It has been
a while since I have gathered my thoughts on pen and paper. These last few months Luke and I have been
venturing all over town to collect the last few pieces for our dossier
compilation. If you are unfamiliar with
the adoption process, the dossier is the mounds of paperwork that includes
everything from official birth certificates to letters of recommendation on
what would make us good adoptive parents.
All of this paperwork will be sent to Ethiopia along with our home study
for translation & approval. Let’s
just say the people down at Frost Bank are probably sick of seeing the Schwochs
for their weekly notarizations :).
All this to
say, this point in the process is marked with mixed emotions. The paper chase portion is over, now comes
the waiting. We will be waiting for an
estimated 2 years for our referral. A
referral is when we will be matched with a child and will receive any
information they have on him/her along with photographs. Oh how I long for the day when I first see
our babe’s face! Daily, I am leaning on
God’s never-ending, constant grace. To
say this process is sanctifying would be accurate as we are more easily able to
see the idols we turn to that we think will satisfy us, even though they always
seem to let us down.
We are
headed into our next phase with eager anticipation, but also with an
overwhelming sense of peace. I think I
read on one of Jen Hatmaker’s older blogs recently that only 5% of adoptions go
perfectly as planned with no hiccups along the way. As much as we’d like to hope everything goes
smoothly with our adoption, I’d like to think we have fair expectations for the
road ahead. Paperwork may get lost,
documents expire, the wait may be longer than predicted, but we are confident
in God's plans and are honored that we get to play a role in them.
This whole
waiting period puts the one true wait into perspective for us. As believers of Jesus Christ we hold every
word of the bible as true, sufficient and without error. In chapter 9 verse 28 of Hebrews it states
“Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a
second time, not to deal with the sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting
for him.” In the grand scheme of things
waiting for our child allows us to step back and marvel with anticipation for
the far greater wait: a day when Christ
will return for us and make all things new.
One of the
true joys of the whole process for the both of us is sharing our heart and more
importantly God’s heart behind adoption.
As I can imagine, just like when a woman is carrying a biological child,
it consumes your every thought. Paper
pregnancy is no joke people. When we
share our adoption journey we have gotten several questions multiple times so I
thought I would end this blog with some of our frequently asked questions…
1.) Q: If
there are millions of orphans in Ethiopia why in the world will it take you at
least two years to receive a referral?
A: While we wish the process were quick &
simple, the truth of the matter is that it is a long process full of paper work
& waiting. This is good news & bad news at the same time. The good news
is that the longer wait times are due to the government & country working
hard to find any living family member or relative that might be able and willing
to take the child into their home. After all, reuniting an orphan with their
original family should always be plan A. The bad news is that we have to wait
longer because of the many checks that exist throughout the process. I can’t
remember who it was but someone recently put it this way – international
adoption involves two governments trying to create a family. Most governments
can’t even figure out their own agenda, much less coordinate an adoption with
another government.
We recently
sent off our dossier to our agency. Before the dossier is sent to Ethiopia for
translation and review, it must go through multiple steps of authentication in
the U.S. First, the Secretary of State in Utah (where our agency is located)
must authenticate our dossier, then to the U.S. Department of State followed by
the Ethiopian embassy in Washington D.C. This process takes 4-6 weeks and once
final, we are officially a waiting family! Next the dossier is sent to Ethiopia
for translation & review by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
Then approximately 2 years later we are given a referral which includes a
picture of our child with any and all history available. Ethiopia requires 2
trips in country. The first trip, 3-4 months after referral acceptance, lasts
5-7 days and we get to meet our child and sit in front of a judge who ultimately
decides whether or not we are fit to adopt our child. Then we return home and
will travel back to Ethiopia in about 1-2 months for a 3-5 day trip where we
pick up our child, go to the U.S. embassy in Ethiopia to get final clearance
and return home!
2.) Q: Since you will be waiting for a couple of
years, is there any chance you will have a biological child while you wait?
A: Well I guess there is always a chance
right?! We have no doubt that God is
bigger than birth control. Our desire to
adopt first doesn’t stem from fertility issues and we have received such a
strong calling and clarity in these plans.
We are thrilled to bring a little one into our home that may have
different bloodlines, but that is just as much a part of our family as a child I
could give birth to. When we think about
our firstborn being an adoptive babe, although we know it won’t be easy, we are
so excited to attach to our child and establish a bond of family before
possibly having any biological children.
Your guess is as good as ours, but there are no plans to become a family
of three before our trip to get our little love from Ethiopia.
3.) Q: How
is your fundraising going?
A: God has been
so gracious and has blessed us in more ways than we could have ever imagined. The
financial part of adoption can be daunting and I’m not sure how people get
through it without a strong trust in God. Jennifer and I do not have enough
money on our own to adopt, but trusted His call on our hearts and knew that He
would provide no matter what.
Our garage
sale in October was a major success and in total we raised almost $6,000. God
has provided through donations from friends and family in unbelievably generous
ways. Our amazing sister/sister in law, Gretchen Watson, designed some awesome
shirt for us to sell and they have been a big hit (we still have a few left if
you are interested). We have had three sweet people (Kim Truss, Sally Jones
& Robin Schwoch) host Noonday Jewelry trunk shows for us. If you haven’t
heard about this company check it out at www.noondaycollection.com. The
company was started by a woman who was adopting her son from Rwanda and was looking
for ways to raise money. With a heart for the nations and the vulnerable, this
Austinite created Noonday. A
foundational verse of this company is from Isaiah 58 “if you pour yourself out
for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light
rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday” v. 10. Noonday employs men and women all over the
world who make beautiful jewelry with their local products. The jewelry is then
sold at trunk shows hosted by friends and a portion of the profits can go
towards an adoption. The company works two-fold by allowing women and men
around the world to enter the work field so that they don’t have to put their
children up for adoption, and works here in the states by enabling families
financially to adopt. If you are
interested in hosting a trunk show, we would love to connect you with some
resources. We cannot stop praising God
for his blessings and continued provision.
In total we
have raised close to $17,000 and expect the entire process to cost around
$28,000 - $30,000. We still have a ways to go, but have been so encouraged by
family & friends response to the gospel and the James 1:27 mindset of
caring for the orphan. We are planning on some more fundraisers in the future
so look for updates on Facebook. If you want to learn more or feel led to give,
check out the link below to our You Caring fundraiser page. We can’t thank you
all enough and couldn’t live out this gospel call without you.
We are
honored to get to be a part of this story and are beyond thankful for all the
people around the world who have chosen to be a part of this story with
us. Even just by reading this blog you
are taking time to hear our hearts. We
thank you. Please pray that we can wait
well, for our child’s well-being and heart, for the birth mama and for our
paperwork every step of the way. Until
next time. Love ya!
Jen &
Luke Schwoch
P.S. Do you
have a question you’ve been dying to ask us or are you considering
adoption? We would LOVE to hear from
you!
