One of the things we’ve enjoyed with blogging about our adoption journey has been the interaction we’ve been able to have with other families who are adopting. In fact, several comments on the blog were posted by people who are on their own adoption journey.
Our adoption journey began 14 months ago with a series of group sessions with our homestudy agency, with five other couples. We wrote about it in our first adoption-related post.
We’ve kept in contact with another couple from our adoption group, Brandy and Ben (Brandy has posted a couple comments on our blog, here and here). We just heard that they’re traveling to Guatemala on Monday (3/10) to pick up a 7.5-month-old baby girl. Please remember them as they travel to Guatemala on Monday and return on Saturday.
Undoubtedly, every trip is a different experience. And the challenges related to the way each country does things are different as well. Korea’s program is pretty smooth, compared to many other countries/programs. Brandy and Ben’s process up to this point has been a roller coaster. In fact, after they received their referral, adoptions from Guatemala were put on hold, and they didn’t know if/when they’d ever be able to go and get their daughter. Thankfully, they are able to go now. Pray that the remainder of their process goes as smoothly as possible!
As we understand it, Ben and Brandy will receive their child about two hours after landing in country and will have their baby girl the entire time they are in Guatemala. They hope to do some site-seeing while they are there, but a lot of their plans may very well depend on how the baby is handling the transition (we know what that’s like!).
Of course, their trip reminds us of our own trip. We’re grateful for our experience to/in/from Korea; it was an experience we’ll never forget. We trust the same will be true for Brandy and Ben as well!
Thank you so much for the blog insert. You are such an awesome family. Reading that blog brang back some memories of sitting in a classroom and dreaming of who our children would be. Thank you for all your love and support through out. It’s greatly appreciated.
Some of you at church may remember my requesting prayer for a couple who received their referral right before we did, but were uncertain when and if they could go get their baby girl. This was heart-wrenching to me, as I had such joy in our referral; I couldn’t even begin to imagine their pain.
Praise be to God as they now have Bella in their arms!
You can see pictures of Bella and follow their experience in Guatemala at http://bellacornbower.blogspot.com/