Another Closed Door

I received an e-mail today stating that the 3 kids in CA are not meant to be a part of our family because we live outside of the US. Therefore, we are back to waiting on our permanent visas which will take at least another year. Then we can begin the process of adopting from here in Chile.

We are not disappointed for us. We are simply of the mindset that we need to knock on all doors to see if God is opening them. When He confirms that the door is closed we move on down the hallway. How long before the next door appears in the hallway, only He knows. But for now, we pray for the future family of Charlie, Ramon, and Tammy and pray for our future kids that each child would have the blessing of coming to know Christ as personal savior.

Thanks for continuing to pray!!!

What in the WORLD!

What a roller coaster!!! A while back I wrote that God was/is redirecting us back to Chile. Here's the reasons why. 1. Nicaragua will be VERY EXPENSIVE! 2. Our ministry - There was a missionary here for MANY years and she was truly loved by the Chileans in part because she adopted two Chilean girls. This truly endeared her to many. We don't want people to think, "Our kids weren't good enough for you, so you had to go to Nicaragua??" 3. The Nicaragua process is becoming LONG - kind of like Haiti's process for those of you who know anything about that EXTREMELY LONG PROCESS!! 4. Doors here in Chile seem to be more open now to us, at least once we get our permanent residency visas. In the mean time we wait and see what God is doing.

So, what is He doing?? As we wait patiently we are praying. We are seeking to walk through doors that God brings into our path. For instance, my friend and fellow missionary wrote a blog about 3 hispanic children from California who need a home that is bilingual. So after seeing these 3 beautiful children, I wrote and e-mail to the LA county adoption services division. I still haven't heard back. Are these God's children for us? Or has God brought them into our lives only to pray for their forever family? The BIGGEST obstacle is that we are living out of the country, but without our permanent residency here, we are legally connected to the states, so maybe these are God's future Amundson children.?.! Please pray with us for Charlie (6), Ramon (4) and Tammy (3) that they would find their forever family soon, whether that is our family or not!!! Even a closed door is an answer from God!!!

Redirection

Please pray as God seems to be redirecting us back to a Chilean adoption. I'll fill in the details later, since I don't have time tonight, but we are excited to see what God is going to do!

Confirmation AGAIN!

God just keeps on pointing us to Nicaragua! Yesterday I went to the national adoption center here in Chile to inquire about the possiblity of jumping through their hoops to adopt from here. I am truly amazed at what I heard! First of all, there is a program for Chilean nationals that we will qualify for once we've been granted our permanent residency AND have had that residency for no less than 2 years. In other words we'd qualify in 4 more years to BEGIN a Chilean adoption. Second, there is a program for foreigners, but we don't qualify for that one either because we are living here. So basically we want to jump through their hoops but we can't join the circus here in Chile.

That just reconfirms everything God keeps telling us - "Nicaragua is where the children I have for you are waiting."

For now, we are doing what we can to speed up the adoption process. We've begun some adoption classes on-line to make our homestudy move faster, and then when we get our final approval from the ABWE board in July, we'll really begin the long process.

Not from Chile

Yesterday I received confirmation that we cannot adopt from Chile until we have our permanent residency and even then it is an EXTREMELY LONG process. Therefore we will begin the adoption process through Nicaragua in July. For now we are taking classes on-line toward our homestudy. It is a great time of Doug and I talking and processing things together. I love it when we take a class together and can grow intellectually and spiritually together and over the same material. Keep praying for our future children and for patience for us!

The Twins

Praise the Lord! The twins have a family seeking to adopt them!!! I had asked you to pray that even if we were not their forever family, that they would get a family soon! Praise God they do have a family!

Now, what? We continue in the process seeking the children GOD has for us! We are excited to see God work and someday finally bring home our next 2 kids.

The Answer

Thank you SOOOO much for praying!!! We met with the men on Wednesday and after we presented our reasons and timeline, they voted to grant us permission to adopt 2 children, beginning the process in July. PRAISE GOD!!! Therefore, we have 2 more steps with ABWE to get through. 1. is to have the full field council vote on the recommendation of the work committee that we be granted permission to adopt. 2. is at the next ABWE board meeting, which won't take place until July, our field team administrator will ask permission from the ABWE board. Then we can begin by applying to the agency that will help us adopt from Nicaragua.

I am excited. As I've moved into this house, so many of my thoughts have been about how to set up the house to allow for 2 more kids. Things like putting the medicines and cleaning agents out of reach, setting up Caleb's room to add the top bunk when we need to.

This process will be long and sometimes overwhelming, but we are excited to see God continue a process that has been on our hearts for years and years.

Wednesday

This Wednesday is significant in our lives, first it is Hannah's 7th birthday. It is always a joyous occasion to remember the birth of our second child, but it also makes me wonder. Have we missed the birth of our next 2 children? Are they already out there waiting for us???

This being said, the second reason Wednesday is significant is that we are going to talk to our field team leaders this Wednesday. We will be presenting our desire to adopt and asking them to approve our adopting 2 children. We still wouldn't be able to officially begin the process of adopting until our field council and ABWE's board also approve. ABWE's board won't meet again until July, so we have to at least wait until then.

Please pray that the powers that be will listen to our request, the reasons for our request now, and that we will be open to their wisdom and knowledge. We'll let you know their recommendation.

Poem in the Night

Last night I was trying to go to sleep and my mind just kept spinning with the twins in Nicaragua. Then God kept saying, "Wait and be patient. They are my kids and I will take care of them." I began composing a poem about being thankful for the 2 beautiful children that God has already given us. I told myself that I should have gotten out of bed and written it all down, but I was just too tired, so I fell asleep. And wouldn't you know it, I can't remember a word of the wonderful poem that I had "written" in my head.

On Hold Again

Due to our field team's desire that we get adjusted to Chile, Doug and I have decided to postpone our request that our field team approve us to adopt. Therefore, at the earliest, we would begin the adoption process is in July. Please continue to pray as we wait for God's timing in all of this! It is hard to wait especially if Christian and his twin sister are supposed to be a part of our family.

Kisses in the Wind

I found this poem on an adoption website.

KISSES IN THE WIND
Someday, maybe I'll hold the little ones from my dreams.
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.
--- Unknown

Why John 14 Verse 18?

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18 ESV

Back in 1995, on our 3rd date, I told Doug that I may never be able to have biological children. (The doctors had incorrectly diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovarian Disease.) He was fine with that, replying, "That's ok. My brother is adopted!"

Well, after having 2 HORRIBLE pregnancies where I was sick almost all 9 months, we decided that if there were to be any more little Amundsons in our home, that we would have to adopt them.

However, shortly after that decision, we began our pre-field missionary journey. Pre-field was fun, exciting, challenging, frustrating, and just plain exhausting. All of this would have been condusive to adopting, but with moving from house to house and then not having enough bedrooms for each child to have their own locking door, God closed the adoption door during pre-field.

We wondered if He would open the door back up in December of 2007 as we headed out to language school, but were told that it was impossible to adopt from Costa Rica, so God told us to wait again.

So here we are, at another transition time. God's provided a perfect house in Chile with space to raise 4 kids in. He has provided the experienced friends who have recently been through the adoption process or are currently going through the process, on couple in Chile adopting from Haiti. He has even been answering prayers that I have been praying for over 6 years now. But wait! The door isn't open just yet!!!

After returning from Chile in November, I began looking into adoption from Chile. It is much cheaper and ideal for anyone living there. However, we've learned that we would have to have our permanent residency visas before we could even apply to adopt. Some of our friends have been waiting for their visas for over 1 1/2 years. That means that in 2 years we could begin the process of adoption. But with over 500 waiting families and the region only completing 19 adoptions last year, we'd have to wait even longer. Then it will be time for furlough.

So, after it looked like God was closing the door to Chile, I began looking at other Latin American countries. After contacting many of those agencies with other programs in Latin America, I was consistently told that they could only help us adopt from a NON-Hague country. (Ok, the easy way to explain what this means, is that the Hague is like the control for all countries who wish to participate and have certain standards. The Hague is kind of like the UN of adoptions.) All of these agencies that I had contacted only worked with Hague Latin American countries, so they kept referring me to Ethiopia which is a Non-Hague country.

Ok, Ethiopia, we can handle that. Doug visited there on a short term missions trip, so we understand some of the culture, but is that what God is really saying????

Let me take a moment and mention the prayer that I have been praying for 6 years. My sister has 3 beautiful children. The last 2 are twins, a boy and a girl. I have always wanted twins, and since we already have 2 beautiful biological kids, a boy and a girl, I would like to adopt a biologically connected set of siblings. In reality, it wouldn't matter if one was older than the other, but I feel biologically connected kids would help with their sense of belonging and connection later on. So, I have been asking God for biologically connected siblings, but if possible a boy and a girl set of twins.

So, back to Ethiopia. After NUMBEROUS times of being pointed toward Ethipia, I looked into one of the websites and its program in Ethiopia. They specifically mention "Twins Available." An answer to prayer right??? Well, the more we talked and prayed about it, the more we realized that we'd REALLY like to have a Latin American child, since after all we already speak Spanish, and we'll be living in a Latin country.

The next step was to find out if there are any NON-Hague Latin American countries. Well there are 2. Honduras and Nicaragua. There is a wonderful website www.rainbowkids.org that lists a bunch of agencies by the country that one is interested in. Well only one agency popped up for Honduras and when contacting them, that door was closed to us. There were 2 agencies for Nicaragua, but one of them has since ceased their program, so we were left with one agency.

As I looked over their website, there was a waiting childrens list. Most of the children that were listed were from Estonia, but there was only one listing for Nicaraguan kids. A little boy, named Christian, age 2, who has a twin sister. We've seen a picture and some video and are awaiting more information.

However, God is asking us to wait once more. Since we are ABWE missionaries, we are required to have our field team's approval to adopt, and then our regional administrator has to get that approval, approved by the board of directors. The next meeting of the board doesn't happen until March, so we wait some more.

We don't want to apply to this agency if we find that in Chile we could adopt easier than what has been presented to us thus far. Therefore when we land in Chile we'll be contacting some agencies and finding out the FULL picture. Second, we will see if Christian and his sister have been adopted yet. Third, God obviously wants us to wait some more upon Him for His timing, and His kids for our family.

Prayer Requests as of 1/5/09

1. Christian is in a special needs orphanage due to some developmental delays, possibly caused by hydrocephally. This doesn't scare us because God has uniquely given us previous experience with this, as Doug's nephew was born with hydrocephally and has some delays now as well. Pray Christian gets the treatment and assistance he needs now, and in his forever family, even if that isn't our family!
2. Christian's sister, unknown name, is in a separate orphanage and therefore, we are concerned about attachment disorder. Pray they are reconnected soon, possibly before being adopted.
3. Pray for their forever family. There are A LOT of couples interested in them, not just us.
4. Pray for the 2 children that are supposed to be a part of our family. We don't want to step out of what God has for us.
5. Pray that God would make it clear as to which 2 children are to be ours! God seems to be leading toward Nicaragua, but if it isn't these twins, then which kids? Will we be asked to adopt 2 unrelated kids?
6. Pray for all those kids who need forever families, that Christians would step up and adopt one or two.
7. Pray for the finances of this adoption. This is NOT a part of ministry. It is ALL personal funds. We have a little bit saved, but we are praying for grants, fundraisers, and gifts to help us follow God's will in this.

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!

Thanks for taking the time to wait and pray with us! We'll let you know as we know something new.