Adventure time!

It's so exciting to be on this adventure.  We are only barely starting our journey and already we have come so far and had so many ups and downs.  We are learning how difficult it really is to have an ethical adoption from Africa.  It's frustrating to know that there is so much need but so much dishonesty and corruption that it's hard to ensure you are actually helping an actual orphan.  I talked to a lady this week who found out after the fact that the little girl she had adopted was trafficked.  I think many people are attracted to adoption because they know there are needy children.  But on the other end there are people who just want to make money.  Some of these children have families and homes!  Who has the right to decided that they will have a happier life in a wealthier nation away from their family and country?  Who has the right to coerce poor parents into giving up their children?  In so many cases adoption isn't building families, it's breaking them. Many of these parents believe that their children will come home when they are grown and help the family; they don't understand what adoption means.  Obviously this is NOT what we hope to do.  We would never seek to tear apart someone else's family for our own happiness.

But we truly feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to adopt.  We know that there ARE children who need families.  So our plan has changed a little bit again.  Instead of focusing on a specific country we are watching Waiting Children lists to find a boy who will truly fit our family.  Once we finish our homestudy we can start asking more questions about them and we will go to whatever country our child is in.  Of course the system is never going to be perfect so we will do everything WE can do, and leave the rest up to our Heavenly Father.  He knows each of these children and which of them needs us.  I pray every day that he will guide our steps and help us have a good experience, grow our family, and help a child in  need.

We making good progress on our home study and have most of our paperwork collected.  I still think of little guy every day and can't wait to finally bring him home.  If you are reading this, please help it happen!  Jump on over to our fundraising site and donate!
www.youcaring.com/porterfamily

So, It's been a long time.  More than a year, in fact.  And what a year it has been!  Hubs got home from Basic and Tech School, we moved, we became foster parents, I got a job, Hubs got accepted to Grad school.  I've been busy.

The most recent twist in our journey has put us on an unfamiliar road; We are supposed to adopt a little boy.

We started doing research as soon as we knew this is what our Heavenly Father wanted us to do.  It was a more direct nudge than some others he has given us, so it was nice to know we are doing what he wants us to right now.  But there is so much to know that it is scary!  We researched countries, agencies, foreign, domestic.  For some reason we know he's a little black boy so that narrows down our options a little.  How are we supposed to find one little boy in this wide wide world?! My first thought was Haiti: there must be need after the earthquake, right?  Well, they have age restrictions that we don't meet.  So we looked at Congo, but it is really hard to get exit visas right now.  Ethiopia, Ghana, Colombia, Ecuador.  Every country we researched had something that didn't work for our family.  Finally we found it.  Uganda.

More Research.  Agencies that work with Uganda, reviews of those agencies, comparing fees, International Home Study agencies and comparing those fees, fundraising ideas, waiting children lists, becoming aware of the corruption in Uganda and finding an agency we trust to avoid it.

Long story short, this is going to be a long road and we're just a couple months in.  And it is going to be EXPENSIVE.  We have raise 1/36th of the money we will need though!  Ok, lezbehonest.  We can't do this on our own people.  We need help.  Please click the button on the top left and help us bring our Lost-Boy home!