Episode IV: A New Hope

Change is hard... but getting easier.

After a lot of self-examination, research, discussion, and above all else, prayer... we've come to the conclusion that staying in the El Salvador program through our agency is not the right choice for us. We want all four of our children to share a common childhood and it looks like that just won't be very likely if we stay put. I also don't know how well we'd hold up with a multi-year wait. I know that Abraham and Sarah waited for the fulfillment of God's promise, as did Zechariah and Elizabeth. But I'll be honest and admit that such a wait feels like a millstone around our necks. There are so many children who need families that we feel like we need to bring two of them home ASAP.

We've decided to not only change countries, but to also change agencies. We're about to submit our application to our new agency and once we are accepted, I'll post a link to their website(s) and describe the process of changing agencies as we work our way through it.

As I reflect on our initial choice from nearly a year ago, we looked pretty hard at a couple different agencies. In the end we elected to go with one that had a lot a very well produced printed materials and that seemed to be among the most professional appearing. It advertised a pretty reasonable timeframe and an attractive cost while at the same time appeared to be well run and organized. We shyed away from an agency we were very interested in and who seemed to be the most pro-active about making a difference in the orphanages they worked with but who also didn't have quite as nice of materials for prospective adoptive parents. We had better communication from this agency than the one we chose, but let appearances make our choice for us... sort of like the Israelites looked at Saul and thought he'd be a good king for them because he looked like what they thought a good king should look like. Of course... they'd never had a king before, let alone a good king. It seems our qualifications for choosing an agency were about as well developed as their qualifications for choosing a king.

It turns out that it's the communication with the agency that became the #1 thing we desired and were never quite satisfied with in our agency. Don't get me wrong, our first agency provides information to those who are diligent about contacting them and seeking it and they do it in a very businesslike way. It's just that we are learning that we don't want a businesslike adoption experience... we want a more personal one and we want to work with someone who is more proactive than reactive in their approach to communications.

Looking back, we went with our head and not our heart. Nearly a year later, we are going with our heart. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." We are trusting him to guide us. Interestingly, since we've moved in this direction, the LORD keeps showing us that it is his will. He reaffirms what our heart has been telling us for a long time. Just today we came across several Blogs from people with our new agency that reinforce the choice in a way that was EXACTLY what we needed. We've also learned about the outreach activities this agency has to make a difference in the lives of the children who are the hardest to adopt. They seem to match with us on why they are involved in international adoption and they live-out what they say. We've seen several instances of the kind of communication we craved... both betwen the agency and us and between the agency and others. I can't help but notice that the LORD is actively giving us some peace with the decision.

- Mark