Well, it's official. We're starting the process to adopt again! From Ethiopia again!
Now, I know many of you are thinking- "Didn't you JUST have a baby? What's the rush?" Well, that's the thing. It will not be a rush at all. To adopt a young child from Ethiopia right now we will be waiting at least 18-24 months for a referral (possibly longer) plus add in there 6-8 months to process paperwork. To give you perspective we waited 7 1/2 months for Yoseph's referral- big difference. That's why we are starting now. We know this will be a very long process. We are also open to a pretty wide variety of special needs, so that factor may speed up our process or it might not.
We expect Lydia to be 2-3 years old when this child comes home. We are requesting a girl, 1-3 years old (yes, a toddler) so they may actually be close in age. We expect this to be the last child added to our family, but the Lord is always in control. We would have loved to adopt an older waiting child, but since our kids are young it wouldn't work for us right now. We didn't want to displace Elijah as our oldest.
Now, please keep following our blog because one thing is going to be very different this time around. We will be doing a lot more fundraising for this adoption. This is in big part out of need and also partly to give our family and friends the opportunity to help in their own way to make one less orphan in this world. We are very much stepping out in faith for God's financial provision. So, stay tuned for opportunities to help. For example, over the next 6 months we have about $10,000 due just to get all of our paperwork done and get us on the waiting list. Then, I'll let you imagine the costs for two adults traveling two times to Ethiopia for a week each trip and all the legal processing. We do not currently have that much money.... SO we have several plans in the works to help us raise money and we will need YOUR support! Now, don't think I'm saying we're raising all the money. We are personally contributing as much as we can, but we know we will not have it all.
For those of you who are interested- We knew we would adopt again. We took many months thinking and praying if this was the right avenue for us. We looked into many other country's adoption programs and a US adoption and began researching many agencies pretty in depth. Ethiopia is not the fastest option and its not the most stable option- though probably the most stable of all the african countries. The main reason we decided on Ethiopia again is so that Yoseph will share heritage with another child in our family. That is huge for us. We can take heritage trips to one country and really dive into integrating the one other culture into our family. Pray for us and our future daughter!
FYI: We are using West Sands Adoptions, a different agency than last time. We have had 3 friends adopt through them, with good experiences. While we know no agency is perfect we are excited to start the journey with them. If you are at all interested in adoption, look them up. They especially place older and special needs children quickly.
Want to get a head start on your donation? That would be awesome! Our first fee is
$5700 and due soon. IT IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!!- if you donate through our agency.
Visit West Sands website. Click on donate. Follow the directions for the donations. MAKE SURE YOU PUT "GOURLEY FAMILY" in the comments!
Now, I know many of you are thinking- "Didn't you JUST have a baby? What's the rush?" Well, that's the thing. It will not be a rush at all. To adopt a young child from Ethiopia right now we will be waiting at least 18-24 months for a referral (possibly longer) plus add in there 6-8 months to process paperwork. To give you perspective we waited 7 1/2 months for Yoseph's referral- big difference. That's why we are starting now. We know this will be a very long process. We are also open to a pretty wide variety of special needs, so that factor may speed up our process or it might not.
We expect Lydia to be 2-3 years old when this child comes home. We are requesting a girl, 1-3 years old (yes, a toddler) so they may actually be close in age. We expect this to be the last child added to our family, but the Lord is always in control. We would have loved to adopt an older waiting child, but since our kids are young it wouldn't work for us right now. We didn't want to displace Elijah as our oldest.
Now, please keep following our blog because one thing is going to be very different this time around. We will be doing a lot more fundraising for this adoption. This is in big part out of need and also partly to give our family and friends the opportunity to help in their own way to make one less orphan in this world. We are very much stepping out in faith for God's financial provision. So, stay tuned for opportunities to help. For example, over the next 6 months we have about $10,000 due just to get all of our paperwork done and get us on the waiting list. Then, I'll let you imagine the costs for two adults traveling two times to Ethiopia for a week each trip and all the legal processing. We do not currently have that much money.... SO we have several plans in the works to help us raise money and we will need YOUR support! Now, don't think I'm saying we're raising all the money. We are personally contributing as much as we can, but we know we will not have it all.
For those of you who are interested- We knew we would adopt again. We took many months thinking and praying if this was the right avenue for us. We looked into many other country's adoption programs and a US adoption and began researching many agencies pretty in depth. Ethiopia is not the fastest option and its not the most stable option- though probably the most stable of all the african countries. The main reason we decided on Ethiopia again is so that Yoseph will share heritage with another child in our family. That is huge for us. We can take heritage trips to one country and really dive into integrating the one other culture into our family. Pray for us and our future daughter!
FYI: We are using West Sands Adoptions, a different agency than last time. We have had 3 friends adopt through them, with good experiences. While we know no agency is perfect we are excited to start the journey with them. If you are at all interested in adoption, look them up. They especially place older and special needs children quickly.
Want to get a head start on your donation? That would be awesome! Our first fee is
$5700 and due soon. IT IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!!- if you donate through our agency.
Visit West Sands website. Click on donate. Follow the directions for the donations. MAKE SURE YOU PUT "GOURLEY FAMILY" in the comments!
