Our story starts about five years ago when we felt like our family was not complete with two boys and one girl. I asked Tom if we could adopt a girl. He said, “We do not have the money and where would we start anyway?” I have two adopted siblings and thought I would start by asking my sister who was in the middle of filling out paperwork for her adoption of a child out of Guatemala. She said that God would provide the agency, child, and finances if we really wanted to adopt. I went back to Tom and asked, “Which country?” He said the only country he was interested in was Hungary. Tom is Hungarian first generation American. He has many family members still in Hungary. I start looking for an agency that adopts out of Hungary. Long story short I could not find one. I started asking Tom to re-think and go with China or Romania. He said, “No.”
So I moved on but, every now and again would check agencies out and see if they would be interested in coordinating adoptions out of Hungary, to no avail it was not happening. The Thanksgiving of 2007 Adoption Ark posted that they were starting a program out of Hungary. Tom showed me the email and the rest is history. I called and immediately got information on the program. Talked my parents into a loan and we were off. By the end of 2007 we had already signed on with Adoption Ark, finished our home study, and started the paper trail. By May 2008 we were finished our paperwork…. It was challenging wait and it was not easy to learn that the country accepted a new law which said that if you were not willing to take three or more siblings or wanting children 9 years and up you will have no chance of adoption. “We fit into the new law criteria, so maybe the wait will be shorter, right Tom? We waited and waited more but then the phone rang! “Kristin we have a referral for you,” our coordinator said. The six most glorious words adoptive parents will ever hear. WE HAVE A REFFERAL FOR YOU!!!! I could not stop crying and shouting Praises to God long enough to tell my three eldest kids, but they could figure it out. After several minutes the kids started to ask “how old, how many, what are their sexes, and what are their names?” Oh my goodness, I had not asked that. Oh, but I didn’t really care. I knew we’d want her, him, or them. Our coordinator is crying with us at this point and telling me Girl 8, Girl 6, and Boy 4.
Fast forward six weeks we are on the border of Romania and Hungary meeting our children for the first time Monika Grace, Kira Alexandra, and Drew Laszlo. We are in love - all eight of us!!! There is no one else in the room accept us. We only have eyes for them and them for us. We are a family; the complete version of US. We are home in America after almost 7 weeks in country and doing wonderful! Adopting was scary, but now we can’t live without our 3 precious new children!! They are wonderful and we are sooo glad we took the step of faith to do it.
Tom and Kris plus Six!!!