Yesterday, I traveled to Columbiana County (Lisbon to be exact) for Preservice Training. For those of you who do not know and this would be most of you, we are considering adopting.
There are a few weeks that I am going to be gone from our training in Wayne County, so I am needing to go and make up classes in other counties. There are two weekends that I am going to be gone: a wedding and Big Stuf.
So, yesterday was a make up day for me. I went and took classes 4 and 5. You do not have to take them in order. Classes 4 and 5 were my first classes.
Class 4: Attachment, Seperation, and Placement
Class 5: Discipline
The instructor was very good and the classes were very informative. I am not sure how much I will blog about the classes. We will see about that. Anything that relates to training classes and the process we are going through will be labeled under adoption.
A few people that have heard about our journey, they have asked what is the final destination. To be honest, I do not know. I am not sure if it is going to be to open our home for foster care, adopt a child, adopt a sibling group or ......
If I was honest, I would say that I would love for us to find the resources to obtain a larger home and either foster many kids or adopt a big sibling group and increase our kids from 3 to ..... 6, 7 or yes, I know that some would think that I am crazy but to 11 ????? The reason for that is that there is a sibling group of 8 in Ohio that needs to be adopted. There are a zillion and one obstacles for all that to occur.
For those out there who are religious, I asked you to lift up words of prayer as we begin this journey and that we will be able to go through this process and help some children who are hurting.
We could use a big home, a bus or van or ...... When we get through the preservice training and begin the homestudy, we will have more details. A few weeks ago, I did go look at a 6/7 BR house that would fit the bill but we need $$
Alright, that is enough for now ...
The thoughts and writings on this blog are the thoughts of Jeff and do not necessarily represent the views of Grace First Parish of Russell and/or Lutheran Campus Ministry of Southwest Minnesota State University.
9 comments:
Our thoughts and prayers are with you. My brother adopted 3 kids from Ukraine seven years ago. The journey still isn't over. The change in the lives of those 3 children is amazing, but they still are striving to make up for the rocky start in life they were given. Don't get me wrong. They are beautiful kids that appreciate everything they are presented with. They are simply striving to catch up to their American-born peers who seem to have it "easy."
Kudos to you for your willingness to follow a call to rescue the hurting!
Just a thought: is it a good idea to adopt more numerically than your natural children?
Praying for you and your family Jeff as you start on this journey wherever it takes you!
I'm not at that place, but I will pray for you as you walk there.
I still marvel that I can handle the 3 I have been given.
A thought on DP's thought: Which children are really ours anyway? Don't they all belong to God? ;)
KWBG:
Thanks for the words. We appreciate it. We know and understand that it will be a difficult journey.
As we go through the classes, I am sure that will even come more clearer. Even in class 4 and 5 there was some wide eye moments.
But then again, the videos and testimonies from the children hurting break your heart. We feel that we need to do something.
One statistics that is out there that ticks me off is the following:
There are more churches in the U.S. then there are kids needing to be adopted. If every church would have one person willing to adopt; there would be no children needing adoption.
We as a church need to step up.
DP:
Each child needing to be adopted and each family that is exploring adoption is very different. Thus, each situation is very different.
There are many families and many sibling that are waiting to be adopted where that can/could cause a problem.
However, the flip is true there are matches out there that would not cause a problem.
For our family and our kids, we do not see that a problem would arise. We would be a larger family and they all would be our sons and daughters and their brothers and sisters.
Yes, there would be an adoption curve. Our kids are 100% behind us on this process.
However, I do not see us making a "big jump" in our family size due to the size of our house and salary restrictions. But, if God is leading this, a bigger home and additional finances will open up.
Dale & Roland:
Thanks for the prayers. We will keep this in front of my blog community and let you see what occurs. The next class for me is Saturday.
Stacey and I start together on May 9th.
Imagine for a moment that you're a parent and one of your kids is held ransom. The kidnappers tell you the price tag is $20,000. You don't have that in your pocket or bank account, and yet you will do everything possible to obtain that money to obtain your kids.
Perhaps this is one way to look at the costs associated with adoption.
Tony:
I think that you are right. I think someway, somehow if this is what we are really feeling called to happen and if there is a child or sibling group needing it, someway, somehow the $$ is going to be there.
Post a Comment