Almost immediately our hearts were drawn to adopting a child from Africa. Why Africa? I think one of the reasons was because I grew up there until the age of 13. My parents were missionaries in Uganda and Kenya...and as I've journeyed through life here in North America, the years I spent there are still a big part of me. It's hard to explain...but there's a part of me that is intertwined with that continent...and now I felt like it was calling me back. What was really amazing was that Amanda was feeling drawn to adopting from Africa as well...even though she had never been there...she still felt the same pull that I did...
We started looking for adoption agencies that specialized in helping couples adopt internationally... and soon discovered that it was going to be a difficult and challenging road. There were a few countries in Africa that were open to international adoptions - but many had to close their doors due to lack of infastructure, war, and numerous other problems. We eventually discovered an agency called Sunrise Adoption in North Vancouver that had connections in Lesotho (a small country within the borders of South Africa) and we decided to meet with them and find out more information.
It was encouraging to meet with someone who wanted to help and was able to give us answers to a lot of questions that we had...and we soon found out some of the tough realities that we were going to face: It was going to be expensive...and it was going to take a long time. Because of the limited countries that are open in Africa, and due to the number of families wanting to adopt, there was a waiting list of at least 2 years. We would only be able to get on this waiting list after we had gone through a homestudy program that we would take through Sunrise. This homestudy would involve a lot of learning about what it means to adopt internationally, and all the things that we would need to prepare for to be ready to adopt a child. It would also include sessions with a social worker who would get to know us, interview us, and discover who we were as a couple. They wanted to know if we understood all the responsibilities that we were going to face. If we were accepted after this homestudy, we would then have to complete a profile of who we were as a couple. This profile would give the birth mother a good idea of who we were as a couple...and it was also a way for us to communicate to her our love for children, and how we would care for a child...
We realized that this was going to be a long journey...one that we would need to commit to...and one that would not be easy...but we both felt an overwhelming peace about it. Soon after, we decided that Sunrise was the agency that we should go with. We registered with Sunrise and began to take the necessary steps to begin our homestudy...
