Our little kindergardener...

I'll post later about our decision to adopt again and follow up on the questions I asked myself. 

However, I have been meaning to post this since Droiy started kindergarden at the beginning of September.  He has grown up so much! 

Below, on the left you see him on his first day of pre-school; on the right, his first day of kindergarden. 

What a big man!

Why adopt a little girl from Ghana?

We have to answer that question for the Ghanaian government. 
However, to us, it seems like three questions in one:
     1. Why adopt?
     2. Why adopt a little girl?
     3. Why should she be from Ghana?

So, we'll start by answering this first one.  As James writes in the New Testament, "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." (James 1:27)  While this does not mean that everyone should adopt; we do believe that God has specifically called us to adopt our children.  Droiy was born in August of 2007, before we (Ben and Sarah) had even met each other.  Yet, it is as though he was meant for us and we were meant for him. 

So why adopt again?  Why not support an orphan?  We do support orphans; we sponsor several orphans in Haiti.  Yet, we knew we wanted to have more children.  Droiy wanted a sibling and we want more children.  Our first adoption made us realize that we could not love a child more than we love Droiy.  Whether the child is biological or adopted, they are our "own." Some people just do not feel that they are capable of loving an adopted child as much as they love their biological children; I know this because I have had that conversation with many friends.  So adoption is not for them.  You are not a bad person or less giving of a person if you are not called to adopt.  God has other plans for you.

God has called us to expand our family through adoption.  If you know our son, you know why.  He is a loving, caring boy.  He does have his attachment issues, like every adopted child has.  He went through a difficult adjustment period.  He is happy, but will always have some attachment concerns.  God gave us the grace to be able to handle the adjustments and the attachment issues.  Therefore we know that God will give us the strength to support another adopted child's needs.

Does that answer question number 1?  Probably not completely!  What we know is that we are trying to be sensitive to the Lord's leading and He seems to be pointing in this direction.

This adoption is projected to cost about $30,000 and we are trying to raise some of the money.  If you are interested in helping, click on this link: Contribute to our adoption fund.

We are adopting again...

It's been over a year since Droiy's adoption was finalized and almost two and a half years since Droiy arrived in the United States.  A lot has happen since that time.  We moved to Sublimity about a year ago so that Droiy could be near his sister and Ben could be near his job at Sublimity Elementary.  Sarah finished her PhD in March of 2012 and is starting a new job as an assistant professor at Corban University.  Droiy graduated from pre-school and will be starting kindergarden at Sublimity Elementary in the fall.  Also, we have made the decision to adopt a little girl from Ghana.

The Ghana adoption process has just started.  Our application was accepted by Faith International Adoption agency and now we are starting the homestudy and dossier process.  No specific child has been identified this time.  We will be going through the traditional international referral process this time. We will keep you informed as everything progresses.  Your prayers and encouragement are appreciated.

IT IS FINISHED!!

We finally adopted Droiy. June 9th, 2011 was the day we were officially declared to be Droiy's legal parents. The adoption certificate was signed in court in at 9 the morning by the Judge in front of our family. Our (new) lawyer, Robin Pope, was awesome! She made everythin happen so smoothly. If you ever need an international adoption attorney, we would gladyl recommend her.

Droiy wanted to wear a tie for the adoption. He was really excited to look just like his Papa. He was a little nervous, as you can see. But as soon as he got to the court house the police officer gave him a sticker badge and he got excited all over again!!

We received his birth certificate in the mail a few days later which lists Sarah as his legal mother and Ben as his legal father. Thanks to you all for your prayers and support. We really felt loved and help up through this whole adventure. We have another member of the family to pass on the legacy!

It is all done! Or should we say, it is just beginning...?

Our Rockstar

Just to give you a new update, we found a new lawyer. Our other lawyer did not seem to have the time to work on our case so we started looking for someone new about a month ago. Ben and Sarah have an appointment to draw up all the paperwork with her next week. She has successfully completed the adoption process of a Haitian parolee here in the State of Oregon, so we believe she is the lawyer for us. Keep our family in your prayers as we try to get the adoption completed stateside over the next few months. Also we have yet to hear back from Dr Bernard in Haiti, so it does not look like we will be doing an international adoption as originally planned. Hopefully this State of Oregon will be the last step in the adoption process until we get to make Droiy a legal US citizen 2 years from now.

On a lighter note, our son is becoming a Rock Star! He asked for a guitar for Christmas and his sister picked one out that fits him perfectly! We had to re-string it since he is left handed, but he is turning into a very talented musician. Here is proof:

No autographs please.

Droiy's Christmas Video

Merry Chirstmas to you all! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. Droiy did a bit of a Christmas show for church - he sang three songs with the other preschoolers. This of course made us and both sets of grandparents, who were in attendance, very proud. Here is a bit of it so you can see how well he did.

For those of you asking about the grant situation: We have sent out our first grant application to the adoption aid organization called Show Hope. You can find out more info about it at showhope.org

We have also been asked to open an account for donations. We have been to the bank and are working on that. We'll let you know when it's all done. Thanks for all your prayers and love.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!" Luke 2:11

Growing up.

I know its very nerdy. But if you know me (Sarah), I am a nerdy. And graphing things is the epitome of nerdiness. Yet, I graph everything, so here goes...

Our little tiny, growth resticted orphan is growing up! When we first took him to the doctor after he arrived in the US, he was in the 5th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. Since then he has been steadily growing. I graphed his weight and height last night and he is in the 40th and 15th percentile respectively.

Every experience is a new one for our big boy. This is his Halloween costume. He was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. For those of you who were not into the TMNTs, he was Leonardo.

Still adorable as usual. This is Droiy after his second hair cut.

He loves to make us laugh.



As he grows up he is becoming bossier too!
He always has an opinion about EVERYTHING!!



He asked us to dress him up like a cat.



He loves helping out in the kitchen.
He makes waffles for us every Saturday morning.

Please keep our family in your prayers: We decided to apply for some adoption grants in order to afford the second half of the adoption expenses for Droiy.