What to Expect When Your Expecting (to Adopt)

Warning: This perspective of "What to Expect When Your Expecting (to Adopt)" is not sugar coated, it is raw.  However, I will choose to do it over and over again as long as God (and my husband) allows!

What to expect while you wait:

The unexpected.

Unqualified for job.

An emotional roller coaster.

Deep, unbelievably heart-breaking longing to hold my son I've never met.

A wanting to bond, but yet not.

A sense of fulfillment and purpose.

A loss of friendship/family support.

What to expect after you meet child:

Bonding love felt toward child just like when my bio babies came out of me (unbelievable!).

The hardest part begins - Grieving, perhaps taking a lifetime

Your world can be opened up, perspective changed forever (If you have opportunity to travel to child's birth country)

Unmet expectations, a need to lower expectations

Attachment difficulties (which others may not be able to understand)

More loss of friendship/family support....but yet deeper support from unexpected people

Child feeling like they are part of family....eventually

Price Family 6th Edition (Addition)

We are so excited as we introduce to you our 6th Edition (Addition) who will be with us very soon!  We call our new sweet boy "Silas" and have been in this second adoption process for the last year and a half.  He was first introduced to us by paper just a couple of months ago in October followed by photos which clenched the reality.  We are told he is shy, likes to ride bikes and play in the sand.  He will be four years old next month and has the most beautiful big brown eyes.

We are working with MLJ Adoption agency which we used for our first adoption of our 5th child, Della.  Silas is from the country of Burkina Faso on the continent of Africa.  Here is some interesting info about Burkina Faso.  Some of you may be asking, "Why Burkina Faso?".........

• There are approximately 980,000 Burkinabe children living without parental care in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. 
• The orphan crisis in Burkina Faso has been brought about by economic crisis, pervasive poverty, disease, lack of basic social services, lack of immunizations for preventable diseases, and the AIDS crisis.
• Burkina Faso is a West African country with more than half of its population experiencing extreme poverty. 
• Many in Burkina Faso have little access to health and social services and face food insecurity. 
• The rapidly growing population of Burkina Faso, of which more than half are under the age of eighteen, struggles with hunger, malnutrition, and illness, such as malaria.
• It is estimated that almost half of all Burkinabe children under the age of eighteen, including children as young as five, work as laborers in the agricultural, mining, and domestic sectors. Some children work these hazardous jobs in extreme heat for six to seven days a week, up to fourteen hours per day, with only food and bed as payment. Children working as domestic servants are often at risk for physical abuse and sexual exploitation.
• Though adoption will not solve Burkina Faso’s larger social and economic issues, it is one permanency solution that does provide children in Burkina Faso without families with the loving support and security of a family.

Our children cheered when we told them we were matched with a child.  They are all so excited and can't wait to meet their new brother.  It's hard to believe he will be with us soon, hopefully the next 4-7 months.  Please pray for Silas and the rest of our family as we prepare for this very important transition.  

Images From Day Two

Busy Streets.....

pigs wallowing....

crater mud roads....

(yes that is a road, yes we drove down it, yes we made it)

insectos....

(caterpillars are a good source of protein)

sweet faces....

boys who remind me of my own......

beautiful face..... 

diarrhea soaked diapers.....

overwhelming......

(praying over this child, because I don't know what else to do)

.....hope given.

Images From Day One

 napping in vomit....

incessant flies...

skin rashes, parasites....

bashful eyes.....

toddlers toddling in new shoes......

sweet smiles.....

(little Etienne)

voices heard.....hope given.

Comfortable Ignorance

Comfortable ignorance is how I describe my life style three years ago.  I was comfortable:  "contented and undisturbed".  I was also ignorant: "lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular".

As David Platt writes "orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.  They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.  But once you do, everything changes".  That is the perfect statement to explain how I feel after seeing the plight of the orphans in DR Congo, Africa.

 

God has allowed me to me part of the awesome work of raising hope in the form of money to help the Global Orphan Foundation's "Pebble Project".  Now, I want you to understand, this process of choosing to do more makes me uncomfortable.  Trying to organize an event like a silent auction when I have no experience makes me uncomfortable.  Asking perfect strangers at businesses for donations is uncomfortable.  Asking people who have already given so much to give more is very uncomfortable.

I know, my family and friends are probably tired of hearing me on my soapbox, but the reality of these children's lives isn't going away.  They are breathing, suffering and dying right now...even as you read this...it doesn't end for them.

They are innocent, they have no choice in where they live.  And THAT makes me more uncomfortable than anything else.  It drives me to get past all my weaknesses and inabilities.

Last week we attempted our second silent auction, and with the help of over 200 people, over twenty thousand dollars was raised!  What a reminder that God doesn't call us to be comfortable.  Thank you to everyone who gave in some way to give these children hope and a future!

"The Smell of Separation"

In the morning, as we packed, we sensed an anxiousness about leaving this place.  I asked myself "What will I do with this?"   

 ,

Ety made our day very special:  First he brought Della's foster mom to our hotel.  When I saw her we embraced and I cried.  How do I explain in words or emotions how grateful I am to this woman who loved my daughter for more than a year?  Through interpretation we talked...I had many questions for her.  She told me she was very grateful that I asked to see her.  It was a very sweet time.

After Mama Josee left, Serge joined us and we went down to the Congo river.  It was very wide and had lots of large rocks.  There were fisherman on handmade wooden boats.  Some men who were working allowed us to step onto their boat.

 

After a good lunch Jean Paul drove us to the airport.  It was the usual hectic, crazy traffic (like New York City on steroids).  Ety said "The smell of separation".  We had a really fun day which contrasted with the heaviness of the last four days.  Ety said he wanted our last day to be enjoyable.  I am so glad he did that for us.  It reminded me that this country, these people, are so beautiful.  And they are just like you and me.

We boarded the plane to Belgium, as we flew, I wondered again 

  "What will I do with this?" 

The heaviness of the children came back, the heaviness of leaving friends, the heaviness of

"The smell of separation"

Sliding in the mud, walking in the bush

We visited the land of the future site for the Pebble Project village.  It's about a 1 hour drive from downtown:

Marie, who is the head attorney for MLJ & GOF, came with us on the trip to the bush.  She is standing in front of the land that will used to build a village for the children in the future.  She has someone gardening the land, they are growing bananas, palm trees, mangoes, avacados, and cassava.

The bush is very quiet, green and smells heavenly.

Here is the natural beauty I was longing to see.

While walking in the bush to look at the land we saw this termite hill....it stands taller than me!

It had rained all morning and was still drizzling when we got there.  We drove through a mud filled road, it was similar to trying to drive through snow.

The head of the school nearby.

Jean Paul:  the best driver in the whole world.  He's a father of 8, 4 are adopted (they were his brother's children) and he's a father of twins which is very esteemed in Africa.  

Little children from the village.

The little boy in blue squealed with delight when I showed him his photo on my camera!

In the afternoon we went back to one of the orphanages to give them a snack and juice.