Meet Bethany!

Things are well underway with our Colombian adoption process; we recently spoke with the psychologist who performed a required evaluation on our family for our former adoption process and we are planning to do an update with him in April. Also, we have been in touch with our home study social worker and she is coming sometime in the next few weeks to do an update for us with the new baby. :) We are about to hunker down and work through some extra adoption education we have to do this go-around, have been sorting through lots of paperwork, and we are steadily trying to find ways to raise the remaining funds that will be needed very soon.


After speaking with our agency about what we can/cannot share regarding the child we are pursuing, we realize that while we definitely want to share some details, we have to be very limited in what we put out there until we have officially been matched. Having said that, we want to introduce you to “Bethany”:

Bethany (her pseudonym until we are able to tell you her real name) is a younger teenager from Colombia whom we were immediately drawn to. She is a “special needs” case only in the fact that she is an older child who is at risk for aging out of the system soon. Robby and I read through her file (information on when/how she became an orphan, what her personality is like, how she responds in every day situations- i.e. how well she follows instructions, how easily she connects to other children her age, her level of responsibility with things like chores and school work, etc.-, medical background, information on her family members, and more) and we knew she could potentially be a great fit for our family. We truly felt that out of the other files we read, there was no real comparison to how we felt about her. We were also able to watch a video of her having a sweet mini “interview” with an orphanage worker. In the video, she talked about her performance in school, how the English language is difficult for her, that her favorite color is purple and her favorite movie is Minions. The part that really spoke to me the most was when the orphanage worker asked her, “If your future mom and dad are watching this video right now, what would you like to say to them?” Her response really pulled at my heartstrings:

“For them to adopt me. I would be a good girl. And that I will love them, those who want to adopt me.”


She truly seems like such a precious girl and we feel confident in moving forward with trying to bring her home.


In all honesty, once our journey with Peru came to an end, I did not want to adopt from Colombia. I knew it was one of many options, but I also knew that it was primarily older children (on average starting around 7 years old, but mostly children who are much older) and I did not want to go that route. We explored other countries, even being welcomed into a different program, but God showed us that we were headed in the wrong direction. Without ever even truly considering the country, out of nowhere the Lord made it abundantly clear that Colombia was where we were supposed to go. Orphaned children who age out of the system are at high risk of turning to a life of drugs, prostitution, and an overall devastating outcome. We never saw ourselves pursuing a teenager, however God changed our hearts in an almost miraculously swift fashion and that is exactly what we are now doing. Upon entering the Colombian program with our agency, we began viewing the files of waiting children. It became clear to us that we were being pushed by the Holy Spirit in the direction of pursuing a child who has a very slim possibility of ever being adopted and having a family due to their older age. That is what brought us to Bethany.


As it somehow tends to be our reputation in life, our family has embarked on something that is not considered ideal to the average person. From the size of our family, the way we prefer to go the non-traditional route in many areas, to previously planning to bring home a little girl in Peru with Down Syndrome and the inability to walk without serious medical intervention, we have "a mind of our own". Over the years we have received responses from others that range from full support to downright disagreement, but that has never deterred us. Bringing home an older child, especially a teenager, is “risky”. We do realize that it isn’t popular and that it will present new challenges that perhaps wouldn’t exist if we were adopting a toddler, however it is the desire of our hearts to “love the unlovable”, so to speak, and to make a true difference in the life of a child who has little hope. We want them to be a part of us and we want to be a part of them, regardless of how daunting it might look or how inconvenient it may be for us. It is important to us to be willing to live out a calling that perhaps not many others are willing to do. The bottom line is that we want to please God above all. Going through with this adoption process is simply one way in which we are attempting to walk our talk and live out the Gospel. We consider it an honor and a grand adventure, albeit one that comes with growing pains that are sometimes excruciating. In the end, we have no regrets.