- 4/13/2007 6:30:00 PMThe Decision Is MadeAs of last Friday, my wife and I have decided to move forward with the adoption process of Yuri. This decision comes after extremely deep and careful thought and consideration. We have prayed, fasted, searched the scripture and sought Godly council. In the end, our only conclusion was this was the right thing to do. For me personally, the key moment was when I came to the conclusion that my responsibility in this matter was to say "yes" to God's will and trust the financing to Him.
Over the last few weeks, we have worked through a great deal of emotional anguish as we contemplated the personal and financial cost of adopting. Our church family and friends have been very open and supportive in sharing the emotional burden and particularly the cost of making this decision. When I began to mull over taking out a loan against my home equity, I was imagining the full weight of the burden on my shoulders alone. In doing so, I was actually depriving other people the opportunity of sharing the not only the load but also the joy of seeing it come to fruition. People came out of the woodwork offering their support and took great interest in what God was doing and looked for an opportunity to join. Ultimately my plan robbed God of glory. This is something that I never thought of. WOW!
We are currently in the process of setting up a fund at our local church and bank that can receive tax-deductible donations from those who are interesting in giving towards the process. For now, we will begin our home study program with Catholic Charities of Green Bay. This will take approximately 1 month to complete. During this time, we will also have to fill out immigration paperwork as well as get finger-printed and get passports and visas. This is all new to me and quite stressful. In the end, we will be making a trip to Moscow for an appointment with a Russian judge followed by a 12 hour train ride to the orphanage to pick up Yuri. If everything goes "well", I will have a new son by Christmas.
