Just in case you didn't already know, we are the Blaine family. First, there is Natalie & I (Sam). We met at High Street Baptist Church & were married July 23, 1999. We have three kids, 2 boys & 1 girl. On Nov. 20, 2000, Drew was born. Then, May 16, 2002, Pete was born. Next, there was Emily, who was born June 30, 2004.
We decided to stop having kids after Emily. Natalie was only 24 when we made our decision. About 4 years later, Natalie decided that she wasn't done having kids. She felt that our family was not complete. Natalie prayed about it. We had many discussions about it. Natalie brought up the idea of adoption. I was not on-board at first, as I had worries about not being able to love a child that was not biologically mine. Not long after this, I went on a missions trip to Guatemala. I was able to see first hand the kids in the orphanage. My heart broke for them. I made a return trip there to do some more work, and once again my heart went out for them. I came back to the states with a heart for orphans. I was now past the idea that I could not love a child that wasn't mine.
Natalie and I felt that there was a great need for kids to be adopted internationally. We questioned, "is a life from the US more valuable than a life in another country?" The obvious answer is no. We felt that we were being called to adopt from Ethiopia, as there was the greatest need there, and everything pointed towards yes.
Our next hurdle was money. Adopting is not cheap. I struggled with the idea of how I could not afford to do this. It doesn't make sense financially to do it. It is not the logical choice for our family right now. I kept feeling this overwhelming feeling that I had to control this myself. About 4-5 weeks ago, I heard a great message in our church service, and I finally realized that I had to leave the finances of this adoption in Gods hands. I let go. I told Natalie and she ordered the paperwork right away.
The following week, we were sent our application from Holt International to fill out.
http://www.holtinternational.org/
We chose this agency because we had a few close church friends that had each adopted from Korea through this same agency. We filled out the initial paperwork, which consisted of the following: an application, a picture of our family, a picture of our home, & a little of financial/tax info. We mailed this in, and waited.
About 3-4 days later, we received notification that we were pre-approved. We, then, were sent this overwhelming mound of paperwork via email. At first glance, it felt like we wouldn't be able to complete this crazy amount of data entry & hoops to jump through. We had to complete everything from a 17 page essay-form personal data document, to HIV testing, to criminal background with DNA fingerprinting, to financial statements, to child abuse screenings, to insurance information, and much more. It took us about 2 weeks to get all of that completed. I think I drove Natalie nuts, as I wanted to get this part of the process done and over with.
After choosing Ethiopia, we starting researching flights, as we will have to travel there twice for paperwork/legal processes & to pick up our new little one. We found out in our research that the connecting flight is Amsterdam! This is where Natalie's sister & family just moved to become church planters. Does God have a plan in this? We think so! We are so excited that they will be able to be a part of this too.
So, now our next step is to meet with our social worker, Judy Young with Holt International. She will be coming to our house to do a home study, which is basically an in-depth interview of your family. This study will cost $2500, which is just a sliver of the entire cost. We know that God has a plan for us in this, and that he will provide. We are excited to see how He will complete this.
Once the home study is complete, we will be on to the next step, in which Holt will submit all of our information back to the Ethiopian office. We will keep you informed of our progress in this new journey. Please pray for our family, our future little one, their birth parents, that God will provide for us financially, and give us the grace & patience that we need throughout this journey.
On Friday night, Oct. 29, 2010 around 9:30p.m., we were all upstairs getting ready for bed when we heard the doorbell ring. Natalie went to the door to see who it was. No one was there, but she saw a shadow running away from our house. Her first thought was "Some kids just stole my pumpkins to pull a Halloween prank on us". But, then she opened the door, and found an envelope. She picked it up & brought it upstairs.
