Next Steps...

We’re adopting! We are still very excited at just the thought of it!

So what is our next step? What is the next mountain we need to climb?

First of all, I would like to say that we think we are doing GREAT! In the short time since we started this journey, we have already had some discouraging moments (the first of many, I am sure) but we are marching forward with joy and perseverance.

The first discouragement came in the form of a deadline. The adoption agency we are signed up with wanted $5,500 by March 1^st, for the home study fees ($2,000) and for the initial domestic payment ($3,500). (Eep!) We had no idea that such large sums were going to be due so quickly! We had barely felt any time to bask in the warmth of our impending parenthood! But after some negotiating of timelines with the agency, we managed to rearrange our payment schedule to allow us some time to gather our wits and the funds necessary. We now will pay for the home study when we finish the related paperwork. After the home study is complete (it will take about 3-6 months), we will have to pay the initial domestic payment. So hurrah! We can move forward at a more realistic pace!

Another discouragement was the gigantic stack of home study paperwork that is sitting on the desk at home right now. It doesn’t look all that intimidating at first glance, but then, when you get up close and personal with it, you start seeing the phrase “attach additional pages as necessary.” We have to write as many essays for this home study as we did for a full semester of classes in college! And all “due in thirty days of receipt.” Aghhhh! But once again, a frantic phone call induced the agency to give us an extension and we can move forward at our own pace. We are still in the middle of the stack, but great progress is being made!

“Home study?” you say, “What’s that?” Well, good folks, this is the next mountain we must climb. It is the first of several levels of intense scrutiny that our little family will undergo in order to be approved to adopt a child. We will be poked and prodded, have every detail of our family life gone over with a fine tooth comb, and examined and cross-examined, both as a couple and separately. It will include medical exams, detailed background investigations, and an inspection of our apartment, in addition to answering 1001 questions on our lives, our work, our marriage, our families, our childhoods, our culture, our future hopes and dreams, and what is our favorite flavour of Jelly Belly. While it seems like quite an ordeal, it is necessary to keep children safe from evil people. And since we are not evil people, we should be just fine in the end. The home study will also determine what level and type of special needs that we are equipped to handle.

Thanks to some very generous people and our own miniscule savings account, we almost have enough to pay the home study fee. We hopefully will have the full amount in a paycheck or two more, just in time for when we will have the paperwork finished. Then we will schedule our medical exams and our home study visits and let them fire away with their questions! And yes, it is still very exciting!

Next mountain, fundraising… but more about that later.

Rodopi Mountains, Bulgaria

A little steeper than the mountains we are climbing now!

Thanks for standing with us, folks!

Donate to our adoption fund!

Bulgaria and Orphans

Hello All!

We've had so many wonderful responses to our news - that we are adopting a Bulgarian special-needs orphan! It is so nice to feel so loved and supported by our friends and family as we move along this difficult (yet joyful!) path.

As we have received a few surprised looks and comments when we say that we are adopting from Bulgaria, I thought I would share a little about the country (as some of us aren't quite sure if we could point it out on a map) and a little about the orphans there.

First of all here is where it is:

"Great," you say, "Now I know exactly where it is - it's in Europe! But aren't all European countries fairly prosperous? Don't they have fairly extensive social programs taking care of their orphans?"

I would say that this assumption is true for most European countries... most are not open to international adoption because all of their orphans are either adopted within their countries or exist in a fairly stable foster care system similar to the United States. But when we consider many Eastern European countries, this is not the case.

Bulgaria is actually the poorest nation in Europe. While conditions improved when the country joined the European Union (EU) in 2007, people there are generally four times poorer than the average EU citizen. Why? In addition to the general economic downturn that most of Europe has been experiencing for years, Eastern European countries have yet to fully recover from communism. In addition, corruption and political unrest in Bulgaria have discouraged/prevented many investors, local or international, to develop the potential of the region.

OK, enough of the dry details - let's get to some fun stuff! Here is travel video (Bulgaria in a minute!):

When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, the sad state of its care of orphans was revealed. The BBC actually did an expose documentary called "Bulgaria's Abandoned Children". Warning - this contains very disturbing images. Do not watch this unless you have a thick skin or heart that you want to be broken. In fact, I expressly forbid those who have super tender hearts (you know who you are!) to watch this. It will disgust you, make you cry, and haunt you for a long time.

But Bulgaria took action in response to the international outcry. When the BBC did a follow-up in 2009, "Bulgaria's Abandoned Children, Revisited", (same warning as above applies) much had improved and continues to improve. Abandoned children, especially healthy, young ones, are being adopted into homes both in Bulgaria and abroad. Orphanages are being reformed to meet basic needs and to provide more interaction and education. The children have lost the look of walking skeletons and now have "Grannies" (local retired women) come and play with them for hours at a time.

Here is a happy video all can watch:

The future is grim for these orphans. If they are not adopted, they are released from the orphanage when they come of age at 18 years. Some commit suicide before they reach this day. The majority of these orphans end up on the street, involved in crime and prostitution. This is the future for the healthy ones... the disabled face a far worser fate. Medical care may or may not be provided for many of the special-needs orphans as the technology and/or funds are not available for many surgeries/treatments, or even preventative care in the orphanages. If disabled children are not adopted, they are sent to care facilities where they will live the rest of their lives, often confined to a bed. These institutions are scary, scary places where care is very minimal and even brutal by our standards.

So when we say the words "rescue" and "save" when we are talking about our upcoming adoption, we mean it. I know it is not quite politically correct, but we don't know how else to express that our child will live a completely different (wonderfully different) life in our home and family than it would if we left the child in the orphanage. We feel that we are called by God to reach out and scoop a little child out of abandonment and neglect, so similar to the way He rescued us and placed us in His loving family!

Psalm 68:6 - God sets the lonely in families.

Love to you all!

Ian and Mel

Donate to our adoption fund!

Feel Like Helping a Child Find a Good Home?

Hi Family and Friends!

A few people have very generously asked us how they can help financially with our adoption. So, here's how:

1 - Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to our Church's Adoption Ministry!

Write a check to Mount Vernon Foursquare Fellowship and write Cornerstone Ministry - Adoptions in the memo line. Mail it to: Mount Vernon Foursquare Fellowship, 5200 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22304. 

2 - Visit our GoFundMe Fundraising Site!
Click on the following link http://www.gofundme.com/euemo and click the Donate button! You will be able to make a donation using your credit or debit card. I've done my research, folks - this service is safe, free, and easy. A friend of mine is also using GoFundMe to raise money for her severely-disabled newborn, so I know it's 100 percent legit.

3 - Mail us a Check Directly!
If you want to ensure that Mel and I receive the money directly, feel free to mail us a check at our home address: Ian & Melanie Elliott, 300 Yoakum Parkway, #725, Alexandria, VA 22304. Write Adoption in the memo line. 

4 - Buy Your Coffee from our Coffee Fundraiser
Every little bit helps, and we get a portion from each purchase. https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/ElliottAdoption/

As we mentioned before, a standard international adoption can run up to $30,000, including the home study, adoption agency fees, travel to the birth country, lodging, legal fees, and more. It sounds like a lot of money, but I fully believe that if 100-200 people give half a dozen donations of $30 or more, it would be largely covered!

Thanks everyone in advance for your generosity! The smallest donation will really encourage us! But ultimately, you're not doing this for us, you're doing this to rescue a hopeless, abandoned child from a life of destitution and misery!

Love to you all,

Ian and Mel

Good News Everyone!

We are adopting!

We are very excited that a new little person will someday join our happy little family and are greatly anticipating the joys of parenthood.

We will be adopting a special-needs child from Bulgaria.

Why Adopting?
While we envision our family to grow by both biological and adopted children, we feel like now is the time for adoption. Our adopted child will be our true offspring - legally, emotionally, spiritually - 100% our child. We can't wait to love, hold, and raise our little bundle of joy to be just like us - to be an individual that values love, justice, and truth.

We also hope to convey justice, truth, and love with our adoption story. God himself has an adoption story. He has adopted us into His family. God loves us, and has reached into our situations of abandonment, injustice, and suffering to make us a fully fledged member of His family. We are being raised to be just like Him, loved and cherished, placed in a family - no longer alone.

Why Special Needs?
We feel like we have a spot in our heart for precious people who have physical limitations and believe that our life experiences have equipped us to be able to raise a child to be an overcomer, to be more than the sum of its parts.

The need is great for parents willing to adopt special-needs children. So many children just need a loving family and a little or a lot of medical care to make it possible for them to live happy, fulfilling lives.

Practically, the wait is less for a special-needs child. And there are more grants available for special-needs adoptions. So it all works out.

Spiritually, we are all special-needs children in God's eyes... we all have injuries, wounds, and circumstances that hold us back. He gives us the love, healing, and courage to grow beyond these.

Why Bulgaria?
International vs. Domestic: We wanted to adopt a little kid who had been orphaned... either through death or abandonment. Most orphans in the US are older children - and at the present, we did not feel that an older child was for us. So we turned our eyes and our hearts to the world.

God made it really simple to choose a country... when we asked adoption agencies which countries we were eligible to adopt a child with special needs from, the answer was Bulgaria.

Who will it be? 
We don't know yet! We are asking for a little boy or girl under four years old with mild to moderate special needs. Once we have completed our home study, our paperwork will be sent to Bulgaria and then we will be matched with a child. Hee, hee - so exciting.

How long?
It will be a long process... about two years.

How much?
Yes, international adoption is expensive - $30,000 expensive! But we believe our child will be worth every penny! We will be fundraising, applying for grants, etc. but know that God has the purse for this adoption. We trust that He will provide for all our needs!