And So the Next…
And so the next “ride” begins; our son is finally home with us from Kazakhstan and we have weathered the “rollercoaster” that is international adoption and are now ready to tackle the next ride that is “life with a family of five.” Although a long and crazy ride, we are amazed at how God has grown our family and provided for us in ways that far exceeded anything we could have imagined.
We entered the world of international adoption with our minds set on adopting a young (infant) girl from China. In one of the first meetings with our adoption agency, the social worker encouraged us to keep an open mind and heart for where God may be leading us throughout this process, as doors may open to opportunities that may be different from what we were expecting.
Our adoption ride took us from the high’s of submitting our dossier to China to the low’s of essentially getting no closer to a referral after a year of waiting; to another high of submitting a second dossier to Kazakhstan to another low of having our agency temporarily suspended from the Kazakhstan program due to governmental changes in the program. Just when we were starting to wonder whether we truly wanted to continue with the adoption process, we came across Adoption Ark and one of their wonderful international adoption contacts. They were able to answer many, many questions we had about Adoption Ark’s Kazakhstan program along with a myriad of other questions and before long we had found ourselves another agency. Adoption Ark was extremely thoughtful in handling our case since we essentially had a completed dossier and just needed an agency to submit it for us; they provided our family with wonderful one-on-one service that met the unique needs of our family. After a few more up’s and down’s, we finally submitted our dossier and within five months or so were traveling to Kazakhstan to meet our son. Over the two plus years of being in an international adoption process, God worked in our hearts and broadened the vision of who He had in mind as another part of our family. Thus, we were headed to the region in Kazakhstan to visit a little 3, almost 4 year old boy, versus China to see an infant girl…and we couldn’t have asked for anything better.
On day one of our babyhome visits, we were introduced to this bright-eyed little boy with two chubby cheeks that no grandma could resist pinching and a belly laugh that you couldn’t help but laugh along with. As we shared more visits over the next few weeks we would come to find that he also had a great sense of humor, a strong opinion and a loving disposition…and we knew that he was God’s choice for our family. Having two biological daughters already, this little guy was going to bring to our family all the excitement and energy that only a little boy could bring…and keep his sisters laughing and running at the same time.
It has been six weeks and everyone has made the transition better than we could have imagined. Alek and his sisters quickly developed a sibling relationship…loving and sharing one moment and shouting and grabbing from one another the next. They wake up each morning looking for each other and make sure they kiss and hug each other every night before they go to sleep.
Adoption Ark has continued to be a wonderful source of post-adoption information and everyone has made an effort to let us know that they are available and willing to help us out in any way. We could not have weathered this process as well as we have without their caring and supportive involvement, at times going beyond what they needed to do. So, while we know there are still ups and downs to come, we also look forward to all the experiences that they bring and take comfort knowing that we have the support of family, friends and Adoption Ark.
David and Lisa Wert, Pittsburgh, PA