Beginning our adoption journey - November 2011

Giving God Glory
God always answers the prayers of His people - But You, O LORD, are a shield about me.  My glory, and the One who lifts my head.  I was crying to the LORD with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.  Psalm 3:3  We are grateful that the Lord hears the prayers of His people and answers them and that Christ prays for us too!  (Romans 8:34)  For the past several months, we have prayed a lot for God to give us wisdom and discernment with pursuing adoption, and He has answered our prayers and is leading us to adopt.  We look forward to seeing how He continues to answer our prayers throughout our adoption journey.


What's on the Harrisons' Hearts
Adoption... is it just another means of growing one's family or is it a calling and a ministry? - This question has been on our hearts a lot lately as we continually reflect on why we are adopting.  Of course logistically adoption is a way to increase the number of children in one's family, but can it be more than that?  We think adoption can and should be more.
     No matter how the Lord blesses a family with children, parenting is a ministry!  Parenting involves opportunities to glorify the Lord, to share the gospel and disciple a child for life, to die to self and grow in serving, and more.  We think adoption has the potential to have even increased opportunities for ministry, and some forms of adoption have greater opportunities for ministry and a greater need for a calling from the Lord than other forms of adoption.


Some forms of adoption:
*involve more challenges to the parents
*financially cost more
*involve more "risks"
*have a greater number of children in need of adoptive parents (shorter or no waiting list)
*have a different number of people involved in the adoption process


Therefore, some adoptions have greater opportunities for ministry (sharing the gospel with a child who otherwise would not have heard the gospel, rescuing a child out of a life of darkness physically and spiritually, sharing the gospel with other family members involved, meeting increased needs in a child's life and working through extra challenges the child may face, and more).  Furthermore, some forms of adoption involve a greater need for a calling from the Lord than other forms of adoption due to greater risks and challenges involved.  No matter what the risks, costs, and challenges a family may face, we continually hear from families that have adopted that it is worth it to be obedient to the Lord's personal call to adopt, and it is worth it to invest in the life of a child!
     In the spectrum of reasons people adopt, we have encountered reasons from more of a personal preference or perspective of adoption being just another means of growing one's family to reasons involving a strong calling from the Lord.  Scripture makes it clear that orphans (and also widows) are very important to the Lord.  Some examples:


You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.  If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled...  Exodus 22:22-24


...You have been the helper of the orphan... O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed...  Psalm 10:14-18


A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation.  God makes a home for the lonely...  Psalm 68:5-6


Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.  Isaiah 1:17


And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me.  Matthew 18:5


Pure and undefiled religion is the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  James 1:27


The Lord works through all kinds of reasons couples have for adopting to provide for the needs of these orphans.  The Lord helped us to think through our motives for adopting and to grow in seeing adoption from His perspective.
     So in our case, adoption is a way to bless Noah with a sibling, but adoption is also a lot more to us than just a means of growing our family - it is also a calling and ministry for us...


*Adoption is our response of faith and obedience to the Lord calling us to minister to a child in need in a powerful and practical way by adopting this child into our family.
*Adoption is an opportunity to glorify the Lord in all aspects of the adoption process.
*Adoption is a means of sharing the gospel with a child (and possibly the birthmother and other family members involved in our case) who otherwise probably would not have heard the gospel.
*Adoption is a tangible way for us to live out the doctrine of how the Lord has adopted those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior into His family (Ephesians 1:3-5; Romans 8:14-17).
*I'm sure the Lord has even more purposes in our adoption that we are presently not aware of. :)


There is more on our adoption below in the section "Bringing Our Baby Home - Our Adoption Journey."


Praises & Prayers
Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done.
Our Family - Praise for the Lord answering prayers for wisdom and discernment with pursuing adoption.  (More adoption prayer requests are below in the section "Bringing Our Baby Home - Our Adoption Journey.")
Wes - Praise for the Lord helping him to finish strong with his fall semester of classes at FRBI.  Prayer for a refreshing and restful break from the workload of being in school.
Christina - Praise for the Lord growing me in having a servants heart.  Prayer for the Lord to continue to grow me in serving Him and others just as Christ did (Mark 10:45).
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.  Praise for the Lord helping Noah to grow in using his words rather than whining to communicate.  Prayer for Noah to honor and obey without arguing (Ephesians 6:1-3).  I am working on him responding with "Yes, Mommy" when he begins to argue rather than obey.  


Marriage Memories

Wes blessed me with beautiful fall flowers and a sweet card letting me know 

how much he loves and appreciates me. :)  Thank you, Love!

Family Fun

Video - Toddler Time at the Library "I'm a Little Teapot"

Going for a bike ride on the trail behind our housing development * Stopping to feed the ducks

Video - Noah is a sushi fan! :)

 

Snugglin' * Naomi & Noah jumping on our couch * More snugglin' - Wes, Noah, & Oliver

Video - Noah tickling Oliver

Flying to WI for Thanksgiving * Noah enjoying the view with his traveling buddy - Buckey the Badger

Our Fam on Thanksgiving

Celebrating Wes' Birthday

Birthday Breakfast at Chick-fil-A * Wes' b-day wish was to decorate our home for Christmas

Celebrating with our Life Group - Wes' "cake" (pumpkin pie) * Game night

Noah News
Age - 2.5 years old
Cute Communication - "Me too" or "Noah too" - Noah likes to let us know when he likes something "too."


Latest Loves
"Reading" his Bible on his own
Summersaults
Hide & Seek
Fav song = "Jesus Loves Me"
Opening the fridge on his own
Giving "love pats" to others
"Feeding" Froggie & taking Froggie everywhere with him
Saying "excuse me" when he wants to get by someone
Donuts
His "woo woo" (firetruck) pjs
Playing with his pellets & construction machine toys
When his tongue turns colors after eating something

Enjoying a delicious donut * Playing with a construction machine toy * Being silly

Playing with his pellets * Showing off his black tongue with Daddy

Noah's "Thank You, God!" Calendar

To help teach Noah about being grateful (particularly with celebrating Thanksgiving this month), we made a "Thank You, God!" calendar for Noah.  Each day he got to color someone or something that he wanted to thank God for.  This ranged from loved ones to forts and of course included chocolate and ice cream! 

Interesting Info
*Our Incredible Hulk - Noah got croup, and the doctor recommended putting him on a steroid to help him breathe, which involved one dose of medicine per day for 3 days.  Oh my goodness... the second day was ROUGH!  Noah was a mess!  He was extremely defiant and aggressive, constantly finding battles to fight with me, throwing tantrums right and left, yelling, screaming, throwing objects, not napping... it was awful!  Nothing I did was getting through to him.  I prayed and prayed and prayed some more throughout the day asking God for wisdom.  I praise the Lord for answering my prayers through Wes' mom.  She discovered through researching side effects of croup steroid medicine that Noah's behavior was a common side effect of the medicine for toddlers.  Needless to say, I did not give Noah his last dose of medicine, especially since he was able to breathe okay.  We now joke about how Noah turned into a little incredible hulk. ;)


Bringing Our Baby Home - Our Adoption Journey
Why are we adopting?
Our story... up until the past 6 months, adoption has never been on our radar personally.  We strongly supported others the Lord led to adopt but never desired to adopt nor did we sense the Lord calling us to adopt.  Over the past 2 years through 3 miscarriages, D&C surgery, and testing that showed everything was normal, the Lord began stirring in our hearts that He may be leading us to adopt.  Was He working through these miscarriages to lead us in a direction and a ministry that we would not have pursued otherwise?  After 6 months of praying, researching adoption, meeting with adoption agencies, seeking counsel from many sources, the Lord crossing our path with others who have adopted, having many conversations with Wes involving varying emotions and thoughts about adoption, and thinking through our motives, we sensed the Lord was indeed leading us to adopt.  Adoption was no longer an option that we had a choice of whether to pursue it or not; adoption then became an issue of faith and obedience to a ministry we sensed God calling us to.  We praise the Lord that after we sent in our application and our first check that He has definitely confirmed in many ways that He is calling us to adopt!


International or domestic?
We are pursuing to adopt domestically (in the U.S.) for multiple reasons:
*The Lord not moving in our hearts to adopt internationally - for some people the Lord gives a strong desire for a specific country, but He has not done that in our hearts
*Desire to be wise stewards financially and international adoptions cost significantly more
*Desire to adopt sooner than later and adopting in the U.S. takes a lot less time (adopting an infant has the potential to take even less time) than adopting internationally; for example, the waiting list for China is presently 6 years


What age?
Infant - We have received a lot of counsel to adopt as young as possible, and we also know how valuable it is to invest immediately in the life of a child.


What is the process?
The process for adopting an infant in the U.S. involves:
*completing an application & being accepted
*home study process/training & being approved
*entering the waiting pool - our profile book about our family (which birthmothers look at to choose the parents they want for their child) being shown to birthmothers
*waiting anywhere from approximately 2 weeks to 2 years
*being chosen by a birthmother
*meeting the birthmother and confirming the match
*birth of baby
*bringing baby home with us from the hospital
*2 week legal period in which the birthmother can change her mind
*after 6 months the adoption is legally finalized in court


Where are we at in the process?
We are completing the home study process.  As of now, it looks like we will enter the waiting pool in the spring of 2012, and we could have a baby soon after or a couple years after then.


How far apart will Noah and the baby be?
Anywhere from approximately 3 to 5 years apart


Will we still adopt if we get pregnant?
Yes! :)  Since we sense the Lord calling us to adopt, then we plan to still adopt if we get pregnant.  Our adoption will be postponed, though.  Here are how the scenarios look:
Scenario #1 - If the Lord blesses us with getting pregnant before a birthmother chooses us, then after the 1st trimester of our pregnancy, Hope's Promise (our agency) will remove us from the waiting pool (which will put the adoption process on hold for us) until we deliver our baby and ask to be placed in the waiting pool again.
Scenario #2 - If we are already matched with a birthmother when we find out we are pregnant, then both parties get to decide if they want to continue with the adoption, which almost all birthmothers and adoptive couples decide to proceed with the adoption.


How much does it cost to adopt?
Adoptions vary in cost depending on the kind of adoption.  Our adoption will cost approximately $19,000.


What is our financial game plan?
     Our desire is to be faithful and obedient to the Lord's call to adopt while seeking to be wise financial stewards along the way.  Our goal is to be adoption debt free by the time the adoption process is complete.
     How does this look for us?  The Lord has blessed us with an extremely low interest loan that we have taken out to cover $13,000, which we are praying and hoping that we will be able to get back as a tax credit.  This is not a guarantee because the tax credit expires at the end of 2012.  For the remaining $6,000 we are seeking to cover it through saving, extra income opportunities, grants, whoever the Lord leads to support us, and however else He desires to.  Our hope is to have this money by the time it is needed so that we will not have to take out an additional loan.


Praying for our adoption journey
Praises:
*Our application being accepted
*The process moving along quicker than we expected so far
*Prayer partners and words of encouragement
*The Lord already beginning to provide through extra income opportunities such as Wes being offered overtime at work (which does not happen very often) and my caring another day for the 2 children I presently watch once a week and the Lord also providing through the body of Christ
*The Lord giving us wisdom with an opportunity that came our way to potentially adopt twin boys that are a couple months old.  There were various factors that made it clear that these were not the babies the Lord has for us to adopt.


Requests:
*Ephesians 3:21 & 6:18-20 - The Lord to be glorified and the gospel to be shared
*Galatians 5:22-23 - The Lord to begin preparing Noah for welcoming a little one into our family.  One of the aspects we are praying for Noah is the fruit of the Spirit.
*John 6:44 - The Lord to begin drawing the birthmother (if she does not know Christ) and baby He has for our family to Himself in salvation
*Matthew 25:19-21 - An ongoing prayer request for us to be wise financial stewards and for the Lord to provide for our adoption as we seek to save, to take advantage of extra income opportunities, to pursue grants, and however else He desires to.  We hope to be adoption debt free by the end of the entire adoption process, but we are holding this desire loosely and know that it may take more time.  Presently, the Lord has blessed us with 21% of our goal (which is to cover $6,000 with the hope that we will receive the tax credit for the other $13,000).
*Psalm 32:8 - The Lord to guide us and give us wisdom as we fill out paperwork and important questionnaires involved in the home study process.
*Philippians 4:19-20 - God's perfect timing with our adoption... the tax credit that would immensely help out with our adoption expenses expires at the end of 2012.  We know the Lord will provide either way, whether through a tax credit or other means, and we are thankful to have a game plan for either scenario.


Most Memorable Moment
Thanksgiving with family in WI - We had a wonderful week in WI spending time with loved ones.  It was a joy to see the 5 cousins playing and interacting together. :)  We love you all!  It was also a joy that Noah decided to start going both #1 and #2 in a normal potty while we were there! ;)

Cousins

Joey - 3 mo., Abby - 2, Camren - 5, Noah - 2, Brayden - 1

Siblings

Wes & Christina, Aaron & Kim, Autumn, Amanda

Noah & Abby cruising in Abby's car * Bundled up to go to the park * Digging at the park

Brodeezies & Joey

Video - Camren, Noah, & Abby working out

Reading - Grandma Keith & Noah * Camren reading to Abby & Noah * Wes, Abby, & Noah

More reading - Grandpa, Abby, Noah, & Camren * Christina, Noah, & Brayden

Video - Camren, Noah, & Abby "Ring Around the Rosie" 

Camren & Noah watching Uncle Aaron carve the turkey * Aww... hugs * Abby & Noah

Thanksgiving Meal - Kids chowing down * Adults enjoying the delicious food

Brayden, Abby, & Noah playing

Celebrating birthdays - Mom (Dec. 4th), Wes (Nov. 30th), & Dad (Nov. 30th)

Cruising with Camren * Hugs with Abby

Noah lovin' on Joey * Kisses :)

Video - Noah kissing & tickling Joey

More Memories

 

Celebrating the arrival of Morgan Elaine Shank

November 30, 2011     7 lbs. 2 oz.     18.75 in.