 2010 - Began working on documents for the homestudy and dossier
• August 30th - September 20th, 2010 - First Home Study Visit 8/30, Second visit 9/13, Third visit 9/20.
• October 4th, 2010- Homestudy completed
• October 12th, 2010 - Mailed application for Immigration I-171H 
• October 18th,2010 - Mailed documents to have them state certified
• November 1st, 2010- Appointment notification for Biometrics! (fingerprints)
• December 6th, 2010 - Mailed Dossier to Ethiopia
• December 9th, 2010 - Officially on waiting list for referral
• January 9th, 2011 - 1 month waiting 
• July 2011 - Changed Age range from 10-24 months to 10-47 months
• August 9th, 2011 -8 months waiting 
• August 26th, 2011 
• September 9th, 2011 - 9 months waiting
• October 9th, 2011 - 10 months waiting
• November 9th, 2011- 11 months waiting 
• December 9th, 2011 - 12 months waiting 
• January 9th, 2012 - 13 months waiting
• February 9th, 2012 - 14 months waiting 
• March 9th, 2012 - 15 months waiting 
• March 12th, 2012 - Home visit with case worker to update expired homestudy
• April 9th, 2012- 16 months waiting 
• May 9th, 2012- 17 months waiting 
• June 9th, 2012- 18 months waiting 
• July 9th, 2012- 19 months waiting
• August 9th, 2012- 20 months waiting 
• September 9th, 2012 - 21 months waiting
• October 9th, 2012 - 22 months waiting
• November 9th, 2012- 23 months waiting
• November 28th, 2012 - REFERRAL!!!!!!
• March 15th, 2013 - Meetcha Day!
• March 19th, 2013 - Court Date
• April 28th, 2013 - Gotcha Day
• May 2nd-  Nardos (Nara) Ryan Thomas is Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!