Kazakhstan?

It's been a little over a week since we applied and we are anxiously awaiting a response from OAA. In the meantime, though, God hasn't been silent :)

We have been praying regularly about where our daughter is and, after a weekend full of adoption events, we may be changing the country on our application to Kazakhstan. Originally, we shied away from Kazakhstan because we kept hearing about the great care and attention that their orphaned babies received. All other things being equal, we felt that the need for adoption would be greater in Russia or Ukraine, considering the orphanage situation in these three countries.

However, we spent a long time Friday night talking with a adoptive mother of a Kazakh boy, Pam, and, by the end of the night, realized that the need for adoption in Kazakhstan is no less. It really came down to one question I asked: "How is the outlook for Kazakhstani orphans upon their "release" from the orphanage?" The answer was direct - it's the same. Children are turned out from the orphanages at 14 and they face the same drugs, same desperate need for income that can lead to prostitution, and many other similar issues. (BTW - Kazakh means of Kazakh ethnic descent and Kazakhstani means born in / a citizen of Kazakhstan).

Other recent news has us looking at Kazakhstan much more seriously. Ukraine is now limiting 2007 US adoptions to 580, a number that is much lower than the 2005 count of actual adoptions (723). No such quota exists in Kazakstan. It's possible that us adopting from Ukraine would essentially bump someone else from there, since we know the quota will be met even if we don't adopt there.

I sent an email off to our agency contact tonight and should hear back soon. We'll keep you updated!

God Bless,
Phil and Amy

We have applied!

We just submitted our application. We are so excited!

We knew this day was coming, but we didn't know it would be so soon. We went to an information session today with Our Adoption Agency (OAA) and knew instantly that we'd found the right agency. God is definitely working through this agency and that was probably the main factor for us in narrowing down our final choices to one agency.

This is the start of a long adventure that we know won't be smooth or easy, but our child is out there and we need to bring her home.

We put in the application for a Ukrainian girl between the ages of 0 and 2. We felt a pull to Eastern Europe after learning about the orphanage situation over there. As for choosing a female, we didn't necessarily feel a calling either way...we just both wanted a girl :) Of course, we're still open to adopting a boy if that's what God has in store for us.

We will be posting all the details here for YOU (our friends and family) and hope that you will share in this wonderful adventure with us.

Psalms 139:14-16 - "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

God knows our child by name; this child has not been forgotten. This is all part of His plan and we simply want to obey Him and follow His Word. Please pray for us and our child.

Love,
Phil and Amy