Saturday will mark four months since we were matched with
our African babies. (They aren’t really
babies, but that’s what I like to call them.)
Four long months. Four months
ago I was wondering, praying and worrying about having a transracial family and
what issues that would bring. I was
concerned about Parker and Abigail, and how they would handle having a house
full of kids. I was concerned about the
health of our adoptive children. I still
think about those things, but it’s different now.
Every day I check my email over and over and over again
hoping for a new picture of the kids. I
stare at their faces, analyze every bit of what I see. Did their teeth change? Do they look taller? Is that the right kid? (No joke, sometimes it doesn’t look like
them.) I think he grew. I think she’s losing weight. She looks happy. He looks mad.
It goes on and on and on.
We are members of a private Facebook page that is made of up
families adopting from our orphanage. I
check the page every single day. (Maybe every hour, but
that would be crazy, right?) This page
is like gold. Pure gold. Whenever a parent or someone visits the
orphanage we get pictures and sometimes videos!
Videos! Did you read that?! The videos show life. I see my boy dancing, my little girl being
sassy. I watch them over and over again.
I laugh and I cry. It is so so good.
But, it is so so hard. My heart
is full.
The first pictures we received of the kids were taken in
January. They have grown up a lot since
then. Our boy has lost a few teeth and
our little girl doesn’t look like a toddler anymore. I realize the years that we’ve lost and will
never have. I don’t grieve anymore over
the sacrifices our family is making, I grieve over the lost years of M and E.
We are now going through the court process in Congo. Our lawyer is compiling everything he needs
to take our case to the judge. We hope
that in the next couple months we will be declared their official guardians by
the Congolese government. Unfortunately
the road is still long after that happens.
We don’t know what the timing will be.
But, it will be several more months.
One fun thing is that we had to name our kids to go through
court. We are keeping their first names
and giving them family middle names. I
can’t wait to introduce you to M. Jo Glidewell and E. James Glidewell!
It has been truly a miracle to see how God has put all of
this together. There’s no other way to
explain all that has happened. We
started this process to adopt one child.
We changed it to two not knowing how we would be able to do it. Our estimated cost of adopting two is
$61,000. Yep. You read it.
I’m going to be really vulnerable here….
We had $25,000 in savings when we started. God has put a few amazing people in our path
that have given us about $8,000 towards the adoption without us even
asking. Our savings account is now
almost completely empty. The bank called
about it. Hahaha! Yep. We’re broke.
But, in the last four months we have put $42,000 towards the
adoption. Do the math. It doesn’t add up. Somewhere, somehow, God has multiplied our
money. We are financially broke, but
richer than we’ve ever been before. Our bank
is empty, but our hearts are full and free.
We’ve also had two amazing organizations step in to offer
help. There is a group in Atlanta called
Promise686 (http://www.promise686.org). They have a huge heart for adoption, foster
care and removing the roadblocks that keep people
from caring for orphans. They have given
us a $3,000 matching grant. That means
that they will match up to $3,000 of money donated to us. Promise686 is a tax exempt 501c3 organization
and your gift is tax deductible. Also, 100%
of all funds raised will go directly to cover our adoption costs; nothing will
be taken out for administrative costs.*
Please do not feel pressure to give financially! We will still love you! But, if you want to contribute, you can
donate online by going HERE.
We also have a friend who helps run the adoption fund at
Johnson Ferry Baptist. They have given
us a $4,000 interest free loan. It’s
really cool! If we get to the point
where we need money to finish this and we don’t have it, we can borrow up to
$4,000 without having to pay interest.
Yay!
This summer has been short and long. We’ve missed our annual beach trip and road
trips. We’ve missed the camps, a few
nice dinners and other activities that normally fill our days and…cost us
money. But, all of that pales in
comparison to the road we are traveling… the road to our forever family.
*Note: per IRS guidelines, promise686 maintains
complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds, but intends
to honor the donor’s suggested use.